Original subtitles

I need to see father!

The really important thing is to make a thumb-sized hole in the middle of each

cookie. Like this.

And you fill them with any kind of fruit preserve that you like the best.

For me, it's cherries from my alley.

Busy? Yes? I think you should sit down.

No, I think I'd like to keep my hands busy.

And then you fill each cookie with a bit of fruit jam.

And it bakes off lovely.

I'll just let these cool.

Everybody can have one or a few, as many as you.

Lizzie.

Sister.

Miss Gordon, stop.

And you, you blotting, scheming, frowning, coarse pussy.

Miss Gordon, ladies.

I think you're under shock, Miss Gordon.

Good day, Ms. Borden.

I'm Ms. Mead. I'm the matron here at Taunton Jail.

I'll be looking after you.

Hello.

Am I to change clothes?

No. You can wear that if you'd like, but as you've not yet been convicted of any

crime, you can wear what you'd like as your trial progresses.

How long will I be here?

You might be here a very long time indeed.

But, Miss Borden, as you are a mistress of no little means, your stay here

needn't be too trying.

Your meals will be sent from the City Hotel and the Daily Newspaper forwarded

to you.

This is how I shall spend my days.

Good morning.

How long have you been awake?

Since dawn.

Fish hash today, as it's Friday.

That's all right, Miss Mead. You enjoy it.

There's a red bird in that tree.

A cardinal.

His song is always first.

It sounds like he's saying, what cheer, what cheer?

What a magnificent summer it's become.

I wish I could be outside with my cherry trees.

Has a Bridget called on me?

Bridget Sullivan?

She also goes by Maggie.

Or Margaret.

No.

There is someone who has requested a visit.

Ladies? I'm going to ask you one last time.

Did you do it?

Can we please speak of other things?

Your story makes no sense, Lizzie. Answer me.

Answer me!

No, I didn't.

I've arrived at a kind of impasse.

Because when I hear your conversations, I simply don't believe you.

There's something I never told you.

When Mother was dying, I was called to her bedside.

I made her a promise to protect you, Lizzie.

And I am here to honor that promise, but Lizzie, you are making this very

difficult.

I have met with your lawyers, and your case is terrible. Your inquest was a

disaster. Your lawyers can't even begin to craft a narrative from it. Why?

Because each time you told the story, it was different.

I heard a moan, and I ran downstairs.

But you said you were up back.

Yes.

I was vomiting all morning. We all were. I couldn't keep a thing down.

So you picked some fruit?

Yes. And you stayed out in the heat to eat it?

Yes. Except for when...

I went out back to look for some sinkers. I think I... I mentioned that

before. For a fishing trip for which you had no fishing line. You just thought

you'd look for some sinkers.

Yes.

Just say it was that McDyke and I'll give you an alibi that will save your

life.

I need something to hold on to.

Just say that it was her and we'll be free.

It wasn't me.

And it wasn't her.

How do you know? If it wasn't you, then it could have been her.

Just say that it was. No.

I won't move one inch.

Never.

You're going to regret this if it's the last thing I do you're going to live to

regret this

I don't understand.

Because you're notorious, Lucy, there's an incentive for anyone overhearing your

conversations to forward them to the newspapers.

So, I spoke to the judge and he agreed you could meet your lawyer someplace

more private.

Thank you.

Anyone with eyes can see you're innocent.

Ms. Warren, your lawyers will be here within the hour.

Good day to you all.

Look,

tis pity she's a whore.

I think not.

Thank you, officer.

The top of page two, that's the...

Nance?

These are my lawyers.

Hello. Hello, ma'am.

Gentlemen, I'm sure you already know, but this is Nance O'Neil.

Gentlemen, I wonder if you might allow Mr. Warden and I some privacy?

Certainly.

We'll continue tomorrow.

Lizzie?

Good day, ma'am.

Are these cuttings from a cherry tree?

Yes.

My spiteful sister chopped them down, but I'm forcing the buds.

I'll save them.

We need to talk.

Lizzie, I know more than you might imagine about your case.

How? I fucked the bailiff.

Lizzie, you're in trouble. Your inquest was insane.

My insatiable bailiff, Beau, told me all about it. He told me everything I wanted

to know.

Needed to know.

If you were upstairs when your father returned, you would have walked past

your dead mother. I didn't see her because I was downstairs in the kitchen.

But you said you came downstairs when you heard your father come in.

Yes.

So, you were upstairs.

No, I was downstairs.

Well, I was very confused. I had been drugged to calm my nerves.

I had just walked in on my father and stepmother murdering... Don't lie to me,

Lizzie.

You may have been drugged, but you weren't confused.

You're just a bad actor.

What on earth do you mean?

See? Not buying it.

I know you did it.

And I know you had your reasons.

I saw how they treated you.

Your beast of a stepmother.

Your alcoholic of a father. And that was reason enough as far as I'm concerned.

