Come for me!
You're gaining on it, Johnny.
Am I, father? Am I really?
Off you go now. Run along and practice.
He'll make a good king. He'll be ready.
That's the way. Come on, my son!
Have you found religion, Henry?
Will you look down from heaven and see who's sitting on your throne?
I must know before I die.
There's a legend of a king called Lear, with whom I have a lot in common.
Both of us have kingdoms and three children we adore,
and both of us are old, but there it ends.
He cuts his kingdom into bits. I can't do that.
I've bullt an empire, and I must know it's going to last.
All of Britain, half of France...
I'm the greatest power in a thousand years, and after me comes John.
I'm going to lose you, Henry, aren't I?
Alais, in my time I've known...
contessas, milkmaids, courtesans...
and novices, whores, gypsies, jades...
and little boys,
but nowhere in God's western world have I found anyone to love but you.
And Rosamund?
- She's dead. - And Eleanor.
The new Medusa, my good wife?
How is your queen? Decaying, I suppose.
No, don't be jealous of the Gorgon.
She is not among the things I love.
How many husbands do you know who dungeon up their wives?
I haven't kept the great bitch in the keep for ten years out of passionate attachment.
- There's Captain Marshal. William!
We will be holding Christmas court at chinon.
We have asked the king of France to join us.
I want Richard there and Geoffrey. Go find my boys and tell them.
Then go fetch the queen from Salisbury tower.
If the queen refuses? Eleanor?
She wouldn't miss this for the world.
Richard.
Richard!
Hello, Richard.
Forward!
Geoffrey?
Geoffrey.
Geoffrey!
Father wants to see me.
Your majesty.
There's to be a Christmas court.
Yes, madam.
Where? At chinon.
Henry, what if, just for once, I didn't do as I was told?
It's going to be a jungle of a day.
If I start growling now, I'll never last.
You'll last.
You're like the rocks at stonehenge... nothing knocks you down.
In these rooms, Alais, on this Christmas, I have all the enemies I need.
You have more than you think. Are you one?
Has my willow turned to poison oak?
If I decided to be trouble, Henry, how much trouble could I be?
Not much.
I could give away your plans. You don't know what they are.
I know you want to disinherit Richard. So does Eleanor.
She knows young Henry's dead.
The young king died in summer, and I haven't named an heir. She knows I want John...
on the throne, and I know she wants Richard... we are very frank about it.
Henry, I can't be your mistress if I'm married to your son.
Why can't you? Johnny wouldn't mind.
I do not like your Johnny. He's a good boy.
He's got pimples, and he smells of compost.
He's just 16! He can't help the pimples.
He could have a bath!
It isn't such a dreadful thing to be queen of England.
Not all eyes will weep for you.
Will yours? I don't know.
Very likely.
All I want is not to lose you. Can't you hide me?
Can't I simply disappear? You know you can't.
Your little brother Philip's king of France now, and he wants your wedding or your dowry back.
I only took you for your dowry. You were seven...
two big knees and two big eyes, and that's all.
How was I to know?
Hey. What's the matter, lad? Nothing.
- Geoff! - Johnny!
Is that for me? I love Christmas.
What difference does my dowry make?
Let Philip have it back. It isn't much. I can't.
The vexin is a little county, but it's vital to me. And I'm not.
It's been my luck to fall in love with landed women.
When I married Eleanor I thought, "you lucky man.
"The richest woman in the world... she owns the Aquitaine,
the greatest province in the continent, and beautiful as well. "
She was, you know. And you adored her.
Memory fails. There may have been an era when I did.
Let's have one strand askew. Nothing in life has any business being perfect.
If I say you and I are done, we're done.
If I say marry John, it's John.
I'll have you by me,
and I'll use you as I like.
Ah, Christmas... warm and rosy time.
The hot wine steams, the yule log roars,
and we're the fat that's in the fire.
She'll be here soon, you know. Who? Mother.
She still want you to be king? We are not as friendly as we used to be.
If I'm supposed to make a fuss and kiss her hairy cheek, I won't.
What you kiss, little prince, is up to you.
I'm father's favorite. That's what counts.
You hardly know me, Johnny, so I beg you to believe my reputation.
