From the raw Australia of the 1900s...
comes a turbulent saga that spans the decades.
Colleen McCullough's best-selling novel:
The Thorn Birds.
The story of an ambitious priest, a beautiful woman...
and a love that lasted a lifetime.
You can marry me. You love me.
But I love God more.
His ambition took him from the woman he loved...
to the corridors of power.
Her desire brought her to the man she thought could take his place.
Got my own announcement to make. I'm going to marry Luke O'Neill.
But her heart was with the man she could never have.
What I wouldn't give if she were yours instead of Luke's.
God knows how much I've hurt you. But I do love you.
- Meghann's my wife, not yours! - Then be a husband to her, man!
What kind of God would shut men out of Paradise for loving women?
A God I still can't give up for you.
And tonight, the story continues.
I found a pleasure in her I never dreamed existed.
Meghann, what are you doing here?
You complacent, conceited...
Meghann, shut up!
I've come back.
- Will you tell Ralph? - What should I tell him?
That he has a son.
And from generation to generation...
their desire and torment live on.
From the London stage to the islands of Greece...
and back to Australia.
What else have I done but pay for the great sin...
of loving Ralph de Bricassart?
Featuring Christopher Plummer, Piper Laurie...
Earl Holliman, Ken Howard...
Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim, Jean Simmons...
Bryan Brown, Rachel Ward...
and Richard Chamberlain.
A love unattainable...
forbidden forever: The Thorn Birds.
Himmelhoch's the same as ever.
We missed you, Meggie.
Anne's dying to see you.
Go ahead. I'll get your bag.
Wait till you see little Justine.
Jussie remembers me all right.
Ralph did come, didn't he?
What was I to do?
When he saw you weren't here, I thought the man would die.
He already looked like he'd been haunting houses as well.
I thought...
maybe he might even mean to give it all up for you.
And you can still look so happy.
I'll never have what you and Luddie have together.
But I can live forever on those few days with Ralph if I have to.
Far better that, than watching him grow to hate me more each day...
for keeping him from what he thinks he needs.
You'll be leaving us.
Yes.
Welcome back to Rome.
You have chosen.
You said I must if I'm to go on in the Church.
But having chosen...
how can I go on?
I have broken...
all my vows.
You went to the rose.
Yes.
I never felt such ecstasy in God's presence as I felt with her.
I found a pleasure in her I never dreamed existed.
Not just in her body...
but because I love to be with her...
smile at her...
talk with her...
share her food, share her thoughts.
I wanted never to leave her.
But you left her.
You found the strength to leave her.
But I haven't let go of her.
That's what wounds me, and I don't know how to heal myself!
Perhaps you're not meant to.
Perhaps that wound has saved you.
Do you remember the Greek story of Hippolytus?
The play we saw in Athens.
- He was killed because he couldn't love. - No.
Because he was too proud...
to love.
Too arrogant to count himself among mortal men.
Yes, your vows are broken.
But so, too, let us hope, is that proud spirit...
that kept you from the thing you wanted most.
You see...
one cannot truly be a priest...
without the humility to understand...
that one is first a man.
When you think of your rose...
think that it was she...
that led you to understand that.
No.
To see her only...
as some means of saving me would be the greatest arrogance of all.
She loves, Vittorio, despite everything.
And with a singleness of mind and heart.
If only...
I could love like that.
How can I ever thank you?
You've been more like parents to me than my own were.
Rubbish!
We'll be down to see you in Drogheda one day. Won't we, Luddie?
I wouldn't mind having a look at it.
Come on, Jussie.
Hold onto him. There are few enough like him.
Thank God!
The outfit's perfect, Meggie.
Wish I could see the farewell performance!
Bye.
Take him down!
That's a takedown!
Hello, Luke.
Meghann, what are you doing here?
What the hell do you mean coming here with the kid?
That's right. You've never seen her, have you?
Luke, this is Justine.
If you've come with another of your "let's settle down in our nest" speeches...
Is that what you think?
Wasn't it enough you sending your damned Roman priest after me?
- What are you talking about? - When I refused Father Ralph's money...
you sent him to beg for you, didn't you?
I haven't seen him since the day Justine was born.
Sounds like him, though. Like all meddling priests.
