All language subtitles for The.Libertine.2004.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG

Allow me to be frank
at the commencement:

You will not like me.

The gentlemen will be envious

and the ladies will be repelled.

You will not like me now

and you will like me a
good deal less as we go on.

Ladies - an announcement:

I'm up for it, all the time.

This is not a boast or an opinion,

it is bone hard medical fact.

I will put it round and
you will watch me

putting it round and sigh for it.

Don't.

It is a deal of trouble for you

and you are better off watching and
drawing your conclusions from distance

than you would be if I got
my tarse up your petticoats.

Gentlemen, do not despair.

I am up for that as well and
the same warning applies.

Still your cheesy erections
until I've had my say.

But later, when you shag
and later you will shag.

I shall expect it of
you and I will know

if you have let me
down. I wish you

to shag with my homuncular
image in your gonads.

Feel how it was for
me, how it is for me.

And ponder.

Was that shudder the
same shudder he sensed?

Did he know something more profound?

Or is there some wall of
wretchedness that we all batter

with our heads at that
shining live-long moment.

That is it. That is my
prologue. Nothing in rhyme

no protestations of modesty.

You were not expecting that, I hope.

I am John wilmot,
second Earl of Rochester,

and I do not want you to like me.

Wren's upset, the clergy approved

the most conventional
design for the cathedral.

Now he feels there's no
room for artistic manoeuvre.

Put a sub-clause in the warrant.

"Variations in the design are to be
ornamental rather than essential.”

Then he can do what he wants. Next.

There are representations for
you to be more careful in public.

Perhaps a bodyguard.
=- whose idea is that?

Your brother.

No-one is going to
kill me, if it means

having him on the throne. Next.

Danby says the army
is costing too much.

It's danby's job to balance the books.

If he thinks it's good economics

to disband the army and
be invaded by the French,

he can look for another
position. Anything else?

You asked me to remind you
about the Earl of Rochester.

When did I banish him?
Three months ago.

For how long? - A year.

Bring him back, now.

John. Be attentive to your wife,

she's not accustomed to London.

Mother, I shall in all things
endeavour to serve her and you.

Serve god.

You must not fear London.

It is not London I fear.

You abducted me in a coach like this,
when I was still a virgin heiress.

And did you like abduction?

Passionately.

Speak of it.

John, this is not the place.
Speak to me of abduction.

I was eighteen and worth two
and a half thousand a year.

You ambushed me, bundled me from
my coach and drove me away.

The king thrust you in
the tower for it.

And I dug in my heels and spurned
and shunned the other men.

I would only embrace my dear abductor.

Dryden's new play.

Here chas, grab a wodge.

Dryden couldn't write a laundry list.

Johnny! Johnny!

We were pining for you.
Even now we're pining.

When I wake in the country,
I dream of being in London.

And then when I get here
it's full of people like you.

Johnny!

This reign is a shambles,
do you not think?

My father risked life
and limb hiding that thing,

Charles, up an oak tree.
Has he forgiven you?

He's forgiven me.
I shan't forgive him.

Why did he banish you this time?

Well it is a fine morning, I'm walking

through the galleries, the king is
walking through the galleries.

I am splendidly alone.

The king is surrounded by a slow
moving troupe of mediterraneans.

The wife's family.

And he must make show of me.

Behold, the Earl of Rochester.
The wit, the poet.

Pray, let us have some of your muse.

What am I to do? Then I recall:

In my pocket I have a sketch
of something rustic with nymphs.

I pull it out and deliver.

"In the isle of britain, long
since famous grown

for breeding the best
cunts in the christendom..."

"Rat me" thinks I, "this is not the
piece of paper I had supposed.”

The king's eyes are more
piercing than I can remember

the jaws of his entourage
are decidedly earthbound.

This piece of paper is
not covered merely

with the thump and
slop of congress, no, no.

This poem is an attack
on the monarchy itself,

culminating in a depiction
of the royal mistress,

striving to flog the flaccid royal
member into a state of excitement.

"This you'd believe, had
I but time to tell you

the pains it cost
to poor laborious Nelly

whilst she employs hands,
fingers, mouth and thighs;

ere she can raise the
member she enjoys.

All monarchs I hate and
the thrones they sit on,

from the Hector of France
to the cully of britain."

It's damn good though, Johnny.

Of course it's good, that's
not the point. The point is

he couldn't appreciate it.

Took me nearly an hour to
write it, just to please him.

Three months in the fucking country
at the height of the season.

Missed all the good plays.

Oh, boring old rowley.
We love you, Johnny.

Give us a stanza, and we'll
laugh in the king's place.

To etheredge I drink a pledge.

His life has run the gamut:
He's penned naught good

"she would if she could”.
He would if he could but he cannot.

Well Johnny, it's a damned well-said
thing but it ain't true, d'you see?

Oh, but it is true, Georgie.

You think you can still
enjoy the town's esteem

for something you
wrote seven years ago?

You can't be promising
forever, George.

Sooner or later you must do something.

But that's what I'm saying.
I have written a new play.

Oh, written a new play, has he?

All those afternoons he was
pretending to slope off,

and Roger his mistress
like a decent chap

he was lurking in his rooms

poking away at a play.
That is disgusting, George.

Disgusting and shameful.

What's it about, your play?
A satire on dryden?

Pox o'dryden. It's about you.

And in your play, do you
tell the truth about me?

Well, I've attempted to show you as...
Yes?

Well I enjoy your company.
You've made me endearing.

Well, only the public can...
Don't smarm around, George.

You're an endearing son of... chap.

So you haven't told the truth?

Good. Don't want to
go frightening people.

Now, how about a real play?

The Duke's have the new otway.

I have high hopes
of young Tom otway.

