Original subtitles

Hi, welcome to my lecture.

Uncle Charles.

Sophie.

Well, it must be a year since we

last...

Yes, I'd rather not talk about that, if

you don't mind.

Have you been avoiding me?

No, no, of course not.

Won't you sit down?

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?

My dear, do you imagine, after what happened,

that I could enjoy sitting here with you,

making small talk?

I came to you for help, do you

remember?

And you told me it was nothing.

Christine, would you like a cognac?

Yes, thank you.

Uncle Charles, I...

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 Thomas Charlton.

Monsieur.

Monsieur.

Mr. Romer.

Thank you, Miss Perrin.

I've just been dancing at your excellent journal.

Ah, yes.

Please sit down.

As a matter of fact, I have a

subscriber.

Oh, you agree with my judgments.

Well, not always, but quite often.

Please sit down.

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.

No, I mean not to, uh, modernise your

delightful offices.

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

Oh, yes, quite so, quite so.

Mr. Drummond, for an article in my journal,

we are asking various authorities on wine to

give their opinion on the greatest vintage they

have ever sampled.

Ask it as an expert.

It does have a different opinion.

Oh, yes, well, that is the interest of

the article.

But we have found some agreement on one.

Which one?

A Bordeaux, a Saint-Fleur, 1864.

Yes, that might be my choice as well,

if one has to have a consensus.

Yes, for what is the good of consensus

when no one can taste it?

If I can't taste it, there's not one

bottle left on the face of the earth.

Are you so sure?

Well, I have heard it said that, um...

Yes?

There may be one bottle remaining.

Is it true?

Oh, my dear Monsieur de Marchal, everybody knows

the last bottle of Saint-Fleur, 1864, was

drunk a generation ago.

Everyone?

Would you excuse me?

Come.

All right, Peter?

Yes, sir.

Hmm.

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.

Incidentally, I'm Scottish, not English.

There's rather a difference.

Look, I am in touch with someone who

would pay 2,000 pounds for this bottle.

Oh, no, really?

Kyros Kasoulas.

Ah, yes, Kasoulas.

He backs your magazine, doesn'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 Sophie?

Yes.

We come from the same part of Scotland.

I supplied his father's cellars.

He used to shoot with them.

Taught Sophie to fish.

He was a gun.

Well, air gun, of course.

I'm a sort of adopted uncle to her.

Her family didn't approve of her marrying Kasoulas,

huh?

Well, their objections dwindled when they found out

how much he was worth.

So you know Kasoulas?

I know of him.

A great collector, Mr. Drummond.

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 wine.

For this, he might pay anything.

Yes, but I've told you, the wine's not

for sale, not even to Kasoulas.

You can't keep it here.

Dying pipes, never to be tasted.

I mean, it's sacrilege.

It's crazy.

You can't...

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I have a heart condition.

I'm not allowed to get upset.

Is there anything I can do?

Don't speak for a moment.

High explosive, but it keeps me alive.

I'll go for a doctor.

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 Max

will have told you why I'm really here.

It's that Saint-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 sell anybody else the privilege.

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

But once its secret's out, it may be

just another bottle of wine gone bad.

That's all right.

You English, you're a race of poets.

You're all crazy.

You love things like that.

It's actually my family, Scottish.

Scottish, yeah, of course, I'm sorry.

You were wine merchants to Sophie's father.

Well, a little more than that.

Yeah, well, good, then.

Your Scottish blood will make 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.

Ha, ha!

I'm not buying a bottle, Mr. Drummond.

Not a bottle of wine.

I'm buying romance.

Romance for a very special occasion.

You see, in two weeks' time, Sophie may

have been married five years.

All right.

Congratulations.

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, yes, I understand.

Good, good.

Then we got ourselves a deal.

Now you send the bottle along to my

hotel.

I keep it in my suite for the

next two weeks.

Always stand upright so the sediment go down

and the room temperature constant.

What, 70 degrees?

65.

All right, 65, okay.

And you see, I don't want to decant

it.

I want to pour the wine straight from

that old bottle.

It might be risky.

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, to see

everything is done just perfect.

Now, come on, you agree?

The date, Tuesday the 12th?

And the price?

I can't resist the invitation.

It's not an invitation.

It's a command.

Come on now, then.

It'll be just the four of us.

It's you and me and Sophie and my

good friend Max here.

You enjoy yourself, darling.

Sorry, Max, taking care of you.

