Original subtitles

Good job.

Thank you.

Well, it must be a year since we left. Yes, I'd rather not talk about that, if

you don't mind.

been avoiding me?

No, no, of course not.

Won't you stand?

Oh, Uncle Charles, you don't look well.

Oh.

So it's still published?

Yes, but under another editor, of course. It's been a year now.

Can't you forget that night?

Lydia, do you imagine after what happened that I could enjoy sitting here

you making small talk? I came to you for help, do you remember? And you told me

it was nothing.

Would you like a cognac?

Yes, thank you.

Uncle Tom. I'm not your uncle.

I've known you since you were a baby. I never thought the time would come when I

wouldn't be glad to see you.

That's not fair.

I did my best to stop what happened.

All right, all right.

We're both guilty.

If only Max hadn't come into my office that day.

Yeah.

Monsieur de Marichal.

Monsieur.

Monsieur. Monsieur de Marichal. Monsieur de Marichal.

Monsieur de Marichal.

Monsieur de Marichal.

Monsieur de Marichal.

Oh, you agree with my judgment?

Well, not always, but quite often.

Now,

how can I help you?

Oh, you must be one of the oldest wine shippers in England.

Yes, we are the oldest.

Well, I admire your refusal to keep up with appearances.

Now, I mean not to modernize your delightful offices.

Oh, yes, well, we see no need to. Oh, quite so, quite so.

Mr. Drummond, for an article in my journal, we are asking various

wine to give their opinion on the greatest vintage they have ever sampled.

Ask a dozen experts and you get a dozen different opinions.

Oh, yes, well, that is the interest of the article.

But we have found some agreement on one.

Which one?

A Bordeaux, a Saint -Claire.

1864. Yes, that might be my choice as well, if one has to have a consensus.

Yes, but what is the good of consensus when no one can taste it?

If I can't taste it, there is not one bottle left on the face of the earth.

Are you so sure?

Well, I have heard it said that there may be one bottle

remaining.

Is it true?

Oh, my dear Monsieur de Marchal, everybody knows the last bottle of Saint

1864 was drunk a generation ago.

Everyone?

Would you excuse me?

After my partner's death last year, We found this bottle amongst his private

stock.

You haven't been tempted to open it?

Well, I've resisted the temptation.

The wine's dangerously old. It would be painful to open it and find it had died.

Oh, you are English. That's the trouble.

This is puritan self -denial. Huh?

Mr Drummond, we must come to terms. What price do you ask for this? Oh, the

wine's not for sale.

Oh, it must be for sale. And incidentally, I'm Scottish, not English.

It's rather a difference.

Look, I am in touch with someone who would pay 2 ,000 pounds for this bottle.

No, no, no, really. Tirod Cthulhu.

Ah, yes, Cthulhu.

He backed your magazine, didn't he? Yes, one of the four richest men in the

world. Yes.

He married a girl I've known since she was a baby.

You know Cthulhu?

No. We come from the same part of Scotland.

I supplied his father's cellars. Used to shoot with them.

Taught Sophie to fish. Used a gun.

Air gun, of course.

I'm a sort of adopted uncle to her.

The family didn't approve of her marrying Cthulhu, sir?

Well, their objections dwindled when they found out how much he was worth.

So you know Cthulhu?

I know of him. A great collector, Mr Drummond.

He has a passion for the unique. It is his only interest now.

To possess the priceless work of art, the rarest jewel, the last bottle of

For this, he might pay anything.

Yes, but I told you, the wine's not to fail, not even to calculate. Oh, you

can't keep it here!

Dying part, never to be tipped. I mean, it's fact release.

It's crazy, you can't... Let me take it.

Sorry. Sorry.

I have a heart condition. I'm not allowed to get upset.

Is there anything I can do? No, you're not.

Don't...

High explosive, but it keeps me alive.

Why don't you have a doctor?

No, no, no, no, I'm used to it.

I'm all right with these.

No, I don't want a doctor.

I want that bottle of wine.

Hey,

Sophie.

Sophie, darling, tell me, what do you make of this one? You like it?

Oh, no, you're not drinking. Never mind. It's only a drop. Just try it.

Excuse me.

Oh, it's delicious.

It's fourth rate.

Like Max.

Mr. Drummond, you've got some beautiful wine here, and I'm going to buy a whole

lot of it from you.

But I'm sure that my good friend Maxwell has told you why I'm really here. It's

that San Fleur. The one bottle.

Tell me, what's the chance it's still fit to drink?

Well, who can tell? The 1864 vintage was particularly fine. It may live longer

than most. On the other hand, it may already be dead.

