Evelyn reflects on the freedom of marrying Rex without love or pretense, acknowledging their union as a deliberately tacky, manipulative box-office strategy. She admits the deal was honest, would launch her fortune, and, crucially, would become the way she got Celia back. Despite the lack of romance, she feels a lasting fondness for Rex for his clarity and partnership.

In Evelyn’s living room, she and Rex align on goals: both want Anna Karenina to legitimize them as serious actors. Evelyn concedes there might be a remote chance of physical intimacy but sets no expectation of a real marriage. They decide she will move into Rex’s Bird Streets house, and she insists on bringing her housekeeper, Luisa, as a condition.

Evelyn recalls hiring Luisa and being jolted when Luisa’s casual Spanish comment led Evelyn to reveal she is Cuban and speaks Spanish. Confronted with “You do not look Cuban,” Evelyn realizes she has erased signs of her heritage from her life and home, a choice shaped by politics and career calculus. Ashamed yet resolute, she chooses warmth toward Luisa while avoiding Spanish out of insecurity, and grows to cherish Luisa’s unapologetic sense of self.

Returning to the negotiation, Evelyn and Rex agree to separate bedrooms, strategic parties to project togetherness, and absolute discretion to avoid headlines about infidelity. They shake on a staged courtship, an engagement ring by November, and a wedding two weeks before the film’s release to maximize publicity, with the marriage framing their on-screen affair as respectable. Acknowledging the film’s daunting length, they commit to “put on a show,” confident their performances are dynamite.