Original subtitles

ah yes George uh... yes bring me a biscuit would you?

yes sir.

well...

in the weeks that followed that momentous sealing of a pledge between Charlotte and the prince

Fanny became a quite frequent visitor at Eaton Square - Verver's home.

she rarely found the prince there which was regarded as perfectly normal by Maggie.

Fanny didn't quite know what to make of it.

the pair still puzzled her.

they carried on in such a way that Maggie and her father seemed to accept it all as part of a

beautiful scheme of things that have been divinely arranged.

they carried on in such a way that Fanny couldn't make up her mind

whether anything was going on between Charlotte and the prince or not.

one moment she thought there was the next moment she thought she was mistaken

she flitted about like a shuttlecock between certainty and doubt

between alarm and relief.

and if Fanny were a frequent visitor at Eaton Square Charlotte was no less frequent a visitor

at Portland Place.

not that Fanny at this stage knew that. none of us did. none of us could.

and I dare say had Maggie and her father known they would have regarded it as quite unremarkable.

we must understand though it may seem a little odd to you that the two households really carried on

as if they were one. in a way Charlotte ran them both.

she was so good at it. and Maggie...

dear little Maggie was simply not.

of course Maggie didn't know then what she knew later.

it really was quite extraordinary how simple these two were, she and her father.

they were like two children playing at house.

and quite content to let the other two, the older ones, go out and do the shopping.

I've often asked myself whether they weren't more to blame than Charlotte and the prince

and then again in all this I found it immensely difficult to blame anyone.

Maggie and her father being in a manner so innocent and Charlotte and the prince being so much in love.

and so, in another manner, abandoned.

and what can you say?

and what the deuce can you really say.

- well it was your idea. - to go.

but it was your idea too wasn't it?

perhaps I shouldn't have gone.

should I have stayed?

would you have married me?

I love you.

I love you.

despite the fact that Verver disliked more and more to go out and avoid it whenever possible

he did occasionally have to return hospitality.

on such occasions it was hard for the prince not to observe how much his wife took upon herself

as opposed to Charlotte.

as if the party were her party and its success

an important question for both her and her father.

it wasn't that she usurped Charlotte's place at the table sit where she liked.

it was borne in on the prince more and more that in that house she would always be unquestionably

Maggie Verver.

I don't think I want to go down there. - [Prince] but you must.

what for? what on earth for?

[Charlotte] Adam you must go. - I can think of nothing more depressing

than spending Easter with the Castledeans. don't you agree Mags?

- but if it's to repay your own hospitality -- - [Verver] oh not mine. it's Charlotte's.

Adam simply pays for everything. well Maggie you'll persuade him.

Charlotte has already said yes so I guess he'll go.

he just wants to grumble a bit first. you know that's not true.

I never told Charlotte to say I'd go.

- that's just why I didn't ask. - Charlotte's quite right. you never go anywhere.

life's too darn short to be traipsing around the countryside

with people you have nothing in common with.

my dear there's not just yourself to consider. i'm sure Charlotte would like to go.

ah well now that's true. I certainly don't want to spoil anybody else's fun.

so why don't you three go?

- we'll talk about it later. - no Mags we will not talk about it later.

- Charlotte you'll have to work on him. - why force him Maggie if it's such an onerous duty?

you see?

well I'm not all that keen on going myself actually.

well then let Amerigo take Charlotte.

I'm sure he won't mind.

whatever you wish. it would certainly look bad if none of us go.

- that's settled. - would the ladies like to withdraw for coffee?

the ladies will do no such thing.

now Mags this is England.

I don't care. coffee and port will be served in the drawing room unsegregated.

[chatter]

will you go if they don't?

- but of course. why ever not? - but do you think it right?

my dear Fanny they would like us to go.

... don't you understand? - frankly no.

it pleases them not to be burdened with visits of this kind.

it pleases them that we can take the burden from them.

it pleases us that we can do these things for them.

- but don't you think people will begin to talk? - about what?

- that you're seen together so often. - so often?

mr Verver’s foibles are well known among his circle

and Maggie's fondness for him is also well known.

too well known by now to be the subject of conversation.

if people talk isn't it perhaps that they admire the way that Charlotte and I

are always ready to step in and fill the breach.