I do find it invigorating all these
young men coming into the theatre.

Let me finish him off, sir.
This fellow is my servant.

He has just filched two
shillings from my coat pocket.

A thief and a rogue.
My lord, you express it.

Haven't quite got the hang
of the reign yet, have you?

I will not employ a thief.

Then I will. How much was
your master paying you?

Six shillings a week, sir.

Who talks of thieving?

George, give him five pound.

Buy a brown livery and report
to me at the Duke's theatre.

He will steal your gold.
1 hope so.

If he turned honest after
coming into my orbit

then I am not the malicious
planet I had hoped.

Now be gone, sir.

Here...

And, how you'd your
lordship be paying?

Credit.

I only use coin vulgarised
with the monarch's head

for transactions with servants.

I am ever your humble servant.

No, Mr. ratcliffe, you are the
very prince of drapery.

The prince is always happy
to see the king's head.

But not to carry it
around in his pocket.

Credit then.

Billy, join us.

Johnny? This is Billy downs. Billy,
this is the Earl of Rochester.

How old are you, Mr. downs?
18, my lord.

Young man, you will
die of this company.

Do not laugh, I'm serious.

Mr. ratcliffe, this hangs very well.

My lord, I saw you just now
with the gent's servant.

And did you think I dispensed
wisely in the matter?

If the fool ran off with the gold,

then you prove a
point but at your loss.

If he return in your livery

then you've gained a servant
who is a known cheat.

So you prove a different point
but again at your own expense.

You've summarised well, Mr. downs.

And in such a manner I deduce you were

trained at one of the count-the-angels
on-a-pinhead Cambridge colleges.

King's, was it not?
It was, my lord.

King's, yes.

And yet, you do not draw
the moral of the incident.

Which is?

That any experiment
of interest in life

will be carried out at your
own expense. Mark it well.

My lord! My lord Rochester!

You've come back.!

In your livery, my lord.

Then you are turned honest,
I cannot support that.

I regret the deeds honesty, my lord...

But I considered that if I performed
it and fell into your service

I would have more enjoyment of life.

You see, this fellow has
the hang of the reign.

I like this fellow exceedingly.
What is your name?

Alcock, sir.

Like master like servant.

Well, alcock, you shall drink and shag

more than any sewing
man in the kingdom.

Go at once and spend the rest
of the money on a whore.

A large, greasy one.

Then when you are done, return
here to me. Now be gone.

I'm going to brazen my arse at them!

They've all seen it.

Well they can bloody
well put up with it again.

My lord. - Dear Jane!

Give you your first London
spud of the summer?

Brought the wife with me.

Bit of a waste, shooting
good jism up the lawful.

Ladies and gallants all, the king!

How exciting.

Did you miss me?

Missed the money.

Good. Don't like a
whore with sentiment.

I could have ignored
your poem, Johnny,

but I made a fuss
about it for a reason.

I won't hide anything from you.

The country's on the brink.

People are still reeling
from the fire, the plague.

The catholics are plotting, the
Dutch are a bunch of bastards

and the French are ten times
worse and there's no money.

I can only get funds by crawling to
parliament, or plotting against them.

And I don't want to lock antlers with
them head-on they way my father did.

Head-on, that's quite good.

When you first came to court, Johnny,

you were a boy of eighteen,
a certain flippancy

a whiff of impertinence.
This was acceptable.

But with ten years down the
road and the view is different.

The tone has to change.

I have to look responsible, sober.

I want you with me.

That's why I brought you back.

I want you to take a new role.

Here? In the playhouse?

No, the house of lords.

Your father spirited me out of england
when my life was at stake.

So I looked after him and after you.

You put me in the tower.

And I let you out.

The time has come for
you to pay your dues.

People listen to you, Johnny.

If you took your seat in the lords,

you could make great speeches
that would influence things.

Anyone can oppose.
It's fun to be against things.

But there comes a time when you have
to start being for things as well.

Your majesty.

Mr. etherege, take a nibble?

I've had my dinner, thank you madam.

George.

Is this thy plighted
faith? Is this thy truth?

Oh, too unkind, false
and unconstant youth.

Madam, believe not,
but my brother's just.

Who's she?

She's Lizzie Barry,
and she just won't do.

That does alleviate
my grieves and give

my wearied soul a
soft and kind reprieve.

Which ever to forget would
be as hard and as impossible

as to reward.

Serving you my happiness secures...

Since I am only something
by my being yours.

Lizzie, Lizzie!

Onstage.

You must take your bow for the public.

Why do you persist

in doing the opposite
of what you're told?

If girls like you do not
do what they are told,

then it is all up with
our sex on the stage.

You cannot ignore the
advice of them that know.

Now, acknowledge your audience!

They can kiss my arse.

She's a good fuck but she costs!

She gives a nice gobble but she
won't do the full wibbly-wobbly.

She does it with me.

She does not.
Mary, if I may say so...

A statuesque performance.

Bursting with grecian promise.

Mrs. Barry, the work we did beforehand

did it mean nothing to you?
That is correct, Mr. Harris.

Molly, I cannot teach those who
will not be disposed to learn.

Mr. etherege? How do you do, sir?
Well, Mr. Harris.

Was not my lord Rochester in with you?
= darted off.

Did you care for the play?
The play was well enough.

Most of the acting, too.

Mrs. Barry.

She has been dismissed.

I bring word from Mr. betterton.

I've had such already.

This is quite another.

You have obtained a reprieve for me.

Yes, madam. But there is a price.

This is your first season
on the London stage?

It is, my lord.

Mrs. Barry, you must acquire the trick
of ignoring those who do no like you.

In my experience, those who do not
like you, fall into two categories:

The stupid and the envious.