I am a constant soldier, a sometime poet, and I will be king.
Just you remember... father loves me best.
Why John? John doesn't care for you at all.
We love each other deeply. None of them has any love for you.
Because we fight?
Tell me all three want the crown. I'll tell you it's a feeble prince that doesn't.
They may snap at me and plot, and that makes them the kind of sons I want.
I've snapped and plotted all my life.
There's no other way to be a king, alive and 50 all at once.
I'm going to fight for you. Oh, fine.
How was your crossing? Did the channel part for you?
It went flat when I told it to.
I didn't think to ask for more.
How dear of you to let me out of jail. It's only for the holidays.
Like school, you keep me young. Here's gentle Alais.
No, greet me as you used to.
Fragile I am not.
Affection is a pressure I can bear.
Oh, but I do have handsome children.
John, you're so clean and neat.
Henry takes good care of you. And Richard.
Don't look sullen, dear. It makes your eyes go small and piggy...
and your chin look weak.
Geoffrey.
Is Philip here yet? Not yet.
Let's hope he's grown up like his father...
Simon pure and Simon simple... good, good, Louis.
If I had managed sons for him instead of all those little girls,
I'd still be stuck with being queen of France,
and we should not have known each other.
Such, my angels, is the role of sex in history.
Thatwill be Philip.
Where's Henry? Upstairs with the family whore.
That's a mean and tawdry way to talk about your fiancee.
My fiancee. Whosever fiancee.
I brought her up, and she is dear to me and gentle.
He still plans to make John king. Of course he does.
My, what a greedy little trinity you are... king, king, king.
Two of you must learn to live with disappointment. Ah, but which two?
Let's deny them all and live forever.
Tusk to tusk through all eternity.
Ah, my boys.
The king of France and I will shortly have a tactile conversation,
like two surgeons looking for a lump.
We'll state positions, and I'll make the first of many offers. He'll refuse it, naturally.
I'll make a better one, and so on through the holidays until I win.
For the duration of this joyous ritual you will give to your father your support.
- My lord! - Your grace!
Welcome to chinon.
Ah, that's better.
I was told you were impressive for a boy of 17.
- I'm Eleanor, who might have been your mother. - queen Eleanor.
All the others here you know.
I gather you're disturbed about your sister and her dowry.
Sixteen years ago you made a treaty with us.
- It is time its terms were executed. - I should think so.
Our position comes to this:
That you will either hold the marriage or return the vexin.
Alais marries Richard, or we'll have the county back at once.
That's clear, concise and well presented.
My position...
well, frankly, Philip, it's a tangle.
Two years ago, the queen and I... for reasons passing understanding...
gave the Aquitaine to Richard.
That makes Richard very powerful.
How can I give him Alais too?
The man she marries has you for an ally.
It's their wedding or the vexin back. Those are the terms you made with Louis.
True, but academic, lad. The vexin's mine.
By what authority? It's got my troops all over it. That makes it mine.
Now, hear me, boy.
I am a king. I am no man's boy. A king?
Because you put your ass on purple cushions?
- Sir. - Philip.
You haven't got the feel of this at all, lad.
Use all your voices. When I bellow, bellow back.
I'll mark that down. This too:
We are the world in small.
A nation is a human thing. It does what we do, for our reasons.
Surely if we're civilized, we can put away the knives.
We can make peace. We have it in our hands.
I've tutors of my own. Will that be all? Oh, think.
You came here for a reason. Don't you want to ask me if I've got an offer?
Have you got an offer? Not yet, but I'll think of one.
Oh, by the way,
you're better at this than I thought you'd be.
I wasn't sure you'd noticed.
Well, what shall we hang... the holly or each other?
Would you say, father, that I have the makings of a king? A splendid king.
And would you expect me, father, to give up without a fight?
Of course you'll fight. I raised you to.
I don't care what you offer Philip, I don't care what plans you make.
I'll have the Aquitaine and Alais and the crown.
I'll not give up one to get the other.
I won't trade off Alais or the Aquitaine to that walking pustule!
No, your loving son will not.
Did you hear what he called me? Clearly, dear.
