Original subtitles

thank you George

well

let me tell you about

Adam Verver.

I've already told you something about him.

that he was rich amiable

and generous.

that his relationship with his daughter was inevitably

a close one stretching over the years since his wife died.

but there's something else you ought to know about him

and that is that he was an eligible man. eligible that is for marriage.

in fact

he was a perfect --

perfect prey for any designing woman.

by the way this is uh this is my club.

they don't allow women in here so Fanny can't get at us

so there'd be no interruptions.

anyway...

when Maggie and Amerigo got married

it left him, so to speak, in the air

in a way I'll come back to in a moment.

not that you should suppose he felt left out of things.

on the contrary he was so meticulously included

both by the prince and Maggie that...

in a way his life became fuller even than before.

especially after the birth of the principino.

that's uh Italian for little prince.

the child was an endless delight to Verver.

he would play with it, feed it, take it in the park

and in a way

it brought him and Maggie closer than ever.

it is of course an old story that a beautiful

baby can forge a new link between husband and wife.

but Maggie and her father had,

with an unconscious ingenuity, converted the precious creature into a link between mama and grandpapa.

he's the endless source of delight to your father.

I love the way you don't mind too much.

should I?

well you might. you Italians have such firm ideas about children.

us old Italians.

you have your traditions. you might have felt them being trampled on.

your father's traditions are no less than mine.

he has no traditions. the Americans have none.

you have a great many. they're just not as old as ours.

[laughs]

anyway it makes him happy.

does that mean you think he's unhappy?

apart from the child I mean.

do you?

- he's happy with us. - how?

by being so happy.

do you think...

do you think it makes him think of marrying again?

... have you never thought of it? - no.

-would it worry you? - of course not.

well I suppose it does depend upon whom he marries

if one thinks of some of the ladies who arrive here.

no! they might suit him even if they don't suit you. - oh I think not.

our tastes are very much the same.

we shall have a house full next week.

we had the house full last week.

do you mind?

no.

it's nice when you live in the country to have the house full and it's big

enough to accommodate them all without everyone getting under each other's feet.

it's big enough. it's big enough for a regiment.

it won't be a regiment I promise you.

who's coming?

the miss Lutches.

your friends from America.

yes. they've taken a house here for the season

and the guest who's staying with them, a mrs Rance. I've not met her.

and Fanny and Bob are coming.

ahhhh

that pleases you.

one is always pleased to see Fanny.

... she talks so well. - better than I?

- more than you. - more means better?

- she explains. - explains what?

explains you, explains your father.

are we in need of explanation?

only to a foreigner

... and I am fond of explanations. - where does that leave me?

I mean what does it leave me?

it leaves you to continue to mystify me...

and I like that too.

then we must keep her here. she's clearly of benefit to us both.

I must go see what that father of mine is up to.

oh leave him alone. he's all right.

but there's no knowing what he'll allow that child to do.

yesterday he let him pull out all the plants in the greenhouse.

the head gardener was furious.

if our lives are to be ruled by the head gardener...

not ruled, just touched on here and there.

I'll come with you.

no no no, there's no need. I shan't be long.

now sit down.

put your feet up.

read your paper.

and what did you do in town today? I went to my club

and had lunch and then I went to a gallery in Bond Street to look at some paintings.

interesting?

quite but not enough to buy though.

oh well I'll come with you next time.

you must understand that neither Maggie nor the prince

found anything odd in the roles that they and Adam Verver had fallen into since the marriage.

father and daughter had always been close

and there seemed

no reason at all why the marriage should interfere with that,

and the prince, for his part, had so much liking for his father-in-law

that sense of exclusion that he might, with justice, have felt never really crossed his mind.

yet ...

who can doubt in some way he was conscious of it or if not conscious of any sense of positive

exclusion, well conscious of a sense at least of less than total inclusion,

which, after all, a husband has a right to expect.

but

even in trying to put the matter as delicate as that,

I'm already saying, god help me, more than there was.

they were a very happy threesome.