The stupid will like you in five
years' time. The envious, never.

It's with my training,
you will become the best,

the most fascinating actress
on the London stage.

I shall come to the theatre tomorrow.

What are you up to,
Johnny? She can't act.

She has neither the Cadence
of the heroic nor the posture.

I will wager you 20 guineas,

she will become the finest
actress on our stage.

This is the prick talking, not the
head! Knob her and have done.

Is it a wager?

My dear friend, you
do not have 20 guineas.

Is it a wager?

We've missed the fuck,
can we get a drink?

There's a new toping house hard by,
called "deaf Mary-Ann's".

Ah, the Cambridge boy
knows his books by hard.

Lead on, king's.

Alcock! - My lord?

Something rotten has
gotten into my guts.

Well I trust, it's not me, my lord.

No, alcock. It is not, not yet.

We should Mark the
front lawn at adderbury

for pall mall. I had always
thought it a foolish game.

Depends on who you play with.

The king plays with a common
prostitute, not his wife.

The Portuguese have little
flair for outdoor pursuits.

Except navigating of course.

I mean that the
etiquette of it is singular.

I know, what you mean.

You must always be Ace,
king and Jack, my dear.

But heaven has not
disposed your cards so.

Johnny, it's your shot.
I'm not playing.

Oh, but you are, John!
You are if I say you are.

The most advanced scientific
instrument in western Europe.

It cost sixty thousand
pounds, it tells

the time in every
corner of the globe.

Understand? That is achievement.

The man who did that

was not continually pissed
for the last three years.

What do you want from me?

Writing, something profound,

that will stand as a monument to
my reign. You're my literary giant.

Dryden? Plodder. But
look what he's achieved.

Elizabeth had her
Shakespeare. You can be mine.

Give me a major work of literature
and I'll give you 500 guineas.

When would you like it? Friday?

Don't fuck it up, John. I love you.

Mrs. Barry? I cannot
let you have long.

I must prepare tamberlane.

There's a great deal of setting up...

Mrs. Barry?

And a deal of taking down.

My lord Rochester.

I am come, as I said I would.

Will you have me lift my skid?

Or do you have a mind to raise
it by your own endeavours?

I am come to train you in your acting.

So you said, when we first met, but
your reputation being what it is,

I thought you meant
something different.

I have, I hope,
many reputations.

I am come, I say, to train
you in your stage acting.

Never in my life have I heard
you spoken of as an actor.

That does not deter me from
spreading my insights to others.

I thought it would not.

Then we shall begin.

You are familiar with
the plays of Mr. etherege?

There are but two, my lord.

Not for long, I fear.
"The comical revenge"

or "love in a tub".

Have you seen Mrs.
Betterton playing graciana?

Yes, I am her understudy.

Indeed. Act two, scene
two. I shall play beaufort

graciana, why do you
condemn your love?

Your beauty without that, alas,
would prove but my destruction.

An unlucky star, prognosticating
ruin and despair.

You mistake.

It is not my love I
blame, but my discretion.

Here the active flame should yet a
longer time have been concealed.

Too soon, too soon I
fear it was revealed.

Our weaker sex glories in surprise.

We boast the sudden
conquests of our eyes.

But men esteem a foe
that dares contend.

One that with noble courage
does defend a wounded head.

The victories they gain they prize by
their own hazard and their pain.

That was not Elizabeth Barry,
it was Mrs. betterton.

An understudy must
imitate not create.

Yesterday you created.
Yesterday I was dismissed.

But you played truthfully.

It cost too much to play the truth.

I do not think you have
considered the speech at all.

Well, how would you have me do it?

Let us consider now.

What does it mean, that speech
that Mrs. betterton mangles so?

Graciana means that she has given away
the secrets of her head too freely.

Something that a gentlewoman
must not do to a gentleman.

Why not?

Well, because men will
take love for granted

and then not prize it.

And is our author right?
Do you believe that?

I believe that men are hurdles
that must be negotiated.

Is that all? Do you never
feel passion for us?

I've counterfeited passion

in gentlemen's beds,
if that is your meaning.

Counterfeit will not
serve you on the stage.

Yesterday I was jeered and
taunted by four hundred ruffians.

I know, that will not serve me.

And so you will take their word
against both of ours

and traffic in falsehood from now on.
=I don't know.

Then let us gain knowledge.

To the speech again,
you played it sweetly.

Graciana is not innocent or she
would not have such insight.

If you had ever loved a man

you would say that speech with regret,

because you would
fear the loss of him.

And supposing I have loved?

Then show me in the speech.

Sir, you mistake.
It is not my love I blame.

But my discretion.

Here the active flame should yet a
longer time have been concealed.

Too soon, too soon
I feel it was revealed.

Our weaker sex glories in surprise.

We boast the sudden
conquests of our eyes.

But men esteem a
foe that dares contend.

One that with noble courage
does defend a wounded head;

the victories they gain they prize
by their own hazard and their pain.

Well? Was there improvement?

Did you think so?

I wish to know your thoughts.

It was better, but
know you're too angry.

Of course I'm fucking angry.

You walk into this theatre
with your thirty shilling boots,

telling me howl
should set about my work!

I warn you, I have a temper.

And I have been known to strike
out with the first object at hand.

When and if that be a property blade,

well some have sharper edges than
is needful, so have a care.

To die on stage at the hands
of a beautiful woman.

I am no such.

I think I can make you an actress of
truth, not a creature of artifice.

I can do this. But I cannot train you
unless you give a little towards me.

It is not in my nature to give.

I have my talent and
I'm jealous of it.

And though I give you credit that you

and you alone in all
the town have seen it,

I am not so dazzled by the
lord and master in you

that I cannot resent you.