Now, run along. It's nearly dinnertime. I only do what father tells me.
Go and eat. Did I say something wrong?
I'm always saying something wrong. And don't pout.
I'm not pouting. And stand up straight! How often do I have to tell you?
And that's to be the king. And I'm to be his chancellor.
Has he told you?
John will rule the country while I run it, that is to say,
he gets to spend the taxes that I raise.
How nice for you. It's not as nice as being king.
We've made you duke of brittany. Is that so little?
No one ever thinks of crown and mentions Geoff. Why is that?
Isn't being chancellor power enough?
It's not the power I feel deprived of. It's the mention I miss.
There's no affection for me here.
You wouldn't think I'd want that, would you?
Henry? Hmm?
I have a confession. Yeah?
- I don't much like our children.
Only you... the child I raised but didn't bear. You never cared for me.
I did and do, believe me. Henry's bed is Henry's province.
He can people it with sheep for all I care,
which, on occasion, he has done.
Rosamund's been dead for seven years.
Two months and 18 days. I never liked her much.
- You count the days? - I made the numbers up.
He found miss clifford in the mists of wales...
and brought her home for closer observation.
Liking what he found, he scrutinized her many years.
He loved her deeply, and she, him. And yet, my dear,
when Henry had to choose between his lady and my lands...
there is no sport in hurting me. It's so easy.
After all the years of loving care,
do you think I could bring myself to hurt you?
Eleanor, with both hands tied behind you.
She is lovely, isn't she?
Yes, very.
Who could I have chosen to love...
to gall you more?
There's no one.
Time hasn't done a thing but wrinkle you.
It hasn't even done that. I've borne six girls, five boys...
and 31 connubial years of you.
How am I possible? There are moments when I miss you.
Many? That's my wooly sheepdog. Do you doubt it?
So, wee Johnny gets the crown.
I've heard it rumored, but I don't believe it.
Losing Alais will be hard, for you do love her.
It's an old man's last attachment, nothing more.
How hard do you find living in your castle?
It was difficult in the beginning, but that's past.
I find I've seen the world enough.
I'll never let you loose.
You led too many civil wars against me.
And I damn near won the last one. Still, as long as I get trotted out...
for Christmas courts and state occasions now and then...
for I do like to see you...
it's enough.
I'm famished. Let's go in to dinner.
Arm in arm. And hand in hand.
You're still a marvel of a man.
And you're my lady.
It's an odd thing, Eleanor.
I've fought and bargained all these years...
as if the only thing I had to live for was what happened after I was dead.
I've something else to live for now.
I've blundered onto peace.
On Christmas eve.
Since Louis died, while Philip grew, I've had no France to fight.
In that lull, I've found how good it is to write a law...
or make a tax more fair or sit in judgment to decide...
which peasant gets a cow.
I tell you, there is nothing more important in the world.
Now the french boy's big enough, and I'm sick of war.
Do you still need the vexin, Henry?
It's as vital as it ever was. My troops there are one day away from paris.
That's a march of 20 miles. I must keep it.
Henry, dear,
if Alais does not marry Richard, I will see you lose the vexin.
Well, I thought you'd never say it.
I can do it.
You can try.
We have a pack of barons we should look the loving couple for.
Can you read love in that?
And permanent affection.
My Richard is the next king, not your John.
I know you, Henry. I know every twist and bend you've got,
and I'll be waiting round each corner for you.
Do you truly care who's king?
I care because you care so much.
Don't fight me, Eleanor. What would you have me do... give out, give up, give in?
Give me a little peace. A little?
Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now, there's a thought.
If you oppose me, I'll strike you any way I can.
Henry? Madam?
Did you ever love me?
No.
Good. That will make this pleasanter.
Well, I've come. I'm here.
What was it you wanted? Just to talk.
We haven't been alone, the two of us, in...
how long is it, lamb... two years?
You look fit. War agrees with you.
I keep informed. I follow all your slaughters from a distance.
Do sit down.
Is this an audience, a good-night hug with kisses or an ambush?
Let's hope it's a reunion.
Must you look so stern?
I sent for you to say I want your love again,
but I can't say it to a face like that.
My love, of all things. What would you want it for?