I can put it no higher than that,

when in the common way ...

one might have expected a very happy twosome. we went down to Fawns that year, Fawns by the

way being Verver's country house, and we stayed, oh I can't remember, a couple of weeks I suppose.

there were a number of people there,

all making free use of the house,

especially mrs Rance, but much to Verver's annoyance, assumed a proprietorial air towards him.

she was in fact a married lady,

or at least had a husband somewhere in Texas or Arizona or wherever

it is these American ladies keep their husbands.

they clearly were not on the most intimate terms,

but they rarely seem to see each other.

[mrs. Rance] hey I speak as I find and I've traveled all over and well...

there's just something about the American man that gives a woman confidence.

don't you agree mr Verver?

I'm sure you found the European male just ever so slightly inclined to look down on a woman,

to put her in her place. no thank you, prince dear.

we're so much a newer country out there. we place a value on women.

they just don't over here and that's because we come from pioneer stock and

we'd better be equal or else.

and when you get equality you get sincerity

and sincerity is, my god, don't I know this to my cost,

sincerity is the absolute linchpin of any marriage.

yes.

Verver did his best to avoid her, his best that is that was consistent with being head of the house,

and a naturally polite man himself.

but she was not a lady to be easily put off.

he even occasionally took refuge in the billiard room in the fond belief she would falter

before joining him there. but mrs Rance rarely faltered at anything.

ah there you are.

I most truly am.

servants told me you'd gone to church this morning with the others.

oh they told me the same thing about you.

can't rely on servants.

no you most certainly cannot.

I had a feeling you hadn't gone out.

I could have sworn that you had.

there we were the only two left in the house and unaware of it.

we could have been missing each other all morning.

- well don't let me stop you. - oh are you sure?

why bless you no.

the sight of a man playing billiards on a Sunday morning doesn't offend me in the least.

well that's very good of you mrs Rance. I can think of...

few guests who would be so considerate.

why didn't you go to church this morning by the way?

well ma'am I had an attack of what you might call conscience.

I should have thought that would have sent you there rather than kept you away.

oh not in my case. you see I go to

church when my conscience is strong. I stay away when it's weak.

that sounds to me more like a lack of conscience than an attack of it.

it's a bit of both really. uh it's like the

body only gets attacked by anemia when it lacks iron. it's the lack of it that attacks you.

I see.

at least I think so.

it's vividly clear to me but then of course...

I suffer from it.

ah what happened to you this morning by the way?

I thought I heard you at breakfast planning to walk to church.

I did. I started out and then I thought well no it just doesn't seem like that kind of a morning.

...so I've been sitting in the library reading a book. - a good book?

not THE good book but a good book nonetheless.

and all the time you were here all on your own.

.I can't deny it

- I think your home is wonderful. - why thank you.

it is so big you could get lost in it.

oh I don't think I'd say that.

and it has such beautiful pieces.

it must have taken a great deal of time to collect them.

I'd say a great deal of money really.

you have unerring taste you've been lucky there.

well thank you.

I've been blessed with the same thing myself fortunately.

- what? uh luck? - good taste

at least my friends tell me so.

and I would say that you must be a happily married woman mrs Rance.

oh that was my one lapse.

- we're all allowed one I think. - I think some people are allowed far too many.

oh I agree

but then good taste is a thing you're born with don't you think? my husband doesn't have it at all

- not at all? - not in the least.

his taste in everything is quite appalling.

we shall almost certainly divorce in the spring.

well i'm uh i'm sorry to hear that mrs Rance.

you believe in marriage. I'm glad to hear it.

I find that touching in a man, not to say unusual.

it was rather that I assumed that you did.

my sympathy was for you

rather than for these - oh thank you - for the institution in general.

but you do believe in it nonetheless.

- for for some people. - yourself for instance?

- of course uh I was married. - happily I'm sure.

oh certainly. it was a great blow to me when my wife died.

you were fortunate in having Maggie there.

she must have been a great consolation to you.

no denying that.

I find that touching too. that closeness between father and daughter.

you must miss her.

no come to think of it not really. we still see a good deal of each other you know.

- is that a good thing? - it can't be bad.

it absolutely can. my goodness have you not heard of the damage that

can be done by thoughtless interference from an in-law?

ave you thought why you two still see so much of each other?

uh... no.

why she's probably making up for your having lost her to the prince.