He'd be only too happy to see me settle down with half a dozen more brats!
That's what you want, isn't it?
I was stupid enough to think so.
Thanks to you, Luke, I've had time to get around...
and to find out what I've been missing!
And to realize that the last thing I want...
is to be stuck out in some dried-up station in western Queensland with you...
- for the rest of my life! - Meghann, shut up!
That would be my big reward, wouldn't it?
After wasting God knows how many years waiting...
while you try to prove you're a real man...
when you're not and you never will be!
- So I'm leaving you. - Leaving me? No, you're not.
Cheer up, Luke.
You still got your mate Arne.
Maybe you'll be more use to him because you're none to me!
If I did wanna have more kids...
it wouldn't be hard to find a better breeder.
'Cause I found out something else lately...
you complacent, conceited...
self-centered bastard!
You can't make love for toffee.
And about the money you stole from me, Luke. Take it!
I'm happy to sacrifice it.
On one condition:
Don't ever make me set eyes on you again.
Not as long as I live!
Take me to Dungloe station.
Mail truck's coming!
Good! I hope he's brought my pastry flour.
Bob, Jack, it's me! I'm home!
Meggie, what are you doing here?
Oh, my God! Mrs. Cleary!
Mrs. Cleary, come!
Meggie, it's you! You've come back! What a surprise!
What have we here?
Wouldn't you tell a person you were coming?
Look at this little angel.
- Where's Luke? - Coming later, no doubt.
Mom, I've come back.
To stay.
So you've left Luke then?
He didn't want me.
Or his children.
- Children? - Yes.
I'm going to have another baby.
I knew he'd be beautiful.
He's got the Cleary mouth all right.
- He's a bonzer little bloke. - But can he sit a horse?
He will.
Jussie, there you are.
Look at what's here.
Come here, darling.
Look at your new little brother Dane.
It's all right.
It's all right, darling.
Take care of yourself, Meggie.
- Rest well, Meggie. - See you later.
Mom, wouldn't you like to hold Dane?
Will you tell Ralph?
Father de Bricassart?
I don't know. What should I tell him?
That he has a son.
How could you?
That's insane.
Don't lie to me, Meggie. Not to me.
I knew it the moment you came home. That's why you came home.
You had what you wanted. You didn't need Luke anymore.
No. I told you. Luke didn't want me.
I've been watching you and Ralph de Bricassart for years.
All he had to do was crook his little finger and you went running.
It was the same for him, from the moment he laid eyes on you.
Poor Ralph.
When he came here last year and found you married and gone...
I knew that sooner or later he would have to go to you.
And he did, didn't he?
You're very cruel, Mom.
One might think that you of all people would understand.
Because of Frank.
You can give as good as you get.
How long have you known?
Since I was a little girl.
Since Frank went away.
I was 16 when I met him.
He was everything that Paddy wasn't.
Sophisticated, cultured, charming.
I thought I couldn't live without him.
But he was an important man...
a politician...
and already married.
He wasn't about to sacrifice all that for me.
I was nothing to his noble ambition.
Just as you're nothing to Ralph's.
I know I can never have Ralph.
But at least I've got part of him the Church can never have.
Yes. That's what I thought.
To take of him what I could.
To have his child to love at least.
But what have I got now?
I lost Frank.
I paid in the worst way a mother could.
And you're going to pay, too.
Believe me, God will see to that.
You think I haven't paid already?
What else have I ever done but pay for the great sin...
of loving Ralph de Bricassart?
All my life I trod the straight and narrow for fear of God Almighty...
and what did it get me but a broken heart?
No, Mom, I'm not afraid of God anymore.
And as for Ralph...
he'll never know Dane's his...
unless you tell him.
And if you do, I warn you...
I'll be as merciful to you as you have always been to me!
Yes, you'll beat God himself as I did.
I have beaten God.
Dane is mine, and nothing's gonna take him from me.
Hello?
"He has outsoared the shadow of our night
"Envy and calumny and hate and pain
"And that unrest which men miscall delight
"Can touch him not and torture not again
"From the contagion of the world's slow stain
"He is secure
"and now can never mourn A heart grown cold
"a head grown gray in vain"
No! You forgot again.
It's "He lives, he wakes 'tis Death is dead, not"...