Yes, you are right. I am
intent on doing something

that no other has yet done.

And I lost my purpose
yesterday with fear of the pit.

But I will conquer them.
And it shall not be said

when I have my fame and
my two pound a week

that lord Rochester took to me

and touched me with the
shining wing of his genius,

and so turned me into a
little corner of his greatness. No!

I shall be valued for me

and for what I knew I
could do upon this stage

and for what I, Lizzie Barry, how
I took the heat of my own soul

and moulded it and turned it into a
wondrous thing and so triumphed.

If I can help you to that triumph

I am not so devoted to the
trumpeting of my own works

that I would wish to take credit.

So you say now, but in the alehouse

when the play is done and
the talk is of my Cleopatra,

will you not glide towards
your cronies with a:

"I taught her that piece of business”,

or "she could not be
heard in the gallery

till I instructed her
in a trick or two"?

Madam, I offer my services.

If you see no advantage in them,
they can as easy be withdrawn.

You could buy my slit
for a pound a night, sir.

I would not mind that.

But I think you would not have it so.

What I think you want is power
over my, which I do bridle at.

For it is only I who can do
what you say I can do.

If you wish to play a pan in this,
I would strongly know why.

Ask yourself what you
want from the theatre.

I want the passionate
love of my audience.

I want, when I make
a sweep of my arm

to carry their heads away,

and for when I die, for them to
sigh for never seeing me again

till the next afternoon.

Here is your answer.

I want to be one of that multitude.

I wish to be moved.

I cannot feel in life.

I must have others do it
for me here in the theatre.

You are spoken of as a man
with a stomach for life.

I am the cynic of our golden age.

This bounteous dish which
our great Charles

and our great god have more or less
in equal measure placed before us

sets my teeth permanently on edge.

Life has no purpose. It is everywhere
undone by arbitrariness.

I do this and it matters not
a jot if I do the opposite.

But in the playhouse, every action,
good or bad, has its consequences.

Drop a handkerchief and it
will return to smother you.

The theatre is my drug, and
my illness is so far advanced

that my physic must
be of highest quality.

Oh, my lord. Upon these conditions
I endeavour to do what you want.

What I want, is that we
meet again tomorrow

to consider Ophelia. - Ophelia?

Mr. betterton will
revive Hamlet next month

and you will play Ophelia.

Ophelia then, if you wish.

But let us not neglect the lesson in
Mr. etherege's speech.

And what is that?

That women should ever
view men with suspicion.

I shall be happy to return
and address our work

with that instruction written
on the inside of my skull.

Do me now. - How?

Mouth.

Trembling, confused,
despairing, limber, dry.

A wishing, weak, unmoving lump I lie.

This dad of love whose
piercing point, oft tried,

with virgin blood, ten
thousand maids have dyed,

now languid lies in
this unhappy hour,

shrunk up and sapless,
like a withered flower.

I have a feeling
this is going nowhere.

I have that feeling, too. I've
met this woman. Lizzie Barry.

That new actress?
She ain't no looker.

There is spirit in her.

When a gent sees the spirit
and not the eyes or the tits,

then the gent is in trouble.

Would you call me a cynic?

I would call you a man

who pretends to like
life more than he does.

Is that cynic.

I'm just a moll-sack.
I don't do questions.

Well, if I am a cynic,

how have I fallen in
love with a plain woman

whom I do not know?

You saw her on stage.

All the colours and
them poems they say.

Gives 'em a glow. You seen
her out of the theatre?

No.

Well, then it's not her,
it's the theatre.

That, or... - Or what?

They say men fall three times.

First is calf love. Second
is the one you marry.

And third?

Third..., third is your
death-bed bride.

You sniff her, you sniff
your own shroud.

Ah, how you have cheered me.

Go home and sleep.
Don't want to sleep.

Then go home and think.

Don't ever want to think again.

John, don't make me care for you.

I'd rather you came your fetch over
my face than leave me with that.

Lump of caring.

Now go home and forget.

"Much wine had passed
with grave discourse,

of who fucks who and who does worse.

When I, who still take care to see
drunkenness relieved by lechery,

went out into St. James's park,
to cool my head and fire my head.

But though St. James
has the honour on't,

'tis consecrate to prick and cunt.

There, by most incestuous birth,

strange woods spring
from the teeming earth.

And nightly now, beneath their shade,
are buggeries, rapes and incests made.

Mr. huysmans. Perhaps a bottle

and glass would be handsome
adornments to your composition.

They are not appropriate objects
in a family portrait, my lord.

Mr. huysmans, here
is another thought.

Do you see that monkey
yonder, dancing to the fiddle?

Can't help but notice how
human these creatures are.

I would sit that monkey
on a pile of solemn volumes,

and place in her
hand a scrap of paper

as if it were a poem she
had just written, d'you see?

And while she is
offering the poem to me,

I am crowning her with the bays.

I find lady Rochester

a more elegant and
interesting subject.

You are wide of the point, sir.

Elegance, interest, all
very well in their way,

but what do they illuminate?

Am I not, then, an apt
partner for you to sit with?

You are apt, Elizabeth,
you are very apt.

But you would rather
be painted with a monkey?

It is of a muchness.

You are both apt
in your different ways.

In this portrait I am no
better than a monkey,

who knows the names of his ancestors.

And I?

A gaudy female monkey, gloating
over the opulence of your cage.

I love London.

Everyone catches its
generous spirit so quickly.

Indeed.

I do not mean to upset people, alcock,

but I have to speak my mind,

because what is in my mind
is always more interesting

than what is happening in
the world outside my mind.

Makes you impossible to
live with though. D'you see?

Did I once praise you
for your blunt manner?

It was your reason for employing me.

It could as easy be
your grounds for dismissal.