I sensed your rage the moment I laid eyes on you. It's what drew me

to you.

Do you know who I based my most recent triumph on when I slayed them as Lady M

in the great Scottish play?

Do you know who I based my performance on?

You.

Mine was a Lady M of quiet, burning, indignant anger.

She can't help but push her husband to act.

She is so stifled as a woman in a world of men. She herself is desperate

to murder.

If I don't teach you a few tricks, you're going to burn.

I don't want that for you.

You are the most famous woman in the world, and I intend to be just as

famous.

If I save you, will you help me do that?

Be my patron?

My benefactor?

Yes.

Lesson one.

You must learn to make an entrance.

As you walk into the room, as the trial of the century begins,

let them see a lady.

You don't deserve to be here, but you're glad as it is your opportunity to show

every man, woman, and child what a great lady looks like.

Begin. Again.

Guilty. Boo.

Again.

Back in character, please.

A vision of mourning that you find the courage to carry on.

Better. Again.

Head down.

Better, Lizzie.

Better.

When you take your seat, it's as if you are alighting onto a throne.

Back straight.

Legs crossed and tucked.

Show a little ankle.

And once you are seated, look to nobody.

Not to the gallery, not to the judge.

Look only to the jury.

You're famous, Lizzie.

You're not like them, and they know it.

Show them it is your pleasure as a goddess to delight amongst mortal men.

Turn to them.

Smile.

Now turn away.

Don't regard them again.

They have a job to do.

Lesson two.

Lizzie, they are preparing the skulls of your father and stepmother as evidence.

My bailiff told me they have been stripped of flesh and gore to show the

violence of the axe wounds.

Lizzie, when you see the skulls, you must fate.

It's the most sympathetic and vulnerable thing that a woman can do.

It suggests to the jury that you are innocent.

If you can't stand the sight of it now, how could you have done it then?

How could you have kept chopping?

No! Too theatrical.

It must look real.

When one faints, one's whole

organism goes limp.

Again.

loose at the knees like a puppet whose strings have been cut and BOOM!

Better.

How?

Yes, that's the-

I must apologize for what you're about to see.

But I assure you, the spectacle is an utmost necessity to my case.

Gentlemen of the jury, this

is what she did.

She is a murderer.

Lizzie Borden is a liar. I ask that you send her to her death.

This woman should not be allowed to roam free to murder again.

We have proven without a shadow of a doubt that Lizzie Borden murdered her

parents in her... Sir,

I'm sorry.

This woman is a liar.

Third, Lizzie, and this is important,

you can't take the stand.

So you must show them just once that you are flesh and

blood.

You must cry, Lizzie.

Right, of course.

No!

Someone has taken an axe and cleaved you open!

Start low, like a great golden goose dipped

into a lake.

Prosecution calls Emma Borden to the stand.

Miss Borden, you are estranged from your sister, are you not?

Ms. Borden, are you not?

Ms. Boyle, are you not estranged from your

sister?

Fairly untrue.

There is no one closer to my sister than I.

And she is innocent.

Your Honor.

Order! She couldn't have killed our father and Mrs. Borden. May I have a

moment with my client? I saw a man try to break into our house the week before

the murder. A terrifying, pale man with an axe.

And two little children saw this man the day of the murder.

trip was my idea.

I told Lizzie that she and I should go fishing that very week.

I did.

And would she please do me the favor of trying to find these sinkers that I knew

were outside?

No!

This contradicts your sister's sworn inquest. My sister was drugged.

Morphine gave that inquest.

Moment!

Well, we heard both sides.

Let's get an idea of where we stand.

Who votes to convict?

To acquit.

There's just no way a woman could have done that.

I think it was a Portuguese.

Had to be.

When can we get alcohol again?

Well, I feel we can't just call the judge right back in.

Let's sally forth and continue playing men for an hour

As

the jury reached a verdict

We have, Your Honor.

And when they read out the verdict, do exactly as I say.

Miss Borden, please stand.

In the case of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Lizzie Andrew

Borden, how does the jury find the defendant?

Let the winds of

victory fill your sails and blow away every mote of resentment.

You must be gracious and grandiose.

We find the defendant.

Not guilty.

And to the jury, make sure you vary the inflection.

I wish you well.

I wish you well.

I wish you well.

I wish you well.

I wish you well I wish you well

I

wish

you well I wish you well

How will I ever repay you?

Just repay me.

His court is adjourned.

What is this? Flash powder. Those are photographs.

For me?

Yes.

Miss Borden has time for just a few questions. How did it feel? What will

you do now?

I want to say thank you to you all.

I'm relieved and heartened to see that justice was done today.

The tragedy done into my family can never be undone.

But perhaps now my sister and I can usher in a season of healing and

kindness for people and for animals.

That's what I'd like to do now.

To begin the project of making my heart and soul and home a place where no

living creature need feel fear.

Thank you all.

Lizzie!