Why, for itself. What other purpose could I have?
You will tell me when you're ready to.
I scheme a lot, I know. I plot and plan.
That's how a queen in prison spends her time.
But there is more to me than that.
Can't I say I love a son and be believed?
If I were you, I'd try another tack.
I've no dammed up floods of passion for you. There's no chance I'll overflow.
You're a dull boy, dull as plainsong. La-la-la, forever on one note.
I gave the church up out of boredom. I can do as much for you.
You'll never give me up, not while I hold the Aquitaine.
You think I'm motivated by love of hills and dales? I think you want it back.
You're so deceitful, you can't ask for water when you're thirsty.
We could tangle spiders in the webs you weave.
If I'm so devious, why don't you go?
Don't stand there qulvering in limbo.
Love me, little lamb, or leave me.
Leave you, madam?
With pure joy.
Departure's a simple act. You put the left foot down, and then the right.
Mother! Hush, dear. Mother's fighting.
Father's finished working out the treaty terms.
How nice. Where is your father?
Ah, there you are.
Well, have you put the terms to Philip?
Not yet, but we're shortly granting him an audience. I hope you'll all attend.
Are we to know the terms, or would you rather tease us?
Not at all. The terms are... what are you giving to Philip, what of mine?
Whatever you've got goes to me. And what's the nothing Geoffrey gets?
My God, boys, you can't all three be king.
All three of us can try. That's pointless now.
I want you to succeed me, Richard.
Alais and the crown... I give you both.
I've no sense of humor. If I did, I'd laugh.
- I mean to do it. - What about me?
I'm your favorite. I'm the one you love.
I'm sorry, John. I can't help myself.
Could you keep anything I gave you? Could you beat him in the field?
You could. John, I won't be there.
I'm losing too. All my dreams for you are lost.
You've led me on. I never meant to.
You're a failure as a father. You know that? I'm sorry, Johnny.
Not yet, but I'll do something terrible, and you'll be sorry then.
Did you rehearse all this, or are you improvising?
Good God, woman, face the facts.
Which ones? We have so many.
Power is the only fact.
How could I keep him from the throne?
He'd only take it if I didn't give it to him.
No, you'd make me fight for it.
I know you. You'd never give me anything. True, and I haven't.
You get Alais and the kingdom, but I get the thing I want most:
If you're king, England stays intact. I get that.
It's all yours now... the crown, the girl, the whole black business.
Isn't that enough?
I don't know who's to be congratulated.
Kings, Queens, knights everywhere you look, and I'm the only pawn.
I haven't got a thing to lose. That makes me dangerous.
- Poor child. - Poor John.
Who says, "poor John"? Don't everybody sob at once.
My God, if I went up in flames, there's not a living soul...
who'd pee on me to put the fire out.
Let's strike a flint and see.
You're everything a little brother dreams of, you know that?
- I used to dream about you all the time. - Ah, Johnny.
I'll show you, Eleanor. I've not lost yet.
Well, mummy, if you want me, here I am.
John's lost his chancellor, has he? And you've gained one.
It's a bitter thing your mummy has to say.
She doesn't trust me. You must know Henry isn't through with John.
He'll keep the vexin till the moon goes blue from cold.
And as for Richard's wedding day... we'll see the second coming first.
The needlework alone can last for years.
I know.
You know I know.
I know you know I know.
We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it.
We're a knowledgeable family.
Will Richard take me for his chancellor or won't he?
Why are you dropping John?
Because you're going to win. You will, with me to help you. I haven't yet.
I can handle John. He'll swallow anything I tell him.
I'll take him by the hand and walk him into the trap you set.
You're good. You're first class, Geoff.
You'd sell John out to me, or me to John, or...
you can tell me... have you found some way of selling everyone to everybody?
Not yet, mummy, but I'm working on it.
I don't care who's king, but you and Henry do.
I want to watch the two of you go picnicking on one another.
You have a gift for hating.
You're the expert. You should know.
Dear lord.
You've loved me all these years.
Oh, God forgive me. I've upset the queen. We need you. Help us.
What... and miss the fun of selling you?
Be Richard's chancellor.
Rot.
Well, that's how deals are made.