I wish you would reconsider.

well it will all be discussed again I expect.

am I to take it that you've not quite given me up then?

thank you.

I never give anything up easily.

they're going down to Matcham alone.

- well... - but it's folly. absolutely folly.

I think we should go down too.

haven't you forgotten something? thank you.

we haven't been invited.

that's nothing. I'll get us invited.

I know lady Castledean well enough for that.

uh aren't you uh carrying things a bit far?

I told you.

I have a sense of responsibility.

I feel it my duty to protect them.

Maggie and mr Verver. ah ah... Charlotte and the prince.

it's odd.

I always pick the wrong pair. well no it's not easy following your trains of thought.

in this instance clearly it's Charlotte and the prince who are exposed.

- exposed to what? - to a danger.

a country house at the weekend is a danger don't you think?

but they obviously don't see it that way.

because you mean it gives them their chance.

or perhaps because they're not looking for a chance.

we shall see shan't we?

perhaps I'll know at the end of it one way or another.

doubled and uh... re-doubled.

vulnerble.

ridiculous.

hello my dear. thank you.

well you've cleared us out. you're both much too clever for us.

I think they have a system of signals.

don't forget we've played together rather more often than you.

... at bridge Carol. - of course a bridge. what else?

I shall just have to teach mr Blint a few more tricks.

oh I thought you'd been doing that already.

well I have.

we also play well together on occasions.

but he does have the most dreadful lapses. but he plays and sings so beautifully.

he can't be expected to do everything well.

we shall see. why don't you play something for us?

of course. what would you like?

play some Gilbert and Sullivan. you know how my husband adores it.

exactly what Fanny expected to happen at the weekend or what she hoped she might prevent

I've only a very hazy idea. but certainly as the weekend drew nearer to it's close

I knew she was no nearer the truth about the pair of them than she was when she came.

well have you enjoyed the weekend?

very much. it's a pity Maggie and her father didn't come.

oh what would they have made of it here? what would they really?

if it would have been so bad for them how can it be so good for you?

I'm glad that you came anyway. surprised but glad.

I was a little surprised myself when Carol asked me.

it was very decent of her.

perhaps what occurred to me occurred to her.

you mean mrs Verver and I coming alone?

of course. why else would she invite us?

for your good selves.

the invitation came a little late for that. however it was a nice gesture except I must say

I feel a little frumpy among all this elegance.

I think i've never seen you look so attractive.

[piano music]

well you at least have been very kind to me all weekend.

my dear Fanny why shouldn't I be?

because you know perfectly well why I'm here.

whatever your reason I'm pleased simply to see you here.

... it's all right you know. - I hope it is.

- you mustn't over concern yourself about us. - don't give me cause to.

but what cause do you have?

other than a refusal to accept a situation which is not entirely of our making.

our?

mrs Verver's and mine.

don't you see how we consider them?

I see how you might consider them.

why not see how we do?

we try to give them the life they prefer.

not the life you would prefer them to prefer but the one they do.

is that so hard to accept?

well I do in a way accept it.

it's your life and hers I find difficult.

what then do you expect of us?

I expect you to take as tender

care in your way as I do so anxiously in mine.

- tender care of what? - of them.

I shall.

I believe you.

[piano music]

do you have to leave with the rest in the morning?

no. not have to. why?

only that my husband is leaving for London by the early train and we'll be away all day.

mr Blint has kindly consented to stay on if I can arrange it.

arrange, you mean, a chaperone.

well you can call it that yes. it would hardly be right for me to be here on my own with mr Blint.

hardly.

and anyway I thought you and the prince would enjoy being the leftovers.

yes.

I think we might.

why not?

well that's settled.

shall we meet in an hour for dinner?

Carol I want to borrow one of your pin broaches. may I?

of course my dear. come up and choose.

- thank you mr Blint. you play delightfully. - thank you lord Castledean.

my wife is very fond of music.

oh yes she's terribly fond.

[fingers snap]

what did dear Fanny have to say?

I think she understands us better.

