Robbie.
Cecilia.
I love you.
Someone's come in.
Cecilia!
People were sitting out having dinner on the pavement.
It was always the view of my parents that hot weather encouraged loose morals.
In high summer, my sister and I were never allowed out of the house.
They thought the villagers would be unnecessarily provoked.
What do you say, Cee? Does the hot weather make you behave badly?
- Good heavens, you're blushing. - It's just hot in here, that's all.
Lola, wipe that lipstick off. You're far too young.
What about you, Briony? What sins have you committed today?
- I've done nothing wrong. - Have you seen the twins recently?
They didn't look very happy last time I saw them, poor little chaps.
- You know nothing about it. - Briony. I can't imagine what's got into you.
- I've never known you to be so rude. - Well, they're not poor little chaps.
- Just look what they did to Lola. - What are you talking about?
Jackson and Pierrot bruised her arm. Gave her Chinese burns.
I'm afraid she's quite right. I had to pull them off her.
How I got my war wound.
The twins did that, Lola?
Yes, it all turned into a bit of a wrestle,
I'm afraid. Still, no harm done, eh, Lola?
Would you go and find these boys, please, Briony?
Tell them dinner's ready, and where are their manners?
- Why do I have to go? - Briony, you'll do as you're told,
or you'll go straight to your room.
- It's a letter! - Give it to me!
They've run away. Who has?
The twins.
"We are going to run away because Lola is so horrid to us and we want to go home.
- "Also, there wasn't a play." - Don't worry.
We'll send out some search parties. They can't have gone far.
Cee, you come with me.
Pierrot!
Jackson!
Boys!
Jackson!
Pierrot!
Lola? Are you all right?
I'm sorry. I didn't... I'm sorry.
Who was it?
I saw him.
- It was him, wasn't it? - Yes, it was him.
Lola, who was it?
It was Robbie, wasn't it? Robbie?
- You saw him? - Like you said, he's a sex maniac.
And you don't even know what happened before dinner.
I caught him attacking my sister in the library.
I don't know what he'd have done if I hadn't come in.
- You actually saw him? - Of course I did. Plain as day.
He pushed me to the ground. And then he put his hands over my eyes.
- I couldn't actually... I never actually... - Listen. I've known him
my whole life, and I saw him.
Because I couldn't say for sure.
Well, I can. And I will.
Call the police. And she'll be needing a doctor, as well.
- It's all right, dear. It's all right now. - Is Robbie back yet?
I haven't seen him.
I know who it was.
- You saw him, then? - Yes, I saw him.
- Just as you see me? - I know it was him.
You know it was him? Or you saw him?
- Yes, I did, I saw him. - With your own eyes?
Yes. I saw him, I saw him with my own eyes.
Well done, darling.
My brother and I found the two of them down by the lake.
You didn't see anyone else?
I wouldn't necessarily believe everything Briony tells you. She's rather fanciful.
When they went looking, I went up to my dad's.
- I did, honest. - Why was that?
To tell him all about it.
- I know I shouldn't have opened it. - No, you should not.
But at least you've done the right thing now.
Sir, there is someone coming.
- Time you went to bed. - But...
Now.
Cecilia!
You liars! You liars! Liars! Liars!
Northern France Four years later
I says to him, I says, "You can sit down there, twiddling your thumbs,
"waiting to get your head blown off, if you want to.
"I'm off out of it."
Bonsoir monsieur. Bonsoir? Let me do this.
What's his game?
- He says he's got something for us. - Fucking hell!
Wait! We have food for you
Bread, sugar
And wine!
What are you doing here?
When the retreat started, Panzers attacked,
and I was separated from my unit
So it's true, the English are retreating
We'll be gone at first light
We fought all those years, lost all those dead,
now the Germans are in France again
We will come back
we will throw them out
I promise you
Good luck
Come on, then.
How come a toff like you, talks French and everything, ends up a private?
Not eligible for officers' training if you join direct from prison.
- You're pulling my tit. - No, I'm not.
They gave me a choice. Stay in prison or join the Army.
And for the record, the last thing I am is a toff.
Six months earlier
I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost.
- Hello. - Hello.
- Should we sit down? - Yes, of course.
- I'm sorry, I can't remember, I... - Two. Thank you.
Where are you living?