I don't really think I've lost her mrs Rance, not exactly.

just my point. you haven't lost her enough.

but then how could you when she's so happily married and you're not.

you know mr Verver it's a scandal.

what is a scandal?

that a man as handsome and youthful and charming as you are

remains unmarried to this very day.

especially a man who so believes in marriage.

it was then that Verver had the oddest perception

that came from seeing his daughter standing there in the doorway. it was remarkable his perception

expanded on the spot as a strange and exotic flower-mitered breath suddenly open and the breath

in this case was no more than the look in Maggie's eyes,

the look with which he saw her taken in exactly

what had occurred in her absence, and that look was new to him.

it was a look filled with a sudden anxiety

which he had never to this moment ever shown or needed to show.

an anxiety for him alone.

what is it after all that they want to do to you?

- they? - mrs Rance and all the rest.

you know what has really happened is that the proportions for us are altered.

of course it wouldn't matter quite so much if it weren't that you're so terribly young.

... I suppose I should have waited. - no no no.

I mean in common decency.

- you might have had to wait a long time. - even so...

you should have married again.

well since you are an irresistible youth we have to face it.

that somehow is what that woman made me feel. mrs Rance I mean.

- oh that there will be others. - oh yes there'll be others.

well you will see me through.

- does that mean you give in? - good heavens no. I mean to holding out.

why should you?

oh I don't know...

do you want me to marry?

I'm not sure.

I think at least I ought to have worked out some alternative for you.

- alternative to what? - what you've lost?

and what have I lost?

me I suppose.

it was as if you couldn't be in the market

when you were married to me as if I just innocently kept people off by

being married to you and now that I'm married to someone else, people don't see why you shouldn't

... be married to them. - I'm happy as I am.

or to put it more accurately, as we are.

still I think more might be done.

don't you think we do enough already

coming out this way and uh

talking like this?

you mean our moments alone together?

no that's perfectly natural. I wasn't thinking of that at all.

all right then what were you thinking of? come on...

I know you've got something up your sleeve.

only in the sense that I had a letter this morning

and it's been on my mind all day

and I wondered if it was the right moment to ask you if you could stand just now...

another woman.

I guess that must depend on who it is.

Charlotte Stant for instance.

oh.

- is she coming? - she'd like to if we'd be so good as to ask her.

well why in the world not.

- it isn't a want of tact? - what, to ask her?

to propose her to you.

- oh that I should ask her? - oh it would be lovely if you would.

but if not I can if you're not afraid that is.

afraid of Charlotte? oh my dear child. uh well where is she by the way?

in Brittany with some people she doesn't greatly like.

I guess she likes us.

and not you the least if that doesn't spoil it for you.

no why should it?

oh come on. what have we been talking about all this time?

never spoiled it for me before.

we've never had her before in quite this situation.

oh I see. you mean since you've been married.

well she always came to us you and me.

yes that's true and uh

... that makes a difference? - yes, slightly.

hmm well Charlotte always does make a difference, usually for the better.

exactly.

we're not so perfect a family now that she wouldn't make a lovely addition.

you mean because she's so handsome.

because she's so great in nature

and spirit and life. good lord...

what has she done with her life?

she's been brave and she's been bright.

her life hasn't been easy. people use her.

hmm but if we get her here to improve us aren't we using her too?

yes but then we do her good too and I'll always admire her more than I used to.

oh I see.

and she's not someone to take liberty. she'd tremble for her life for others.

like you.

oh yes I've trembled for my life anyway.

oh come now love, it's not as bad as that.

oh yes I live in terror I'm a small creeping thing.

no no you won't persuade me that you're not as good as Charlotte.

as good yes...

but not as great.

I don't think I could have been so poor and borne it so well.

and tried to marry and failed so hard.

- has she tried? - yes several times.

I wouldn't have thought Charlotte would have found it so hard.

to marry as befits her?

wealthy Europeans don't marry poor American girls as I well know.

she's carried it off magnificently...

except the last time perhaps.

who was that?

I'm not sure.

I only know that she was in love, desperately in love and miserable because of it.

but she lived through it all with great dignity.

it's a misfortune you know when you're as fine as she is to be...

so wasted.

- did she tell you about it? - good heavens no.