Now, get me the monkey.

John? I could bear our
marriage more easily

if there were no pretence.

If I were merely a housekeeper
and a conduit for the noble line.

But when you are away,
you write so beguilingly

and how you love me and...

I do not think you mean to
torture me, but it is a torture

to be informed of
passion from a distance

and then in the flesh
to be so reviled.

You know, I always mean it to be well

when we are together,
but after a few weeks

I find, I have no gift for it.

In my mind I am someone else.

Then cut me out of your
head and have done.

Do not command me to do
something beyond my power.

Is the fault mine? If
I were a better wife,

would you not need the
whorehouse and the inn?

Every man needs the
whorehouse and the inn.

But it's not the inn or a
whore that I see in your eyes,

it's some other
creature. The playhouse.

An actress.

And when your eyes shone the other
day, they were shining for her?

They were.

I see I am more of an obstacle to
your London life than I supposed.

I'll be gone by the morning.

My lord.

How is Ophelia in this scene?

Well, she's mad.
She's out of her wits.

There are many ways to
be out of your wits.

Yes. Well, there's grief.
And drink.

And love.

So I hear. These different states,
how would you show them?

Show them?

Their physical manifestation.

Close your eyes.

Close your eyes.

O, what a noble mind
is here o'ertrhown.

The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's,
eye, tongue, sword. And I...

Again!

O, what a noble mind
is here o'ertrhown.

The courtier's, soldier's,
again!

O, what a noble mind
is here o'ertrhown.

The courtier's, soldier's,
scholar's, eye...

Again!

The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's,
eye, tongue, sword. And I...

Again!

O, what a noble mind
is here o'ertrhown.

The courtier's, soldier's,
scholar's, eye...

Again!

What's wrong?

You know what was wrong. Again!

She has done that speech
twenty times this afternoon.

And she will do it twenty more.

No-one has worked like this
in the history of the theatre.

Exactly.

O, what a noble mind
is here o'ertrhown.

The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's,
eye, tongue, sword.

And I, of ladies most
deject and wretched,

that sucked the honey
of his music vows.

O, what a noble mind
is here o'ertrhown.

The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's,
eye, tongue, sword.

And I, of ladies most
deject and wretched,

that sucked the honey
of his music vows.

O woe is me, to see what I have seen,

0, see what I see!

And there's some fennel for you, and
columbine, and there's rue for you.

And here's some for me.

We may call it herb
of grace 0' Sundays.

O, you must wear your
rue with a difference.

He is gone. He is gone,

and we, cast away, moan:

God have mercy on his soul.
And of all ye Christian souls.

No-one likes a clever bastard.

I pray god. - God be with ye.

Well, Lizzie. My congratulations.

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Will you take the air with me?

I was thinking, a drink.

Lord Rochester left at the curtain.

Then I shall take the
air alone. Good night.

My lord?

John...

Madam, this driveway will not do.

Good afternoon, my lord. You
sent no warning of your arrival.

The road is not functional and
the grounds are a swamp.

Were you here more often, you'd know
that oxfordshire is no dry county.

It is a good thing, if a novelty

that John devotes
himself to the house.

I understood that he was devoting him-
self to an engagement in the theatre.

That would not be appropriate
for a man of breeding.

Anyone can drink.

Only a few can match
my determination.

We who are nobility rise
above the calls of flesh.

That is true. We have our
strength of will, do we not?

I hope we do.

But supposing we are perverse
and use our will to bad ends?

Then we search deep inside ourselves

and we tear out the evil.

Tear deeper, mother.

Lizzie Barry!

Lizzie Barry!

Lizzie Barry!

I ran away from your love
and now I run towards it!

Test my love in any way you see fit!

Test me! I will not fail!

Fifteen, get back some of the money,

I lost on Lizzie "horseface" Barry.

Yes, how is the little
caper going, Johnny?

I hear she charges by the minute.

Come on, Johnny, all
gentlemen together.

You're not a gentleman, George.

You were trained as a lawyer
and you write plays for money.

Oh, yes. And what about your
commission from the king?

Does that not count?

That is quite different.
Different, of course.

May one inquire how the
great work progresses?

Written the first line yet?

I, at least, do not plagiarise
the wit of my friends

and pass it off as my own.

Come on, Johnny, be fair.

Sit!

What was the wager?

The wager was fifteen guineas.

My lord, the actress
Elizabeth Barry is outside.

She will wait.

She's very insistent.

She is a whore and she will wait.

It's a made hand.

I was not good in the
play this afternoon.

I craved reassurance.

All I could think about was you.

You see, that is where there
is still imbalance between us.

Because you demand so much
of me and so little of yourself.

You took my small gift and
polished it until it shone.

Yet your own great gifts
you just throw away.

There. You see, I went too far.

A trait which in you is
fascinating, but in me is a fault.

"And wit was his vain,
frivolous pretence

of pleasing others
at his own expense."

Lizzie Barry.

Read me some more?

The French, I keep coming
back to the French.

There they are, the envy of Europe.

They keep a nice class of brothel.

Of course, they're a bunch of cunts.

That's not the point. I need
money and they can provide it.

And I won't hide it from
you, John. Things are bad.

I can't get money out of Louis
unless I dissolve the parliament

and I can't get money out of
parliament unless I fight Louis.

Well, choose.

I need money from both of them.

You spoke of a big challenge.

Louis's sent in a new
ambassador. Cultivated type.

Here's my plan. Your
great work, we stage it,

to welcome him to London.

Big gesture of friendship.

And we show we're
better than they are.

A spectacle with some
really profound writing.

You're the man for it.
Will you do it for me?

At betterton's next spring,
when the season's finished.

You're desperate.