I think she trusts us more.

trusts us? to do what?

well trusts us not to do the things that she thinks we may want to do.

it's very good of her to trust us. what else can she do?

whatever it is people do when they don't trust you.

let one see that they're don't.

let whom see?

well me for one.

should that worry you?

shouldn't it you?

I should be very much more worried what you yourself,

if you're not careful, may let her see.

and what's that?

that you're afraid.

I'm only afraid of you at the moment.

but I shan't let Fanny see that.

what earth can Fanny do against us? she's hopeless. she can't speak.

she'd be the first to be sunk if she did.

don't forget it all began with Fanny. it was she who made your marriage.

- and in a way, yours. - well then...

she can hardly go to them now and say it's terribly awkward you poor dear things but

I've been hopelessly mistaken.

well she wasn't.

she was right.

everything is right.

and it will stay so.

that is all I say.

we're happy, they're happy.

what more does the position allow?

what more does Fanny want?

it's not for me to say what Fanny wants.

seems to worry you more than me.

the fact is that she can do nothing.

you think she would like to then.

you started out by saying you thought she trusted us.

yes I did. but you make me wonder again perhaps that was simply to gain a little time.

oh Amerigo, what do Fanny's doubts and fears have to do with us?

it is enough for me...

she will always be more afraid to speak

than we should be to have her do so.

you think we're safe then?

utterly.

if you'll pardon the low expression, Fanny and we hang essentially together.

poor Fanny.

I must going and change.

it really won't take long. we can get a train from Gloucester and be in Tewksbury within an hour.

it seems such a shame not to go on. don't you think so Fanny?

- good morning. - good morning.

- good morning Fanny. - good morning.

colonel not down yet?

oh he's been down and up and out and in since seven this morning.

[chatter]

- what time do you want to leave? - we're staying on.

my little surprise. I saved it for you.

oh and wait to see nothing dreadful happens.

now Charles hurry. I will miss the train and you'll be later than ever.

Fanny we'll see you before we go.

[goodbyes]

I thought we might all travel back on the same train.

Bob and I are quite amenable to catching anyone you like.

oh how sweet of you darling. it would have been lovely,

but we've settled, Amerigo and I, to staying until after lunch.

oh.

lady Castledean invited us. it seems that her husband has to go to London

and mr Blint is staying on for a bit

I see. very proper.

I shall see him off the premises.

shall I call in the Eaton Square on my way home?

yes that would be lovely.

tell them we're all right.

of course. and you'll be home to dinner.

to dinner. I shouldn't think we'll make another night away.

oh no no.

- give them my love. - I shall.

well have a pleasant day.

we'll do our best. goodbye Fanny.

[piano music]

psst.

it wants only a moon, a mandolin, and a little more danger to be a serenade.

[speaks Italian]

[Amerigo speaks Italian]

thank you.

now you try it.

[piano music]

- like that? - no.

show me. put my fingers on the keys.

[mr. Blint] like that. that's much better.

well don't take them away. I might lose the place.

[piano notes]

- oh you look ravishing. - thank you.

- you see there's Gloucester over there. - mmm yes.

he's very beautiful.

there are cloisters and towers

the cathedral and the tomb of an old king.

we should see the old king if we have time.

[mr. Blint faintly singing]

I feel the day like a great gold cup that we should somehow drain together.

I offered you one once

... just before your marriage. - a gold cup?

oh yes, the gilded bowl in the little Bloomsbury shop.

it had a crack in it.

- you would remember that. - don't you?

I remember the man who tried to sell it to us.

he made a great impression on me.

I daresay you made a great impression on him.

do you think it's still there?

I'm sure it is. I'm sure he's expecting you to go back for it.

would you accept it from me now...

... if I offered it to you? - nooo.

you're still superstitious.

I go by my superstitions.

I go by one thing.

I go by you.

you should really go by my watch.

you know it's already 11 o'clock.

if we stay here for lunch what becomes of our afternoon?

there's not the slightest need to stay here for lunch.

you mean we can leave at once?

Gloucester you said, Gloucester it shall be.

we'll have lunch there and still have two hours on our hands, just the two of us.

she doesn't expect us to stay.

in fact she doesn't want us.

what does she want then?

[together] mr Blint.