Good day. We were just pretending.
Can we help you, sir?
I've come to see the Clearys.
Uncle Jack's taken everyone to Sydney for Christmas shopping.
They'll be back soon.
- If it's about the stud rams... - You must be Meggie's boy, Dane.
Yes, sir.
I'm Cardinal de Bricassart.
But, Your Eminence...
we weren't expecting you until tomorrow.
Are you actually the Cardinal?
You're disappointed.
I did think you'd arrive all decked out, trailing clouds of glory or something.
You'll have to come to the Vatican for that.
Pity. I'll bet you're smashing in red.
I'm Justine, by the way.
Could we dispense with the ring business?
I'm afraid I think religion is rather a load of codswallop.
It's all right, Dane. Justine and I are old friends.
The first time we met, you wet on me, as I remember.
Mother's going to be so happy to see you.
Must be 20 years since I was here last.
Hello, my darling.
Mom, look who's here. Father Ralph.
Hello, Meggie.
Isn't it wonderful?
Wonderful.
I was ready to administer last rites.
There was Dane, evidently past all hope...
and you were very convincing, my dear.
Our Jussie considers herself quite the actress.
Thanks, Mom.
Actually, I'm rather good.
As you might discover if you'd ever come to a performance.
Jussie's wonderful. She's the best one in the theater group.
If you ask me, I think it's a lot of nonsense, Jussie.
You've just turned 20.
Best be thinking of marriage instead of parading on some stage in Sydney.
Marriage, Uncle Bob?
And spoil the family tradition?
I hardly think I'm gonna waste my talent wiping snotty noses...
and salaaming to some joker just because he's my husband.
Charmingly phrased, Jussie, as always.
It looks as though it'll be up to Dane to keep the Cleary clan from dying out.
Mom, have a heart.
You'll need a house full of sons to take over Drogheda...
the way we've been growing.
Yes, you've been doing splendidly since the war.
I'd say so.
Our yield this year could have bought and sold Mary Carson several times over.
I think 1955 could be even better.
So I don't think we've given the Church much to complain of.
Now, Mom.
If not for the Church the government would have broken us up.
MacQueen's place is down to half its size.
Think of that, Ralph.
One day Dane will be the head of the last great station in New South Wales.
Hear, hear.
I can't imagine a better future for you, Dane.
Hear, hear.
So, Judy, still here on Drogheda?
I was meaning to go, of course.
- Was it 30 years? More than 30. - That long.
Why, I remember so well when you were Queen of the Gilly fair.
I was, wasn't I?
Nana Fee, look at that hat.
Jussie, that was considered quite smart in my day.
Mom, you amaze me.
I had no idea you'd kept these photographs all these years.
I've only looked at them once since the fire, myself.
I thought it was time the children saw them.
This is your grandfather, Paddy...
Little Hal and Stuie.
Dear Stuie.
He's the one I remind you of, Mom?
Yes, he is, in so many ways.
Who's this hero in the gloves?
Never a Cleary, surely.
- Jus. - That's all right.
This is my Frank.
It was in his things the prison sent back to me when he died.
Mom, is this you?
You were beautiful.
Were? The cruelty of youth.
What a lovely dress. Blue, wasn't it?
No, Mom. Yours was blue.
Meggie's dress was rose. "Ashes of Roses," it was called.
In it, she was the most beautiful thing any of us had ever seen.
It never really changes, does it?
Not even after all these years of silence between us.
Only that you're lovelier than ever.
Much lovelier than that girl in her Ashes of Roses gown.
It's because I'm so happy.
When you left me on Matlock Island, I thought it was forever.
And here you are again, so soon.
Why now...
when you have everything you said you wanted?
Everything...
except what I had with you on Matlock Island.
In all the years since then I've fought against my need for you.
But I couldn't bear to leave this life without being with you again.
- You're not ill? - No.
Just getting old.
Feeling my mortality, like any man.
And God help me, after all these years...
it still hurts...
that after Matlock Island you could go back to Luke...
give him a son.
You must never think of Dane as Luke's son.
Or as anyone's but mine.
You love Dane very much, don't you?
Almost too much, I sometimes think...
as I've always loved you too much.
Father, it's gonna be a scorcher of a day.