What we need to
celebrate is life itself.

Well I'm obviously the man for that.

Good. I'll send chiffinch to
talk to you about the money.

Costumes, settings,
something really splendid.

Splendid, yes. And unusual.

There, John.

Fruit. Fruit from south
America growing here.

It dazzles the mind.

D'you see what can be done
with knowledge and application?

I eat to swive and swive to eat again.

Ink! Ink, bring me ink!

Not drink, lump! Ink!

Alcock, did I not leave
you in the country?

I walked back, my lord.

Back again. Back again.
Sceptres bear. Fear.

I'm worried. This French business
couldn't be more important.

What's he doing?

He's writing. For the first
time since I've known him.

But what?

Sublime thoughts. Philosophy in verse.

I believe he's on the
verge of greatness.

You've read some?

He shares everything with me.

You should wear more jewellery.

I cannot provide for it on my wages.

Does the Earl not provide?

The Earl is not one
of life's providers.

But the king is.

If you want the best, you
may receive it from me.

I shall be everything
you wish me to be.

I wish you to be my eyes
and ears on his earlship.

I am his lover. But I
am your true subject.

Then you'll serve me in this matter?

Yes I will.

And we shall both profit.

Does the writing of the
play go well, my lord?

Alcock, try not to be a cunt.

We will do this until
you get it right.

My lord, Alice twooney
has sent word.

Her child is sick and she shan't come.

What was to be her role?

She was playing little clytoris.

Of course, alcock!

This is your moment,
you'll stand in for her.

No, my lord. I beg your pardon?

I'm alcock, little clytoris
is beyond my range.

Molly!

I am not a visible person.

Do not cross me.

Madam, your dildos are not to
compare with what I've seen.

Indeed, they're paltry ware.

Short dildos leave
pleasure half undone.

I'm sorry, my lord,
I do have a question.

Are you sure this
entertainment will be fitting

for both, the occasion
and the company.

Molly, the entire piece
has been devised

with the French in mind.

In Paris, fornication in the streets
with total strangers is compulsory.

Oh, beg pardon, my lord.

My most southerly venture is epsom.

My lord.

I asked for no interruptions.

My suit is one of the utmost urgency.

The stage direction at
the end of this scene

requires, in my opinion,
some authorial exposition.

It seems straightforward enough.

Yes, um, then dance six
naked men and women,

the men doing obedience
to the women's cunts,

kissing and touching them often,

the women in like manner
to the men's pricks,

kissing and dandling their codds,

and then fall to fucking.

After which the women sigh and
the men look simple and so sneak off.

The end of the second act.

A strong scene. An
eminently playable scene.

And though I say it
myself, a climactic one.

And will the kind of equipment

that young lady has in her hands
be available for gentlemen for

strapping around the middle for
the execution of the scene?

I had not envisaged you
to be so encumbered.

I feel the scene should be given

in the flesh.

And will we give two
performances on the day?

No, Mr. Harris.

Oh, I am glad to hear
that from the author.

With the dress rehearsal,
the court performance

and the public showing
I envisage three.

Right, I don't know if you've
met my regular understudy,

Mr. Lightman, he's a
most dependable fellow.

Sir, you have the honour
of playing my understudy.

Well, I shall take this opportunity
to withdraw from the engagement.

You are one of life's understudies!

If tonight goes wrong we'll
be at war within a week.

Have faith.

Whatever else may go wrong,
your words will command admiration.

They always do.

Lizzie, you're looking pale.

Molly, work the magic
of your an on Mrs. Barry.

There's the French ambassador.

No, makes me weepy.

All you ladies of merrie england

who have been to
kiss the duchess's hand

pray did you lately observe in the
show a noble Italian

called signor dildo?

This signor was one
of her highness's train

who helped to conduct
her over the main.

But now she cries out:

To the Duke I will go, I have no
more needs for signor dildo.

The good lady southesk broke into
a laugh to see how the ballocks...

Very good, this Italian workmanship.

People, pay more for quality.

I'd like to meet the
man who wrote this.

This signor is sound,
safe, ready and dumb

then away with these
nasty devices and show

how you rate the just
merits of signor dildo.

Oh, aah signor dildo! Oh, aah signor
dildo! Oh, aah signor dildo!

Thus in the zenith of my lust I reign,

I eat to swive and swive to eat again.

Let other monarchs
who their sceptres bear

to keep their subjects
less in love than fear

be slaves to crowns,
my nation shall be free.

My pintle only shall my sceptre be.

My laws shall act more pleasure than
command, and with my prick

I'll govern all the land.

Chas, tell me this ain't happening.

He's going to get his
prick out any second,

I can feel it in my water.

It's very amusing, because in France
he would be executed for this.

The king commands all men, from
humid cunt, to humane arsonist.

Buggery we choose
and buggery we'll allow.

I do proclaim the manly arse so firm
shall be the sole recipient of sperm.

Lord Rochester.
This portrayal of yours,

would it be based on
a particular monarch?

No, your highness.

My character is far too
fantastical a creation

ever to have drawn breath.

Now resume your seat,
you're intruding on my stage.

No, you're intruding on mine.
I hand you a chance

to show your shining talent and
what do you give me in return?

A pornographic representation
of the royal court

where the men deal only in buggery

and the women's sole
object of interest is the dildo!

A monument to your reign.

Johnny!

Out, out, out!

Disappear? People don't disappear.

Monsieur barrillion.

Your majesty, it is with regret

that I must make my return
to France tout de suite.

I hate racing, sport of
kings, sport of peasants.

Come on, Georgie, you'll
like it when you win.

I must have seen the backside
of sixty pound today.

I could have bought a horse.

"Vanishing spark”, why did
you let me bet on a horse

called "vanishing spark"?
What the fuck?