That's why I won't open the bottle myself or tell anybody else the

This way, it's a unique and magnificent treasure.

But once it's secret out, it may be just another bottle of wine gone bad. You

English, you know, you're a race of poets.

You're all crazy. You love things like that. Actually, my family's Scottish.

Scottish? Yeah, of course. I'm sorry.

You were a wine merchant since Sophie's father.

Well, a little more than that. Yeah, well, good, then. Scottish blood will

you practical. Now, listen, I'll make you a proposition.

Mr. Drummond, for this one bottle, I will give you 10 ,000 pounds. With

no guarantees to its quality.

I'm not buying a bottle, Mr. Drummond. Not a bottle of wine. I'm buying

Romance on a very special occasion. You see, in two weeks' time, Sophie and me

have been married five years. Oh, my gracious.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And I've been worrying. You see, I could give

her jewels, a villa. But when you're married to a young woman only half your

age, you want to give her romance. You want to give her something unique,

something she don't forget. You understand what I mean? Yes, I

good. Then we've got ourselves a deal.

Now, you send the bottle along to my hotel. I keep it in my suite for the

two weeks. Always stand upright so the sediment go down and the room

constant at, what, 70 degrees?

All right, 65, okay.

And I don't want to decant it.

I want to pour the wine straight from that old bottle. That might be risky.

What, risky? You mean to pour with a hand steady like that?

I'm used to taking risks, Mr. Drummond. And you'll be there, I hope.

You see, everything is done just perfect.

Now, come on, you agree?

The date, Tuesday the 12th? And the price?

I can't remember the invitation. It's not an invitation. It's a command.

Come on, now, then.

You and me and Sophie and my good friend Max here.

Enjoy yourself, darling. Max taking care of you.

I've been worrying what to give you for our anniversary.

I tell you, right here I get it.

Mr. Drummond, may I call you Charles? Oh, please.

Well, Charles and Max, the big experts, they both agreed that the finest wine

ever made came from a little village near Bordeaux called Saint -Fleur in

And I've just bought for you the last bottle in the world.

You've got it. I got it. I got it. And together, the four of us are going to

drink it. What do you say to that?

Oh, darling.

What a beautiful thought.

Congratulations. That is wonderful.

Mr.

Ronsini. What's the matter, my dear?

Thank you, Miss Bill.

Come on, sir. No, no, I didn't want to ask you something. Well, we can't talk.

Thank you, Peter.

Right. Now, what's it all about?

Well, it's quite simple.

Max was my lover and Kiros has found out.

Oh, my dear.

I'm a wine shipper, not a marriage guidance counsellor. No, no, it's wine I

to ask you about.

Is it possible to poison a bottle of wine before the cork is pulled?

Well, that precious son... Whatever it is.

I mean, don't you realise why he's bought that bottle? Why he's made all

elaborate arrangements?

It's to get me and Max at that table to make sure we drink out of the same

bottle.

Have you told Max that you suspect this? No, I can't. He's not well. He mustn't

be worried or upset.

But supposing the wine's dead, then nobody would drink it. But supposing

good?

Well... Then I'd drink it myself.

Oh, I couldn't help you.

Well, I suppose it's possible to put a hypodermic needle through the cork, but

even so, it would be difficult to find a poison that wouldn't change the taste,

kill the wine, as well as you and your friend.

You disapprove?

Oh, not of adultery, of your choice.

Oh, try to understand, Uncle Charles.

Kiros doesn't really love me.

He married me for my background, my family.

I'm an ornament, a monument to his success and his virility.

Do you love Max?

I'm fond of him.

He's very kind. It was never serious.

But Keros has found out.

Can you imagine for a man like him how he feels humiliated? He wants to be

revenged. Yes, but he'd choose a different method.

He's far too intelligent to murder somebody by poisoning a bottle of wine.

They'd analyze the dregs, the glasses.

There'd be a post -mortem.

I don't know, Kiros.

He's capable of anything.

Oh, my dear, I think you're making a lot of fuss about nothing.

Then there's nothing you can do to help.

Well, don't worry.

I'll be there on the night.

We'll both keep an eye on that bottle.

All right?

Come on, I'll buy you some lunch.

My friends will be here soon. You will serve dinner at 8 .30 precisely.

Bien, monsieur. Sorry.

Okay. The French is more elegant.

D 'accord, monsieur.

Careful.

I understand, sir.

To knock it over would be a catastrophe.

You could call it that.

You look very beautiful, my dear.

Thank you.

Do you like my little present?

Say that you like it.

Yes, of course.

Good.

Ah, Charles, my dear. I'm so glad to see you.

Sophie, darling, look at you.