- then how can you be so sure? - because I saw.

saw that she'd loved and lost.

and saw that she was being torn apart.

do you realize that nothing like that has ever happened to me that I have never

to my recollection ever received the least blow?

who should realize it if I don't?

well you'll realize when I have one.

in any case I wouldn't let her tell me.

I hate knowing about things like that.

they make me want to crawl away and hide for the pity and shame of them.

well I'll write to her

has she told you that she likes me much?

oh she's not in love with you if that's what you mean.

oh now Mags I've always thought of Charlotte as a little girl

oh no she's not that.

... do you know what i'm really thinking? - why of course.

of finding her a husband.

yes.

but it will take some looking.

well perhaps I can help you.

so Charlotte came.

Verver wrote to her the day after his talk with Maggie and within a week

she'd made a clean sweep of mrs Rance,

the miss Lutches, and several other lady guests.

I confess I don't know how it was done.

in fact I didn't see it happening wasn't even really aware of it till Fanny

put her finger on it the night we returned home ourselves.

she simply cleared them out.

[Bob] cleared out who?

mrs Rance the miss Lutches that Irish woman. just like that.

deliberately?

oh no Charlotte's much too clever for that. she damped their fires down that's all,

and they turned to smoke.

well I hadn't even seen them burning.

well of course you wouldn't. men never notice these things.

I told the same to mr Verver. he hadn't seen it either but then there's some

excuse for him, he still thinks of Charlotte as Maggie's old playmate.

- well isn't she? - not at all.

she's a grown woman. more of a woman than most.

yes, but did Verver really want them out?

well of course he did.

whether he knew it or not.

Charlotte saw that he did and went to work with a will.

and do you think they saw it? the victims I mean.

well of course they did.

matter of fact I felt sorry for them.

you don't sound as if they did.

well it was more on reflection I felt sorry.

what I saw then

was them seeing Charlotte.

saw them understand exchange looks and lose heart it was rather like watching

people beginning to look queer after having had the honour of taking wine with the Borgias.

uh hum...

why are you rubbing your nose like that?

it's supposed to help me to think.

I don't see why people need such aids.

let's say it's to let you see that i'm thinking.

since you always accuse me of taking things too lightly.

do you think she came over to be charming especially to mr Verver?

no.

especially charming to someone else then?

who?

the prince for instance.

certainly not.

do you think she's still in love with him?

well of course she is but what difference does that make?

she knows there could be nothing there.

she must have closed her mind in that direction long ago.

oh she came because Maggie asked her to come.

and Maggie asked her to come in order to help her and because Maggie helps her she helps Maggie.

- by helping mr Verver. - yes.

but you told me it was mr Verver wrote and asked her.

- obviously at Maggie's suggestion. - well why couldn't Maggie ask her?

in the first place because it's her father's house and in the second place

because her situation is different now.

- no more than that? - no more than that.

except of course more could come from it.

ah you mean a possible wedding.

with an unmarried woman as handsome as Charlotte that's always possible.

what you're saying is that Charlotte unconsciously cleared all these other ladies out...

in order to make room for herself?

- I said no such thing. - but you just talked about marriage.

- to mr Verver? - isn't that what you were saying?

I merely said that a possible consequence of Charlotte's visit

might be a marriage for Charlotte.

seems to me to have been in Maggie's mind when she asked her.

yes but it was her father who asked her.

[sighs] I've already explained that.

do you mean you think that Maggie invited her here to make a match with her father?

I no longer know what I mean

well if you think that you're barking up the wrong tree.

well I usually do.

as you're never tire of pointing out.

do you think Maggie is interested in making a match for her father?

I think it wouldn't displease her.

she'd feel free to spend more time with the prince.

-oh because her father'd be happier. - of course.

of course but...

supposing it didn't turn out that way.

supposing the marriage were unsatisfactory.

she'd probably end up spending more time with her father than before.

- oh it seems hardly likely. - it's a risk.

whenever it comes to marriage

all you men think about is the risk . you could look on the brighter side.

well on the bright side you seem to be in for a very exciting time.

what with finding a husband for Charlotte and a wife for mr Verver.