[laughing]

and of course she knows a little about us.

knows? what does she know?

that we like cathedrals and the tombs of old kings

that we inevitably stop to see them and that our spouses quite expect it of us.

did you look up the trains too?

650 to Paddington gets us to London just in time for dinner and

as Maggie of course will be at Eaton Square, I invite you to join us.

thank you very much.

... and the trains to Gloucester? - 11 14.

- you look them up without asking. - I've seen you with English timetables.

how did you know I was thinking of Gloucester?

I always know what you're thinking.

- I also know the name of an inn. - which?

I've chosen the right one you'll see. and you'll also see the tomb of that old king. I promise you.

ohhh the tomb.

these last few days last night this morning

I wanted everything.

you shall have everything.

[singing]

mrs Assingham.

Fanny!

wait a minute. he's nearly done it. and a cloud perhaps over his head.

wait a moment.

there!

there. he's done it.

... now what do you think about that? - it's very clever.

I tell you Mags we've got another Michelangelo here.

how are you my dear? have you just arrived?

- half an hour ago. - where's the colonel?

I packed him off to lunch at his club.

[Verver] how was Matcham? - oh really very pleasant you should have been there.

oh no not me. did Amerigo and Charlotte enjoy it?

I think so.

I felt badly about that.

letting them go off that way. I said, I said to Mags,

it's not fair.

we uh we impose too much on them.

- I don't think so. they'd say if we did. - well anyway...

we had a whale of a time here didn't we?

we went to the zoo

and we went on a boat in Regents Park

and uh what else did we do?

took him to an auction.

oh yes yes he took him to an auction. he loved that. he bought so much stuff didn't you?

you little rascal.

of course he didn't realize that he was making a bid every time he raised his arms.

- oh I think he knew more than you realize. - yeah maybe.

yes maybe. well I think i'm gonna take him for a walk.

- lunch will be ready in half an hour. - oh that's all right we've got lots of time.

I think I'll take him to feed the birds in the square. hmm he loves that.

now just don't let him get all messed up.

I won't.

that's it. he won't. I may, but he won't.

- will you stay to lunch? - why not?

I kept it as late as possible in case Charlotte Amerigo would get back

... but perhaps I had lunch on the train. oh they stayed over to lunch.

oh why did they do that?

well I believe lady Castledean asked Charlotte to.

her husband was going up to London and there

was a young man there as a house guest.

- how very proper. - that's what I said.

did they say what time they'd get back?

no they said to say that they were all right and to give you their love.

... that's a pretty dress you're wearing. - thank you.

Charlotte chose it for me.

- she's very clever. - she knows what's right for you.

oh I think she's given up measuring me by current fashions.

...I look hopeless in so many things. - I wouldn't think so on the contrary.

- against Charlotte. - oh against Charlotte we all look hopeless.

the Principino just grows and grows.

he looked enchanting when I came in.

yes he's coming on well.

- he must be a great joy to you both. - yes father just idolizes him.

oh the weather couldn't have been better for us.

- I suppose they'll be back early this evening. - oh I believe so.

I had the impression that they expected to eat dinner with you and mr Verver here.

oh yes they would of course.

[choral singing]

[choral singing continues]

[singing continues]

have you seen enough?

I'd seen enough an hour ago. I'm worn out with all this walking and fresh air.

what the pretty place this is.

I'm told the rooms upstairs are even prettier.

they have old oak beams taken from the holes of ancient ships.

how did you find it?

- Lady Castledean recommended it. - ah, she's been to lunch here often.

I imagine so.

very simple but good. and as always, an outing depends so much on the company you bring with you.

would you like to see the rooms upstairs?

I'm sure the landlord would be very pleased to show us over.

well I think I should be going home.

- I'll come with you. - my dear there's no need.

- that's all right I'm going back anyway - going back where? - home.

- to Portland place? - yes I'll just collect my things.

yes, I, I came home early but you weren't here.

I waited for a bit and then I went out and had dinner at the club.

and you've been with Maggie all this while?

yes.

well is it all right?

did Charlotte and the prince gets back?

no.

they hadn't returned when I left.

ah. I say, they're a bit late.

aren't they uh...

pushing things a bit?

nothing is going on between them. nothing.