I've been worrying what to give you for

our anniversary.

And suddenly, right here, I get it.

Mr. Drummond is...

May I call you Charles?

Well, Charles and Max, the big experts, they

both agree that the finest wine ever made

came from a little village near Bordeaux called

Saint-Fleur in 1864.

And I've just bought for you the last

bottle in the world.

You've got it.

I've 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.

Miss Pym said you were down here.

I insisted on seeing you.

What's the matter, my dear?

Thank you, Miss Pym.

Come upstairs.

No, no, I only want to ask you

something.

We can't talk here.

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 want 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 these 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 it's good?

Well, then I'd drink it myself.

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

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...

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?

Oh, I'm fond of him.

He's very kind.

It was never serious.

But Kiros 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 analyse the drinks, the glasses.

They'd be a post-mortem.

I don't know, Kiros.

He's capable of anything.

Well, 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, here they are!

Charles, my dear.

I'm so glad to see you.

Sophie, darling, look who's here.

Max, my boy, I'm not going to offer

you an aperitif tonight, you understand?

Of course not.

You see?

All that fuss about a bottle of wine.

Mm-hmm.

Charles, I want your advice.

Waiter, are you ready to start serving dinner?

Sir.

What do you think?

You think it's time we let her breathe

the air now?

Well, as long as we allow her 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.

The first time in over 100 years.

Phew.

Come on, Max, come over here.

You've got to keep a check on this

every step of the way.

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

It is.

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.

Is that it?

Stop.

Don't worry, I've stopped.

You must be careful not to let the

slightest speck of cork inside the wine.

I haven't been married to Kiros for five

years without learning a little.

Here she comes now.

Perfect.

You all right, Charles?

Yes.

That tells us nothing.

I think there's hope.

Yes.

I think there's hope.

And in half an hour...

we shall know.

They're ready for the fish.

Me?

Oh, they sent me to an American school

in Switzerland, eh?

Now, 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 come

to me now.

To me!

And they say, Cthulhu, please will you help

us?

Help finance the movie, the little snob magazine,

huh?

Hot!

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

No, I don't think so.

Hey, waiter, what's going on here?

I give orders this room to be kept

65 degrees, look at the thermostat, 80!

I could open the window, sir.

No, leave it alone.

Wine could be disastrous at a drop in

temperature.

What do you say, Charles?

Well, it would be inadvisable.

Well, I'm not going to die of heat,

that's one thing.

Come on, take your coats off.

Come on, take it off, take it off.

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

No, I don't.

The wine can't mind either.

Come on, off with it, Max, take it

off.

Temperatures are a little higher than yours.

Well, you think you're going to sit there

and put us all to shame in your

jacket?

No, come on, off with it.

There, open it, 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 bring anything nasty and dirty off the

floor.

That's what my mother taught me when I

was little.

Yes, better than him.

Like your suspenders, Charles.

Now, the room's the wrong temperature.

Take the coat.

It's very good, the fish.

It's very good.

Well.

The big moment has come.

Sophie, my darling, with your permission.

Waiter.

Lights, please.

Thank you.

Oh, we should have had candles.

Candlelight is still the best for judging the

colour of a wine.

My fault, I forgot.

It does not matter.

This is a big occasion for you, Max.

Something for you to tell your readers about.

No, tonight I'm not thinking of my 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 Cursulas, this is a privilege

for which I have no words to thank

you.

No way to express my gratitude.

Well, don't, don't, don't upset yourself, my boy.

Well, enough of talking.

We have passed the time, and now the

moment has come.

Sophie, my darling, is my gift to you.

Charles.

Max.

Now, in this bottle is a mystery, and

we must have respect for it.

Charles, you were right.

You said that while this bottle is caught,

it keep it secret.

But once it is open, it could be

just another bottle of bad wine, a joke,

a disaster.

No, no, no.

We must not drink it.

But, my dear Cursulas, you don't understand.

The bottle 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.

My...

Max!

Here is the bottle.

It is in his pocket.

Then I'll kill him.

Doctor, quickly, please.

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 her a heart attack

and Max had apparently forgotten to bring his

pills.

or had he?

Casullus 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.

oh who's it this time?

my husband who else?

your husband?

do you know it's hard to remember why

I was ever unhappy with Kiros.

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

him.

well uncle Charles I went to his room

that night.

oh well do forgive me.

I must go.

I have enjoyed our little chat.