I think it may provide some interest in the near future yes.

doesn't it ever worry you?

interfering with other people's lives with such...

gleeful anticipation?

in the first place my anticipation is not gleeful.

that's just your vulgar way of putting it.

in the second place it does not worry me to be of help to people.

and thirdly I do not interfere. i'm simply there when i'm needed.

and fourthly you are as usual taking up three quarters of the bed and I wish you'd move over.

hmmm...

hmm Fanny as usual thinking she'd got everything right got everything wrong

two or three weeks after Charlotte's arrival

Maggie and the prince left for Rome

and Verver found himself for the first time perhaps,

scarcely missing them.

he seemed to discover Charlotte anew,

seeing depths in her he had not seen before.

he found himself enjoying her company,

as he had not enjoyed the company of a woman for a long time.

and as for Charlotte...

who can say whom she missed?

if it was the prince she gave no sign of it.

that Fanny was right when she said Charlotte was still in love with him

was unarguable.

one knows that now. but that she was wrong when she said Charlotte had closed

her mind in that direction, was I think equally unarguable, or at least from this distance

it seems so. looking back on it, who can doubt that the despair at losing the prince had never left her.

there was a little dry patch in her heart that never ceased to cry out...

for the sweet summer rain that only his presence could bring.

but of course no one knew that or even guessed it

and it must have been furthest of all from Verver's thoughts

which were preoccupied with something quite different.

what he found himself returning to again and again disturbingly enough was the reflection

that informing a new and intimate tie he should, in a manner, abandon his daughter.

that the whole form of his future lay in his so managing his life that Maggie would

less and less appear to herself to have forsaken him.

[piano music]

the idea suddenly shone beautifully for him.

the way in which he might put his child at peace, providing for her own future by providing for his,

by a marriage as good proportionately, as hers had been.

oh I'm sorry.

that was beautiful.

- I played you to sleep. - no no.

... into a deep thought. - well it's late enough.

... are the servants gone to bed? - yes.

- were you thinking of Maggie? - in a way.

you haven't written.

that's because you write so beautifully for me.

you tell her all about me far better than I could.

still it must be very strange for her not to hear from you every day.

stranger still for me not to write every day.

that's a new experience.

if I am to blame for it I shall feel very guilty.

you're not to blame. you're merely the innocent cause.

well it's nice to be innocent for a change. good night.

uh Charlotte...

I got news the other day of a set of quite extraordinary tiles.

... they belong to a dealer in Brighton. - how exciting.

yes and I thought of going down to have a look at them.

I thought I might spend a few days looking around and uh...

... would you care to come? - why in the world not?

when I've nothing else to do and should besides immensely enjoy it. good night.

[waves crashing on beach]

[piano music]

[rain falling]

you know...

it's been so pleasant these last few days

I hope it won't come as too much of a shock to you if I ask you something.

uh what i'm getting at is uh

whether you think you could regard me

with any satisfaction...

as a husband.

oh it's not sudden uh it's been on my mind for some time and uh

of course I'm not forgetting that I'm not young.

that isn't so. you are young.

it's I who am old.

oh no. in a way that's true.

still you're not shocked.

shocked?

of course not.

how could I be anything but grateful?

well then

well...

I won't pretend I don't think it would be good for me to be married.

good for you?

I mean that I would like to be a little less adrift.

I'd like to have a home.

a motive for one thing rather than another.

a motive outside myself I mean.

in fact I'd rather like to be married.

... I suspect you've gathered that. - yes.

well then the only question seems to be

do you want to be married to me?

do you think you've known me?

I think so and what I don't know I can always find out.

anyway

isn't it more important that I...

like you enormously?

I don't see why you're not happy as you are.

I don't understand why you need me.

again isn't it enough that I feel that I do?

and what about Maggie?

are you certain there's room in your life for another...

another daughter?

well for another young woman.

can't a man be all his life then anything but a father?

all right. you want to know how Maggie would feel.

she'd welcome it.

she already feels guilty in some way for the...

change in my life caused by her marriage

and uh yours to me would just...

put her mind at rest.

are you sure? she might feel differently.

how?

if you've been driven to the likes of me it may show her how well and truly forsaken you've been.

I don't mind suggesting that if I could show her at the same time that I feel consoled.

and have you been?

consoled?

- forsaken. - no not really.

but if that's her idea

is it not yours a little too?

well...

a little.

is it enough to marry me for?

ah...