We've got him if we want him.
He'll sell us all, you know,
but only if he thinks we think he won't.
Why did I have to have such clever children?
What's the matter, Richard? Nothing.
It's a heavy thing, your nothing.
When I write or send for you or speak or reach,
your nothings come, like stones.
Don't play a scene with me.
I wouldn't if I could. I'm simpler than I used to be.
I had, at one time, many appetites.
I wanted poetry and power and the young men who create them both.
I even wanted Henry, too, in those days.
Now I've only one desire left... to see you king.
The only thing you want to see is father's vitals on a bed of lettuce.
You don't care who wins, as long as Henry loses. You'd do anything.
You are Medea to the teeth,
only this is one son you won't use for vengeance against your husband.
How my captivity has changed you.
Henry meant to hurt me. He's hacked you up instead.
Men coveted this talon once.
Henry was 18 when we met, and I was queen of France.
He came down from the north to Paris with a mind like Aristotle's...
and a form like mortal sin.
We shattered the commandments on the spot.
I spent three months annulling Louis, then in may, in spring,
not far from here, we married...
young count Henry and his countess.
But in three years' time I was his queen, and he was king of England.
Done at 21... five years your junior, general.
I can count. There was no Thomas Beckett then, or Rosamund...
no rivals, only me.
And then young Henry came, and you...
and all the other blossoms in my garden.
Yes. Had I been sterile, darling, I'd be happier today.
Is that designed to hurt me? What a waste.
I've fought with Henry over who comes next, whose dawn it is...
and which son gets the sunset, and we'll never live to see it.
Look at you.
I loved you more than Henry,
and it's cost me everything. What do you want?
I want us back the way we were. No, that's not it.
All right, then. I want the Aquitaine.
That's the mother I remember. We can win. I can get you Alais.
I can make the marriage happen, but I've got to have the Aquitaine to do it.
I must have it back. It's mine, and I'll never give it up.
Shall I write my will, "to Richard... everything"?
Would you believe me then? Where's paper? Paper burns.
I love you.
You love nothing.
You're incomplete. The human parts of you are missing.
You're as dead as you are deadly.
Don't leave me.
You were lovely once.
I've seen the pictures.
Don't you remember how you loved me?
We were always hand in hand.
Here's how it felt. As hot and coarse as that?
This won't burn. I'll scratch a will on this.
"To Richard... everything. "
Mother!
Remember how I taught you numbers...
and the lute and poetry?
See? You do remember.
I taught you dancing, too, and languages...
and all the music I knew and how to love what's beautiful.
The sun was warmer then, and we were every day together.
William, tell the french king I'll see him in the parlor.
Yes, my lord. In half an hour.
Half an hour. Good.
Of course, you know there's not a word of truth to Henry's terms.
If that's a warning, thank you.
What if it's an offer?
"What if" is a game for scholars.
What if angels sat on pinheads?
What if I were king?
It's your game, Geoff.
You play it.
John.
I made this for father. All the pieces work.
It took months. I'm not a fool. I know. Now, here's my plan.
I read three languages. I've studied law.
What plan?
We've got to make a deal with Philip. Why?
Because you're out, and Richard's in. And what kind of deal?
A war. If we three join and fight now, we can finish Richard off.
You mean destroy him? Hmm.
And mother too?
And mother too.
Now, do we do it? Is it on? I've got to think.
You haven't time. We are extra princes now.
You know where extra princes go?
Down.
Well, does John want a war or doesn't he?
Do you? If John asks for your soldiers, will he get them?
If John wants a war, he's got one.
John, you hear that? I'm still thinking.
Let me help. It's either Richard on the throne or you.
Do you think we'd win?
I know it.
Henry!
But you don't understand. I would appreciate a little qulet confidence.
I've enough nits picking at me. But you've promised me to Richard!
Good God, you don't think I meant it?
So that whole scene, all you said to John...
you think I'd ever give him up when I've mothered him and fathered him and babied him?
He's all I've got! How often do you people have to hear it... every supper?
Should we start the soup with who we love and who we don't?
I think you like passing me from hand to hand.
What am I to you... a collection plate?
Or am I all you've got, like John?
