The Picasso Summer

by Ray Bradbury

George Smith (Albert Finney) is a bored, young San Francisco architect, at loose ends and feeling a bit depressed after finishing a project in which he felt his contribution was of little consequence. After he and his wife Alice (Yvette Mimieux) attend a vacuous party, they go home and George reassesses his life. George thinks about how much he admires Pablo Picasso, the great artist, who pursues his dreams with abandon. He suddenly feels an overwhelming urge to meet the artist and proposes to his wife that they fly to France that very evening in search of him. They arrive in the south of France and after a day or two of searching, arrive at the gate of his villa, only to be told that Picasso sees no one.

After a dismal dinner at a local restaurant, George goes off to a bar, while Alice returns to the hotel. The next morning, she is awakened by a drunken George, who returns with an equally drunken Frenchman whom he has befriended. By this time, George's obsessive quest has begun to wear thin. She refuses to accompany him to Spain in pursuit of a famous matador who, he has been told, is a friend of Picasso's and may be persuaded to furnish an introduction to Picasso. George goes off by himself and has an adventure in Spain with the matador, while Alice wanders about the French town alone. She meets a blind painter and his wife, who invite her home for supper and give her one of his paintings.

George returns, thoroughly disappointed and disgusted that his great quest has come to nothing. He apologizes to Alice for taking her on such a miserable vacation. They go for one last swim at the beach before walking off into the sunset, failing to notice Picasso, at the same beach with his family, standing a few hundred yards away, drawing fantastic figures in the sand.