Perhaps we'd best take the jeep instead.
It might be wiser, Ralph. It must be years since you've ridden.
And we're none of us any younger, are we?
I'll just try to struggle along if you're sure she's nice and gentle.
Shall we?
Come on!
Be careful!
Dane's very taken with him, Meggie.
He's never known a father.
Let him enjoy Ralph while he can.
I thought you might tell Ralph, after all.
Who would it serve?
Who does it serve not to?
I honestly think you're disappointed...
I haven't been struck by some retributive bolt of lightning.
I'm happy for once in my life.
Can't you let me enjoy it?
Where's Dane?
Damn! I wanted to tell him.
Jussie, what on earth are you doing?
I'm off to tread the boards, Mom.
They just phoned me from the theater.
Seems our Mrs. Cratchit's got the pip.
God bless us every one.
You're going back to Sydney?
Uncle Jack's flying me down.
- Jussie, it's Christmas! - Yes, Mother.
That's often when one stages Dickens' Christmas Carol.
You know how much this Christmas means to me, with Ralph here.
I am understudy. I really shouldn't have come home as it was.
That's just wonderful, isn't it?
Yes, I think it is.
Really, Mom, you might be happy for me.
I may get to do as many as a dozen performances.
- God, you are exactly like... - My father?
So you've said.
I should look him up one day. We'd have lots to talk about.
Ta, Nana Fee.
It means a great deal to me to have you here.
I realize you know very little about me...
but I've wanted for so long to know you...
to talk with you.
Father...
did you ever have any regrets about entering the priesthood?
Yes. Inevitably, I suppose.
I've missed things.
A woman to share my life.
Perhaps even a son, like you.
I would've liked that, Dane, very much.
What caused you to make your decision to become a priest?
Curiously...
it wasn't really like a conscious decision.
More like something you've always known from the first.
My fate, you might say.
Father...
I also want to be a priest.
Why?
When you can do anything with your life...
be anything.
How can you say that...
when you are everything I want to be?
Dane, no.
You know nothing of the man I am.
You look at me and see the Cardinal, the Prince of the Church.
I see the priest...
the perfect priest.
Then you're wrong.
To say it was my fate to be a priest...
isn't to say it was given to me like a gift.
An entire lifetime of trying to offer myself up totally to God...
has brought me no more...
than moments of oneness with him.
And I have broken every vow.
Do you understand? Every vow.
I have not been equal to the sacrifice God asks.
But you have spent your life trying.
Father, when I said the perfect priest...
I didn't mean some infallible being.
I mean someone who strives to do God's will.
Maybe I won't be equal to the sacrifice either.
But if I don't try...
my life will have no meaning.
It's the only way I know to show God how much I love him.
Do you know what this will mean to your mother?
It's why I've tried for so long to put it out of my mind.
I know how important it is to her to have me stay on here in Drogheda.
And I love her so much.
But I must do this.
Then you must let me help you, son.
I'll tell her, because I love her, too.
Don't touch me!
Please believe me.
Dane's mind was made up long before I arrived.
I believe you!
Don't you think I don't know you're just here to collect for what I stole!
- I don't understand. - No, you wouldn't.
But understanding's beside the point for you men of God, isn't it?
Faith! That's the great thing!
Let me tell you, Ralph...
I've got more faith than you and Dane and all the heavenly host combined...
because God has never failed me!
He's always there to take away whatever happiness I've got!
Dane isn't being taken from you. He is simply doing what he must.
Can't you see what this is costing him?
He loves you so much.
But, Ralph...
- he loves God more! - Meggie, stop it!
When I became a priest...
my mother swore she'd never forgive me...
and she never did.
Don't do that to Dane, Meggie.
Then take him.
If I must give him up, let it be to you.
Take him?
Yes.
When he finishes his schooling this spring...
I'll send him to you in Rome where you can look after him.
Keep him safe...
and promise me...
that if he should ever wish it, you'll send him back...
because he belonged to me first.
You don't have to do this.
He can be settled in a seminary in Sydney, where you can be near him.
You know it takes years to prepare for the priesthood.
No, Ralph.
Your God wants reparation.
Very well.
Let Dane go to you...
and then I'll have nothing more to repay.