I've got to get the Aquitaine for John.
- I talk people, and you answer back in provinces! - They get mixed up.
What's the Aquitaine to Eleanor? It's not a province. It's a way to torture me.
That's why she spent the evening wooing Richard, wheezing on the coals.
She'll squeeze it out of him. My God, I'd have loved to eavesdrop.
"I taught you prancing, lamb, and lute and flute... "
That's marvelous.
It's absolutely me.
I thought as long as I was coming down, I'd bring them.
Whatever are you giving me?
You're such a child. You always ask.
"To Henry. "
Heavy.
It's my tombstone! Eleanor, you spoil me.
I never could deny you anything.
Don't go. It nettles her to see how much I need you.
You need me, Henry, like a tailor needs a tinker's dam.
Oh, I know that look.
He's going to say he loves me.
Like my life.
I talk that way to keep her spirits up.
Well, how'd you do with Richard? Did you break his heart?
You think he ought to give me back the Aquitaine?
I can't see why he shouldn't. After all, I've promised him the throne.
The boy keeps wondering if your promises are any good.
There's no sense asking if the air's good when there's nothing else to breathe.
Exactly what I told him.
Have you got it? Will he give it back?
No Aquitaine for John.
I have to give him something. Isn't some agreement possible?
Love, in a world where carpenters get resurrected, anything is possible.
You bore him, damn it. He's your son!
Oh, heavens, yes. 280 days I bore him.
I recall them all.
You'd only just found Rosamund.
Why her so damn particularly? I've found other women.
Countless others.
What's your count?
Let's have a tally of the bedspreads you've spread out on.
Thomas Beckett's. That's a lie.
I know. You still care what I do.
I want the Aquitaine for John! I want it, and I'll have it.
Is that menace you're conveying? Is it to be torture?
Will you boil me or stretch me... which? Or am I to be perforated?
I have the documents, and you will sign.
How will you force me to... threats? "Sign or I refuse to feed you. "
Tears? "Oh, sign before my heart goes crack. "
I'm like the earth, old man... there isn't any way around me.
I adore you.
Save your aching arches. That road's closed.
I have an offer for you, my dear.
A deal? A deal?
I give the richest province on the continent to John for what?
You tell me, mastermind, for what.
Your freedom.
Oh.
Once Johnny gets the Aquitaine, you're free. I'll let you out.
Think: On the loose in london, winters in provence,
impromptu trips to visit Richard anywhere he's killing people...
all that for a signature.
- You're good. - I thought it might appeal. You always fancied traveling.
Yes.
I even made poor Louis take me on crusade.
How's that for blasphemy?
I dressed my maids as amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to damascus.
Louls had a seizure, and I damn near died of windburn,
but the troops were dazzled.
Henry, I'm against the wall.
To be a prisoner...
to be bricked in...
when you've known the world...
I'll never know how I survived.
These ten years, Henry, have been unimaginable.
And now,
you offer me the only thing I want...
if I give up...
the only thing I treasure.
Sign the paper, and we'll break the happy news.
The queen is free, John gets the Aquitaine, and Richard marries Alais.
Yes, let's have it done.
I'll sign.
On one condition. Name it.
Have the wedding now. What's that?
Why, I've surprised you. Surely it's not sudden.
They've been marching down the aisle for 16 years, and that's a long walk.
John can be best man. That's a laugh.
And you can give the bride away. I want to watch you do it.
Alais... I can live without her.
And I thought you loved her. So I do.
Thank God. You frightened me. I was afraid this wouldn't hurt.
What a tragedy you are.
I wonder... do you ever wonder...
if I slept with your father?
My father? It's a lie.
But there are rumors.
Don't you ever wonder?
Is it rich, despising me? Is it rewarding? No.
Then stop! How?
It's what I live for. I'll show you.
By christ, I will. I'll do it.
Where's a priest? Somebody dig me up a priest!
You! Fetch me a bishop!
Get old Durham. He's just down the hall.
Ask him to meet us in the chapel. John, Richard, Geoffrey!
What's wrong? What's happened? Richard's getting married.
Getting married? Now? He's getting married now?
I never cease to marvel at the qulckness of your mind.