I made a mistake. do you understand?

yes but isn't that what you've always said?

I mean haven't you guaranteed their straightness from the first?

no. I've never guaranteed anything till now except my disposition to worry.

but now I see more clearly.

I now know.

- you mean they've told you. - of course not.

in the first place I wouldn't have asked them

and in the second their word in such a matter wouldn't count.

are you telling me what you know my love or what you uh...

simply the idea you feel able now to settle down with.

well it comes to the same thing for us anyway.

I've gone back to my original belief in them.

they're both beautiful.

Charlotte and the prince?

Charlotte and the prince.

and where precisely is the beauty?

in the fact that they're afraid, afraid for the others.

- for Maggie and mr Verver? - yes.

afraid of what?

well afraid of themselves.

of what their position allows them to do.

because of the blindness of Maggie and her father.

- well perhaps uh delighted with their blindness. - that's not the way I see it.

and that's not the way you should see it and if you'd seen today

what I saw in Eaton Square you wouldn't see it that way either.

what did you see?

many things.

I saw for the first time,

and I've been a fool,

what makes Charlotte and the prince take it all as they do.

I saw too how difficult it must have been for them to know how to take it.

and one can even say for them that they took a long time trying to see how to take it.

well you seem to be coming round to their side a little.

well I couldn't help it. not after what I saw today.

Maggie behaved differently?

she made me think of her differently.

... she drove me home. - home here?

yes, then she went back to Portland Place to wait for the prince.

but you told her my love that Charlotte and the prince were going straight to Eaton Square.

yes.

but she's waiting for him at Portland Place.

- yes. - yes that is unexpected.

... she's never done that before? - no.

oh perhaps she just went back to change for dinner.

oh my dear...

she has 20 changes at Eaton Square. she has her own room there much as she did before she was married.

child has a second nursery there in which the nanny makes herself as much at home.

in fact if Charlotte wanted more than one guest to stay in that house she'd scarcely be able to put them up.

- Maggie and the child's spread so? - Maggie and the child spread so.

do you think they'll return tonight at all?

I don't know.

I don't know.

- but you think they may not. - I don't know!

they may or may not do god alone knows what.

but whatever they've done I shall never know. never because I don't want to!

I've done all I could for all of them

and now they're all blaming me! both Maggie and her father! no no no no no no

[crying and cross-talking]

I've done everything I could to make them happy!

it's a mess, it's a mess!

[crying and consoling]

let's just sit down and get this sorted out.

- you don't care. - of course I do.

you don't care about my responsibility in this at all.

would I listen so patiently to all this if I didn't?

you don't listen patiently. it amuses you.

even my crying amuses you.

your crying very often does, but when I see you trying not to...

the way you are now...

then I am convinced.

yes now tell me something.

what did you see today at Maggie's that you hadn't seen before?

I saw them.

Maggie and her father and the child.

yes but you've seen them before.

well not in that way.

at least it had never struck me so before. I saw what Charlotte and the prince must have seen.

they were like a family.

- you mean husband and wife? - husband and wife and child.

and I saw something else too.

I saw that Maggie was beginning to doubt.

to doubt for the very first time that wonderful little world she thought she'd made.

hmmm. I see.

she's waking up a bit to what's going on or what may be going on.

what could go on if she's not careful.

you put it at as least.

I put it as it must seem to her.

she got a signal. I saw it happen.

I saw it reach her for the very first time.

what do you think's opened her eyes?

- she misses him. - who? the prince?

... why hasn't she missed him before? - well she did

but she wouldn't admit it to herself before.

now she's beginning to see the sudden knowledge of what she stood to lose.

so she'll uh she'll try and get him back then.

it's not a question of recovery. she's waking up to the fact that she never really had him. never.

do you remember what I said to you once?

my dear...

what haven't you said to me in your time?

I said that Maggie was the last person to whom

you could communicate a wrong thing. her senses are altogether sealed to the notions of evil.

now these senses must open and open for the very first time to the discovery of it.

yes, but she doesn't know anything has happened.

know to the mere dread and suspicion of it.

maybe this mere close alarm will be enough.

enough to give her a shaking, to make her live in the world again.