Johnny?

Gents! Spare a drink
for a couple of chums?

Where have you been?

Our show was such a
success in the capital,

we had to undertake an
extensive tour of the provinces.

Now, where's the fucking drink?

Come on Charlie, get
out your winnings.

This is it, gentlemen. This is
the residence of the whore,

personally recommended
by Mr. dryden himself.

Who glories in the
name of Molly noakes.

Well, what are we waiting for?
Open up, keepers of the gate!

Molly! Molly!

Molly! "Molly!

Gentlemen?

Where is Molly? We want
Molly and we want her fast.

Young man, you are
pissing on my top boots!

Yes, fellow.

But you are a whorehouse doorstep man,
and we are the cream of the country.

I am the constable of the watch.

Dryden can't even write a shag map.

You, sir, are a rogue and a liar.

Murder! Help!

Johnny! Johnny!

Now then, gentlemen,

I do believe there has been
a small species of error.

We are... Johnny! Johnny!

Johnny! No!

My eyes!

Johnny, please!

Johnny!

I told you.

It's been six months.
Where the fuck is he? Find him!

Your majesty.

I find myself at the gates of death,

almost blind and utterly lame.

Scarce with the reasonable
hope to ever see you again.

With my sickness it seems the world
has turned hateful of me.

But I will rise again
to right this injustice

and take back your head.

The Mercury cures the pox
but it scrambles the mind.

It poses a problem for
a gent, does it not?

The prick or the brains?

Sshhh, Johnny, sshhh...

He's been seen in cheapside

accompanied by a
sewing man and a whore.

If he's very drunk,
he'll be no problem.

If he's a bit drunk, be careful.

What if he's sober?
You've got the wrong man.

Ladies and gents, gather
near. And listen well!

For I got a doctor's cure to sell.

Mouth, stomach, knees and toes.

All be cured by doctor bendo.

The French parliament,
his syphilitic earlship...

I'm being pissed on from half
a dozen directions at once

and it don't accord with
my majestic dignity.

We have three confirmed sightings.
Our sources are impeccable.

Take me to them. Now.

I've shut up shop for the day.

I had to turn forty people away.

I think it mean work,
cozening citizens of their money.

We made eighty pound today.

We are here for our recreation.

We're here because we
can't show our faces.

Do you ever think on
our lord Jesus Christ?

He was cast like me
into the wilderness.

He was scorned and reviled. He
was betrayed by his followers.

I believe that in most respects,

his life was of a different
character from yours.

He would have brought Billy
downs back from the dead.

Ah, these are wandering thoughts.

Leave me.

Go!

Johnny! Johnny, Johnny.

Johnny!

No, leave him alone!

On your knees!

I'm not impressed.

It has taken you
six months to find me.

Do you think in the six months

I've given you more than
five minutes thought?

Those parliament bastards
are trying to shaft me again

with a new bill to
exclude my successors.

Subtle.

Instead of chopping kings' heads off,
you pick and choose the ones you want.

That's my civil war, not you.

Mr. etherege is packing
out the dorset gardens

with you as the
greatest spark on earth.

The east end is throwing
down its purse

for you to be a quack doctor.

And the town has you
branded as a coward

who leaves his friend
to die in a brawl.

All men would be cowards, if
they only had the courage.

The boy died and you ran off.

I have to go too far, do you see?

I must always exceed or I
do not feel like I'm alive.

And that's why the great epic

about my reign became a
squalid little play about knobbing.

And that's why downs died?

I thought about putting
you in the tower.

I even considered putting
your head up on a spike.

But I've decided on something worse.

I'm going to ignore you.

I will no longer encourage any
hope in my breast for you.

I am condemning you to be you.

For the rest of your days.

How I hate the country.

Drink. Drink!

The shelves are empty, my lord.
Go to the cellars, cunt!

I said, find me a fucking drink!

Are you unable to discharge
your duties as housekeeper?

I fear this is the last, my lord.

Elizabeth why has the
cellar not been replenished?

Leave us. Leave us!

My lady.

I am ever your last resort

when your mistress has
kicked you into the street

and the last whore in covent garden
refuses to attend to you,

then and only then do you come to me.

I think you will never
be a contented woman,

until you are a much respected widow.

And I am hard at work on doing
you that last good service.

I don't want you to die.
I want you to live

and live differently.

Ow! Stop it!

Elizabeth!

Why? If it's good for you,
is it not good for me, too?

It is not good for me. - Why
then do you pursue that path?

When were you last a sober man?

Three, no four, four years ago.

Five, five.

And are you not,
John, a rational man?

Has not your intellect
been widely praised?

It has.

So this man of intellect, this
rational man, knowing that five years

of constant drinking have rendered
his body feeble and his spirit low,

what would this man of intellect do?

Do you seek to trap me like a...
= what would he do?

Cunning lawyer?
He would desist! Cunt!

Yes he would desist. And those he
loved, would they not show their love

by beseeching him to desist?

It is not so simple my darling.

I've heard men say
that the devil is in you.

If that be so, I know how
he made his entrance.

He has suffered much, both in
sickness and in reputation.

You are a man of god.
Bring my son to him.

My son. God has seen fit to visit
these terrible diseases on you.

But it torments me less as a
mother to see you die in agony

in the arms of god
than live an atheist.

Mother...

If god wants men to have faith,

why does he not make us
more disposed to believe?

Most men are so disposed.

But not me.

Because you set your
reason against religion.

I despised reason.

You clung to reason.

You laughed in the face of
god with the aid of reason.

Speak me that speech again.
Those words from Isaiah.

And he is despised
and rejected of men.

A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief.

And we hid our faces from him.

God raise me from this bed,
to do what I must do.