Max, my boy, I'm not going to offer you an aperitif tonight, you understand?

Of course. Look.

You see?

All that fuss about a bottle of wine.

Charles,

I want your advice.

Waiter, are you ready to start serving dinner?

What do you think?

You think it's time we let her breathe the air now?

Well, as long as we're allowed to breathe for no longer than half an hour,

that's about the limit, in my opinion. Half an hour, okay. Here we go, then.

First time in over a hundred years.

Gee.

Come on, Mac, come over here.

You've got to give a check on this every step of the way.

See, that's the kind of corkscrew I like.

Not these.

modern mechanical things. This way you can get a... you get a feel of the cork.

You can tell how deep you've gone.

That's it.

Don't worry.

I'm stopped.

I must be careful not to make the flight at the peak of cork in front of the

wine. I haven't been married to Kirov for five years without learning a

You all right, child?

Yes. That tells us nothing.

I think there's hope.

I think there's hope.

And in half an hour, we shall know.

They're ready for the fish.

They sent me to an American school in Switzerland.

That was quite an experience, let me tell you.

The greasy Greek, they call me.

They give me a pretty hard time, those boys. But, you know, that's what made me

decide to be a rich man.

But rich, I don't like to be pushed around.

You know, it's a funny thing.

Some of those same little boys, they grow up, they become big men, and they

to me now.

To me.

He said, Consuelos, please will you help us?

Help finance the movie, the little snob magazine, what?

Well,

it's hot in here, don't you think?

No, I don't think so.

I give orders this room to be kept 65 degrees. Look at the thermostat.

80. I could open the windows. No.

Wine could be disastrous. It doesn't drop in temperature. What do you say,

Charles? Well, it would be inadvisable. No.

Well, I'm not going to die of heat. There's one thing. Go on. Take your

off. Go on. Take it off. Take it off.

Max. Sophie, you don't mind, do you, darling?

No, I don't. No, there you are.

The wine can't mind either.

Come on, off with it, Max. Take it off.

That's it. Come on. The temperatures are a little higher than yours.

What, you think you're going to sit there and put us all to shame when

jagged? No, come on, off with it.

There. Oh, God, there goes your knife on the floor. No, don't.

Don't pick it up, Max. That's not the way to give you a nice clean one.

Don't worry. You've done anything nasty and dirty off the floor. That's what my

mother taught me when I was little.

That's better than this.

Same. Ha, ha.

I like your suspenders, Charles.

Now, the rum's the wrong temperature.

Here we go.

Nice. Very good, the fish. Yes, very good.

Well... The big moment has come.

Sophie, my darling, with your permission.

Uh, Weiler, the lights, please.

We should have had candles.

Candlelight is still the best for judging the color of a wine. My fault. I

forgot. It doesn't matter.

This is a big occasion for you, Max.

Something for you to tell your readers about. No, tonight I'm not thinking of

readers. For me simply to be present when the bottle was opened.

To drink the wine that no one will ever drink again.

Oh, my dear Cthulhu, this is a privilege for which I have no words to thank you.

No way to...

Express my gratitude. Well, don't upset yourselves, my boy.

Well, enough of talking.

We have passed the time.

And now the moment has come.

Sophie, my darling.

My gift to you.

Charles.

Night.

Now, in this bottle is a mystery.

And we must have respect for it. Charles, you were right. You said that

this bottle is corked, it keep its secret.

But once it is open, it could be just another bottle of bad wine, a joke, a

disaster. No, no, no. No, no, no.

We must not drink it. But, my dear, because if you don't understand, the

is open. Calm yourself.

Calm yourself. Yes, but when the bottle is open, the wine will die. Don't get

excited. Please believe me. I do know what I'm talking about.

Mr. Dolan, please explain to him. Will you explain to him?

That is the last bottle in the world.

Watch, my friend.

Watch very carefully look what I do

now

And an ambulance, quickly, please.

It

was

murder.

And we both witnessed it.

Your husband was playing on the fellow's emotions. He knew to bring on a heart

attack and an accident.

Apparently he'd forgotten to bring his pills.

Or had he?

Cthulhu took them out of his pocket, didn't he?

You're looking well, Sophie.

I am well.

And happy.

I'm glad to hear it. Oh, thank you.

I'm also in love.

Who's it this time?

My husband. Who else?

No. Husband?

You know, it's hard to remember why I was ever unhappy with Kirot.

When he emptied that bottle, poured the wine all over the floor, because of

me. And killed your lover because of you. When I knew how much I meant to

Well, Uncle Charles, I went to his room that night.

Do forgive me.

I must go.

I have enjoyed our little chat.