- has she said nothing to her father? - oh nothing.

she'll go to work quietly without a word to anyone.

that's why she's gone back to Portland Place to wait for the prince.

it's a gesture. there's a sudden change in the rules of the game.

you were right you know what you said to me that night coming home in the carriage.

leave it all to them. well from now on I shall.

... why are we sitting in this gloom? - I have no idea.

and you were sitting in it when I came in.

seemed to match your mood.

- I feel better now. much better. - good.

I think I'll ask cook to make me a snack.

...would you like something? - yes thank you.

uh well no. I'll I'll have another whiskey and soda.

you know where I would dearly love to be at this moment?

yes in Eaton Square...

when the prince arrives and finds Maggie is waiting for him at Portland Place.

I must seem very obvious to you at times.

well the times my dear so rare I can only feel deeply grateful for them.

excuse me madam

cook would like to know if she should serve dinner madam.

I'll wait a little while longer for the prince he should be home soon.

yes madam.

[clock chimes]

so Maggie waited her heart i'm sure beating very fast for she knew in her own mind that the steps

she'd taken would strike Amerigo as unusual. though it might seem ordinary enough to anyone else.

yet despite her crouching posture there, almost that of a timid tigress. she meant nothing reckless,

nothing fundamental. she meant nothing more than that a discordant note had been sounded within her.

how or why she didn't know and that she had heard it and that she wanted her husband to

see that she had. he was late. there was no longer any question of that.

the only thing was whether he might not have elected to stay on at Eaton Square.

she left no message. it's another decision and he might suppose that she'd already dined

then again he might have stayed on to be nice to her father and that too would be utterly like him.

all these thoughts must have gone through her mind as she tried to convince herself that what she was

doing was the most normal thing in the world for a wife to do.

to await her husband in his own home.

why should that when all was said and done seemed to him so uh monstrously abnormal. unusual perhaps

yes but she wanted that. but why more? why did the tension inside her insist that he might take it

as more? wasn't it much more likely that he would arrive mildly surprised but quite certain of his

own position and even a little impatient with her arbitrary break with custom? wouldn't her gesture...

suddenly crumple and seem empty.

and sitting there looking at him from across the room

she saw him visibly uncertain as to how he should find her.

she hadn't known quite what she expected of him but she hadn't expected the

least shade of embarrassment and yet that was written for a brief moment large upon his face.

it had clearly made for him some difference her meeting him at home and alone instead of elsewhere

and with others. a difference that couldn't be measured by a simple disturbance in his routine.

it was as if he harbored the impression of something markedly and pointedly prepared for him.

and then it was gone. she gave him no help and said not a word. but she was conscious of one thing

and one thing only that their equilibrium was everything and it was poised at that moment on a

knife edge and that the wrong word could so easily topple it over. what she might have said, what she

longed to say I suppose was:

[Maggie's voice] why have I made this evening such a point of our not dining together?

well because I've all day been so wanting you all alone that I finally couldn't bear it.

and there didn't seem any great reason why I should try to.

you seem these last days - I don't know what...

more absent than ever before. too absent for us merely to go on so.

it's all very well and I perfectly see how beautiful it is all around

but there comes a day when something snaps and the cup flows over.

that's it the cup all day has been too full to carry so here I am with it spilling it over you.

because it's my life after all. I don't have to explain do I ?

that i'm as much in love with you now as on the first hour we met.

except that there are some hours which I know when they come because they frighten me

that show me i'm even more so. and they do come, oh how they come, how they come.

but of course she couldn't say that.

and how could she without making it seem more to him than she meant it to seem?

so he took from her after all that his wife was making a simple declaration of love.

I expected to find you at Eaton Square.

- how was your journey? - pleasant. - and Matcham?

oh Matcham!

your father's right of course. they're terrible bores.

we'd have been home sooner but we took it into our heads to see Gloucester while we were there.

the cathedral.

well you know the passion that I have for english history.

so much more dignified than the Italian.

- I shall want to hear all the details over dinner. - and so you shall.

... but I must go in bathe first. - shall I come and help you?

no in that case we shan't get dinner until 10.