We have taken soundings. It's very
close, we may be fifteen votes short.

The house cannot give way
to the king on this matter.

Then get me fifteen votes.

And I believe it will not!

The Earl of Rochester.

Coward! - Coward!

Coward! - Coward!

Coward!

My lord.

The bill before us would seek
to bar the king's brother

from succeeding to the throne on
the grounds that he is a catholic.

And for this reason it has been
said, that no good protestant

can speak against this bill.

And yet, sir, I cannot
forebear to offer

some objections against it.

But the question
will arise in the minds

of some lords here present as to
whether I am indeed a good protestant.

No man here, will question,
I hope, my goodness

in any one of the three
chief pursuits of our age:

The scribbling of verses,
the emptying of bottles

and the filling of wenches.

There may be those with
a claim to be as good as I.

But taking these three
pursuits simultaneously,

and, sir, I have so taken them,

and can vouch that considerable
manual dexterity is required.

I can not be equalled,
let alone bettered.

So let not my goodness be questioned.

It is not so many years, since
our present king's father

was killed on a kind of stage outside
the walls of this very building.

And in time his murderers
were condemned

and themselves executed.

But were they condemned
without being heard?

They were not.

In spite of the
certainty of their guilt

and the horrid weight of
their cowardly crime

they were allowed the
due process of the law.

But what is suggested before
this house, is that we condemn

that murdered king's
second son with less shrift

than was given to his killers.

My lord, let us have justice.

When the time arrives for our good
and present king to be taken from us,

let then his catholic brother

be impeached in this
house in the normal way.

And if he be found wanting

then let his head be
chopped off at the neck.

If the house feel that
is what he merits.

But for my pan I shall believe
my oath of allegiance

to the throne to be
a thing inviolable.

And that whatever the faith
of the successor to the throne,

his pre-eminence in the royal
lineage must hold sway

over all other considerations.

Sir, my humble motion

is that the monarchy be upheld

and this meddlesome and fractious
bill be thrown out forever.

Johnny, you did it. You finally
did something for me.

I didn't do it for you.
I did it for me.

Your majesty. We won. By forty votes.

There you are Johnny, you did it.

Molly, I've brought in the Earl,
to gawp at my triumph.

Authors have a place Mr.
Etheredge. It is in the garret.

I do not like them
cluttering up my theatre.

Lizzie won't see him.

She won't see Johnny,
this is the only way.

I don't want her upset.

I could have written a splendid play.

No you couldn't.
"The man of mode"

the spirit of the age,
caught for all time.

I did it. You didn't, because
you don't have the gift.

Gentle George.

What is he doing here?
= don't blame me.

John, I'll see you after.
I'll be at long's.

Very well. Lockett's?

Long's.

Long's.

I saw the first two acts.

And you didn't like me?
To the contrary.

I could bear your
brilliance no longer.

Mr. Harris. You are playing me. The
understudy has become the actor.

My lord, I heard news of
your death six months ago,

and experienced a spasm of regret.

But your subsequent resurrection
has quite cured my grief.

I am nature and you are ad.

Let us see how we compare.

Mr. Harris has a quick change
and you will let him be.

Here we have him,
your restoration gent.

He's not pissed his breeches today

and he can walk in a straight
line for two hundred yards,

without falling on his
face and retching.

Now, look you upon this picture.

And on this. He has not
washed, he cannot walk

and he most certainly will
not be able to raise either

the price of his dinner
or his own pintle.

I must be got into my nightgown.

This is what I envy
in you stage people.

You make time seem so important.

I must change my clothes now!

I must make my entrance now!

But life is not a succession
of urgent "nows!

It is a listless trickle
of "why should I's".

You're on.

Five minutes only, Mrs. Barry.

Never wanted you
for a mistress, Lizzie,

I wanted you for my wife.

You have no understanding, do you?

It was not being your mistress
that I was tired of, John.

I was tired of you.

I did not wish to be your wife.

I do not wish to be anyone's wife.

I wish to continue
being the creature I am.

London walks into this
theatre to see me.

Not George's play, nor Mr. betterton.

They want me, and they want
me over and over again.

I will not swap my certain glory
for your undependable love.

I wanted you to have my child.

I had your child.

A daughter, when the theatres
were closed in the summer.

By the start of the
season I was flat enough

to play desdemona in a nightgown.

Two minutes, Mrs. Barry, please.

What is her name? = Elizabeth.

Elizabeth. The child of our passion.

When I bred my other children,

I placed no value in
human life at all.

Now you send me away.

I cannot go back to
where I was before.

I shall never forgive you
for teaching me to love life.

If I taught you that, then
our account is settled.

Your lesson to me was my livelihood
and mine to you was life itself.

We have no need to meet again.

Lizzie.

If you are in London, and you have
half a crown in your pocket,

you may see me there.

For the rest, I hope I shall
always be in your head

sometimes in your thoughts,

but never in your debt.

I am thirty-three years
old. I am dying.

I have tried to speak the truth,
but I have been betrayed.

Elizabeth, speak to me of abduction.

I was eighteen and worth two
and a half thousand a year.

You ambushed me.

Bundled me into your
coach and rattled me away.

The king thrust...

He charmed the tenderest
virgins with delight

and with his style did
fiercest blockheads fright.

So there he lies at the last.
The death-bed convert

the pious debauchee.

Could not dance half
a measure, could 1?

Give me wine, I drain the dregs and
toss the empty bottle at the world.

Show me our lord Jesus in
agony and I mount the cross

and steal his nails for my own palms.

There I go,

shuffling from the world,
my dribble fresh upon a Bible.

I look upon a pinhead
and I see angels dancing.

Do you like me now?

Do you like me now?

Do you like me? Now?