I will have given everything...
that I have ever had or loved in my whole life.
Surely even God can't ask for more than that.
I'm so sorry.
- Please forgive me. - I didn't want to hurt you.
"In loving wrongly and beyond all reason, I have sinned against the gods.
"I tremble that the burden of my crime will fall upon my children...
"fell them both."
You're gonna be a wonderful Phaedra.
I mean, if I had talent like that...
Believe me, Martha, talent you don't need.
The virgin goddess Artemis bids you enter.
Darling! Was my performance that good?
Jus, I'm so sorry.
I missed the whole matinee.
Let me guess.
You were having a little talk with Jesus and forgot all about the time.
Dane, honestly!
Let me finish dressing.
I won't be a minute.
Hello.
I haven't seen you in a long time.
Hello, Martha.
How are you?
Stunned, as always, by your resemblance to Adonis.
- Maybe I'll wait in the park. - Never mind. I'm going.
Another time.
Ta-ta.
Poor Martha.
She'll never forgive you for saving it all for God.
Which reminds me. Guess what I did last night.
You finally murdered your leading man.
Close. I went to bed with him.
I needed the experience.
I play the lead in Phaedra next, so I have to know about passion, right?
All this pretending you don't care...
as if you're too smart to need anyone...
or love anyone.
Maybe I am too smart.
So far, loving and needing people hasn't bought me a lot, has it?
Are you ever going to forgive me?
For becoming Father Rhubarb?
Probably not.
- When do you leave for Rome? - Thursday.
I want to go spend some time with Mom first.
I wish you'd visit Mom sometimes.
I know things have never been very good between you two.
Yes, I used to weep salt tears about it, but I've done with tears forever, okay?
I can't hold Mom's hand for you because I won't be here either.
What do you mean?
I've decided I've far too much talent to stay buried here in Aussie land.
So I'm taking myself off to London...
- after Phaedra is finished, of course. - London?
That means I'll get to see you.
Dane, I've always taken care of you.
You surely can't expect to get along without me now, can you?
I love you.
I couldn't sleep either.
What time does your plane leave from Sydney?
Not till late tomorrow.
Do you want to fly down with Uncle Jack and see me off?
It's freezing in here. You'll catch your death.
- Mom. - Come on.
I've always loved your bed...
the way it smells of you.
Remember when I used to come in on the cold mornings?
Jussie would sort of lurk about in the doorway...
half in and half out.
I wonder if you realize how much she needed you.
You've always been so different from one another.
I guess I thought she never really needed me.
She did and does.
She loves you every bit as much as I do.
I'm glad she's going to be near you.
We've got it all planned out.
Every year when I get time off from the seminary...
we're gonna tour and visit a different country together...
then fly home for Christmas.
It's not as if I'm going away forever, is it?
There's so much I wanted to say to you.
To tell you that you've brought my life joy...
and meaning in ways you can never know.
It hurts to leave you.
- I wish you could understand. - But I do.
And it's that that I most wanted to say to you.
I can't share your love of God.
But I do understand your need to give your life to him.
Because each of us has within us...
something that just won't be denied.
Something to which we are driven...
even though it makes us scream aloud to die.
Has it been like that for you, Mom?
Dane, goodbye.
- Cappuccino for you. - Thanks.
How do you do?
I'm Rainer Hartheim. Welcome to Rome.
You've a terrific approach, Mr. Hartman, but I won't be needing a tour guide.
You are Miss O'Neill, Dane's sister?
Yes. Is Dane all right?
He was supposed to meet me at the station.
He was also to leave a message here, saying that I would bring you along.
- Along? - To tea with Cardinal de Bricassart.
Shall we?
Why not? You look safe enough.
Do I?
How very disappointing.
I must say you don't look at all like Dane.
So they tell me. Herr Hartman...
Hartheim. Rainer Moerling Hartheim.
All that?
- Impressive. - Isn't it? I chose it myself.
Who are you, exactly?
An old friend of Cardinal de Bricassart.
I see.
Do all his friends have those little flags on their fenders?
I'm a member of the West German parliament.
I make a point of visiting the Cardinal whenever I'm in Rome.
Remarkable man, the Cardinal.
A matter of taste, I suppose.
You're not like your brother, are you?