You can't hurt me, you bag of bile.
But you can, father. Why? Because I say so.
My lord, the bishop's waiting in the chapel. Good. Let's get this over with.
You'll make a lovely bride. I wonder if I'll cry.
You sound as if you think it's going to happen. I do.
He's only plotting. Can't you tell when Henry's plotting?
Not this time. He'll never give me up.
You think I won't? Because you told me so.
You're not my helen. I won't fight a war to save a face. We're done.
I don't believe you! Wait ten minutes!
Please! Richard, Richard, we're not...
honestly, we're not!
Please! We love each other.
Come on! It's lunacy! I won't do it! I won't!
- Lunacy! Let me go, Henry. Richard, no! - Come on!
I won't say the words! Not one of them!
It makes no sense! Why give me up?
What do you get? What are you gaining?
Why, the Aquitaine, of course.
What's that again?
Your mother gets her freedom, and I get the Aquitaine.
That is the proposition, isn't it? You did agree.
Of course she did. I knew it. It was all pretense. I believed it all.
I meant it all. No wedding. There'll be no wedding.
But, my boy, look. Durham's waiting.
Marry her, for my sake. It isn't much to ask. Never!
But I promised it to Philip. Think of my position.
Damn the wedding and to hell with your position. You don't dare defy me.
Don't I?
You're the king of France, for God's sake. Speak up. Do something.
Make a threat. Come on, frighten me. Am I? Dunce!
He never meant to have the wedding.
Come again. You're good at rage. I like the way you play it.
Boy, don't ever call a king a liar to his face.
I'm not a boy... to you or anyone!
Boy, you came here asking for a wedding or the vexin back.
By God, you don't get either. It's no to both. You have a pact with France!
Then damn the pact and damn France. She never marries, not while I'm alive.
Your life and never are two different times.
Not on my clock, boy! Listen to the lion!
Come on, frighten me. Don't spoil it, Richard. Take it like a good sport.
How's your bad leg? Better, thank you.
Your bad back? You're getting old. You'll have me once too often.
When? I'm 50 now. My God, boy, I'm the oldest man I know.
I've got a decade on the pope.
What's it to be? The broadsword when I'm 85?
I'm not a second son now. Your Henry's lies in the vault, you know.
I know. I've seen him there.
I'll have the crown. You'll have what daddy gives you.
I am next in line! To nothing!
Then we'll only have the broadswords now. This minute?
No, on the battlefield! So we're at war?
Yes, we're at war. I have 2,000 men at poitiers. Can they hear you?
Call and see who answers. You're as close to poitiers as you'll get.
You don't dare hold me prisoner. Until we're all agreed John comes next, I can and will.
You're a king's son, so I treat you with respect. You have the freedom of the castle.
The castle doesn't stand that holds me. Post your guards.
My God, I'm king again. Fantastic.
Are you happy for me, Geoff? I'm happy for us both.
You played it nicely. You were good.
Yes, I was. I fooled you, didn't I?
Oh, God, but I do love being king.
Well, Henry,
liege and lord,
what happens now?
I've no idea.
I know I'm winning, and I know I'll win, but what the next move is...
you were scared, weren't you?
No.
I think you were.
I was. You mustn't play with feelings, Henry. Not with mine.
It wasn't possible to lose you.
I must hold you dearer than I thought.
You've got your enigmatic face on. What's your mood, I wonder?
Pure delight.
I'm locked up with my sons.
What mother does not dream of that?
One thing. Yes?
May I watch you kiss her?
Can't you ever stop?
I watch you every night.
I conjure it before I sleep.
Leave it there.
My curiosity is intellectual.
I want to see how accurate I am.
Forget the dragon in the doorway. Come.
Believe I love you, for I do.
Believe I'm yours forever, for I am.
Believe in my contentment and the joy you give me.
And believe...
you want more?
I'm an old man in an empty place.
Be with me.
How beautiful you make me.
What might solomon have sung had he seen this.
I can't.
I'd turn to salt.
I've lost again.
I'm done for this time.
Well, there'll be other Christmases.
I'd hang you from the nipples, but you'd shock the children.
They kissed sweetly, didn't they?