I didn't say that was my only idea.

still I don't quite see Maggie finding as much reassurance in our marriage as you do.

or even perhaps as needing it.

well ask her.

- ask her? - hmm certainly.

tell her you don't believe me.

- I don't think I could do that. - then I will.

- what? do you mean you'll write to her? - no no it would take too long.

no I'll wire her. send her a long cable. but...

promise me that you'll abide by what she says.

perhaps we better wait and see just what she says.

hmm

[sound of waves]

Verver! here

oh it's from Maggie.

read it to me.

we start from Rome tonight to bring you all our love and joy and sympathy.

here now. you begin a little to be satisfied?

why so breathless a start?

well they want to congratulate us. they want to see our happiness.

but they weren't to have started back so soon.

oh isn't our situation worth a little sacrifice?

for us yes. but for them? I can imagine them rushing back to prevent us

but an enthusiasm for us that can wait so little time seems...

I know you think me suspicious

... and ungenerous. - no.

the prince can't at all want to come back so soon.

he wanted so much to get away.

he's been away.

yes just long enough to see how he likes it.

besides how can you be so sure he joins in the rosy view of our situation which

Maggie seems to have?

if he doesn't he'll just have to accept it. as his wife does.

can you think of any reason why he shouldn't?

- no. - is it so incredible that when a man is as much in

love with his wife as Amerigo is that he should believe what she believes and want what she wants?

no.

what more there's there to be said?

only that his wife may make him believe that she really believes.

- you still doubt that she really does. - really does?

hasn't she always made herself believe what she thought you believed?

- my dear you push it all too far. - all right.

has it escaped your notice though that this cable is addressed to you alone?

she wires her joy only to you.

you complain about the one thing that is most charmingly conclusive.

she already treats us as one.

you could be right though that it could be construed as odd that she didn't wire us both

but then Maggie would have seen that. I mean she's never wrong for more than three minutes at a time.

... no, I think you'll hear from her yet. - I'm not saying I have a right to.

no, I should like it for myself and I'll lay odds that she's already sent it.

then it will put the final touch. it will be beautiful.

and you won't then require another one from the prince?

that would at least be interesting.

only if you're that interested I could wire him secretly and

ask him, tell him, that you want a few words for yourself

and you shall have them all to yourself. I won't even look at them.

that won't be necessary.

- anyway I'm sure when Maggie wires... - if maggie wires me. - oh she will and i'm sure

she'll speak more for Amerigo in her wire to you than she did in hers to me.

why should she?

because our marriage changes his relationship to you.

yes it uh it makes me his stepmother-in-law or something doesn't it .

yes. tell me... do you like him?

- of course. he's charming. why shouldn't I? - I don't know, I wondered.

you seem anxious about his reaction to us.

that's only because I do find him so charming.

[Porter] for the lady this time sir.

oh there. now what did I tell you?

Maggie. what that child does for me.

well?

- it's not from Maggie it's from the prince. - ah well now that's the best of all.

it's enough.

- would you like to read it? - no no, not if you're satisfied.

you can if you wish.

is he funny?

I'd call it grave.

then you shall keep it to yourself.

are you at peace now?

yes

then let's go into dinner.

and what was in it that wire? [French] it was written in French and means roughly

we must make the best of it then.

and it went on

we must lead our lives as we see them

but I am charmed at your courage

as I am almost surprised of my own.

well what did it mean? did it mean that even without Charlotte his marriage was uphill work?

a daily war on behalf of good appearance and that if they were to be more closely connected

it would compel him to be even more under arms? or did it mean he was happy enough and if she

thought of herself as a danger to him she was to think of him as being prepared in advance?

you could take it both ways but what was clear was this - that if Verver had read that telegram

Charlotte's marriage probably would never have taken place. would have finished it. must have.

and you couldn't help but smell something in it. it was under the circumstances an extraordinary

wire to send. it was as if the prince in sending it and Charlotte in offering it to Verver to read

was somehow deliberately caught in danger. and yet you could say this too that it was

absolutely in the character of Charlotte that you should show it to Verver. and would to god

he had read it. for if he had I'm pretty sure none of what followed would ever have happened.