No, I'm the comic relief.
Sorry.
It's just it's always been rather difficult measuring up to Dane...
his being so Christlike and all.
I gather it's a case of sibling rivalry.
No. None.
Strange, isn't it?
By rights, I should resent him terribly...
but, in fact, I've always adored him.
Good Lord! Do you always do this?
What?
Go about worming intimate facts from perfect strangers.
Whenever possible.
And I doubt that you're perfect.
Here we are.
Crikey!
I always wanted to play the Vatican.
The latest reports from our UN observer are not encouraging.
Your Eminence.
My dear Justine, you disappoint me.
Just rendering unto Caesar, Your Eminence.
Besides, I'm determined not to embarrass Dane.
I won't hold you to it.
Come, I want you to meet Cardinal Contini-Verchese.
Really, darling, must I meet the entire team?
Miss O'Neill...
Dane tells me you are an actress.
In London, yes.
How exciting.
What play are you doing now?
I'll start Joan of Arc in January.
I see.
No doubt you will be quite splendid.
After this, I'll be better.
I get the feeling that our little world antagonizes you, my dear.
No, I suppose it shouldn't, really.
One doesn't often get such good theater.
It's very male, though. Isn't it?
I mean, with the exception of the Virgin Mary...
women are relegated to the cheap seats, in the upper balcony.
Yeah, but you are forgetting...
that we call that upper balcony...
Il Paradiso.
Paradise.
Your Eminence.
- I'll see you when I return. - Thank you, Your Eminence.
- You are looking forward to your holiday? - Cardinal, it's been a fascinating afternoon.
You Cleary women.
Forever pitting yourselves against God and the Church.
Our fate, perhaps.
Or maybe it's hereditary...
a sort of bad seed.
There's little question you're descended from Mary Carson.
And from your mother.
Much as Mom might wish otherwise.
Fortunately, we Cleary women have Dane to pray for our redemption.
You feel very protective toward Dane, don't you?
And, I think, rather fearing for him...
here among we red-robed vultures.
Even I wouldn't have put it that uncharitably...
but it's pretty fast company for a boy whose only ambition...
is to give his soul to God.
Touché, my dear.
You're very young to be so cynical.
And so wise.
- Rainer will take care of you. - How very disappointing.
A bit of fresh pasta, a green salad. Exquisite.
Here.
When you suggested dinner, I had some mad idea we'd end up in a restaurant.
An understandable error.
Grazie, Giovanni.
I thought you lived in Germany.
Yes, but I'm often here in Rome...
so I keep this place.
I've another in London, as well.
I seem to need to make a home for myself wherever I go.
Perhaps because I was orphaned as a child.
Bit of a posh life for an orphan, wouldn't you say?
If you're all that domesticated, why not marry?
I did, once. But for the worst of reasons.
I'm sure I'll never marry, not for any reason.
No? But why?
For starters, there's my work.
You're saying an actress can't marry?
Some can, of course.
But each of us has only so much to give, haven't we?
And just imagine...
on the stage I can commit suicide or murder.
I can go mad, sacrifice myself for love...
save men or ruin them.
Compared to all that I suppose marriage does sound rather dull.
You seem to have forgotten that there is an excellent reason to marry.
Falling in love.
That.
Of course that. What could be better?
Almost anything, I think.
The truth is, if you love people, they kill you.
If you need people, they kill you.
So I don't want to need anyone, not ever.
Very sad.
It's what I want most of all.
Then I hope you find it.
You're awfully certain about things, aren't you?
Why not wait and give life a chance...
see what develops?
Nothing will, I can assure you.
What about friendship? At least is that allowed?
Only if you feed me. I'm starving.
Then you'd best start doing your share, hadn't you?
So, my Ralph...
the children of the rose.
I very much like this Justine.
Most entertaining.
But one wonders what hurts could be so deep...
that she must make such an effort to keep them hidden.
Rather sad.
It is easier to be fond of Dane.
You're very...
taken with Dane...
aren't you?
Sometimes when I watch him...
it's like watching my own self at his age.
We'd best get you in bed.
My beautiful bed, in which I shall die...
one of these fine days.
And not even a pope's bed.
But there still may be time...
for you.
Now, Vittorio.