Tiny flat in Balham. It's ghastly.
- The landlady's rude and horribly nosy. - You look the same.
- Apart from the uniform, of course. - Yes, I'm sorry. I've got to go back
- to the hospital in half an hour. - Oh, God, that...
- Sorry. - No.
Have you been in touch with your family?
No, I told you I wouldn't.
Leon waited outside the hospital last week, I just pushed past him.
Cee, you don't owe me anything.
Robbie, didn't you read my letters?
Had I been allowed to visit you, had they let me every day,
- I would have been there every day. - Yes, but...
If all we have rests on a few moments
in a library three and a half years ago, then I'm not sure,
- I don't know if... - Robbie, look at me.
Look at me.
Come back.
Come back to me.
Dearest Cecilia.
Cecilia.
A friend of mine has a cottage by the coast.
Said we can borrow it when you're next on leave.
White clapboard with blue-painted window frames.
- I hope this bus never comes. - Here.
Something to think of while you're away.
I love you.
Some poor sod's gonna catch a packet.
My darling. Briony found my address somehow, and sent a letter.
The first surprise was she didn't go up to Cambridge.
She's doing nurse's training at my old hospital.
I think she may be doing this as some kind of penance.
She says she's beginning to get the full grasp of what she did, and what it meant.
She wants to come and talk to me.
I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back.
Come back to me.
Come back. Come back to me.
So where we going, guv?
Fucking hate those boots!
I hate them worse than all the fucking Germans put together!
You'll have a job getting back to England in your socks.
Come on, pal, you should be getting dressed.
- If I fell in, would you save me? - Of course.
Briony!
Thank you.
Thank you! Thank you, thank you!
That's an incredibly bloody stupid thing to do.
- I wanted you to save me. - Don't you know
how easily you could have drowned?
- You saved me. - Stupid child!
You could have killed us both. Is that your idea of a joke?
I want to thank you for saving my life.
I will be eternally grateful to you.
The story can resume.
Our story can resume. I will simply resume.
Jerry, come and have a go at us in fucking South End.
Or better still, Trafalgar Square. No one speaks the fucking lingo out here.
You can't say, "Pass the biscuit," or "Where's me hand grenade?"
They just shrug. Because they hate us, too. I mean, that's the point.
We fight in France and the French fucking hate us.
Make me Home Secretary, I'll sort this out in a fucking minute.
We got India and Africa, right?
Jerry can have France and Belgium and wherever else they want.
Who's fucking ever been to Poland? It's all about room, empire.
They want more empire, give 'em this shithole, we keep ours,
and it's "Bob's your uncle" and "Fanny's your fucking aunt"!
Think about it.
Dearest Cecilia. The story can resume.
The one I had been planning on that evening walk.
I can become again the man who once crossed the Surrey park
at dusk in my best suit, swaggering on the promise of life.
The man who, with the clarity of passion, made love to you in the library.
The story can resume.
I will return,
find you, love you,
marry you. And live without shame.
You can smell the sea.
Fuck me.
- It's like something out of the Bible. - Jesus Christ.
Come on, get everybody to clean this mess up now.
We've just arrived, sir. Can you tell us what we're supposed to be doing?
Nothing. Just wait. Where are the ships?
A few made it in yesterday, Luftwaffe blew them to buggery.
Lost 3,000 men when they sank the Lancastria.
High command, in its infinite wisdom, is denying us air cover.
A disgrace, a fucking disaster.
No, look, the thing is, you see, I'm expected back, you see.
There's over 300,000 men on this beach, Private. You'll have to wait your turn.
Just be grateful you're not wounded. I've orders to leave the wounded behind.
No, no, leave it, guv! Never trust a sailor on dry land. You're best off out of it.
That's not right.
Christ.
Can you hear me, laddies?
I'm coming home!
Take from our souls the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm
Let sense be numb, let flesh retire
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire
O still, small voice of calm
Guv'nor.
I have to get something to drink.
You need one. You're grey.
He's gone all grey, can you see?
There. Come on.
All I want's a cup of tea now.
What the fuck you doing?
I'm coming home! Laddie, I'm coming home!
Fuck 'em all! Fuck 'em all! The long and the short and the tall
Fuck all the Sergeants and WO 1s Fuck all the corporals
and their bastard sons
'Cause we're saying goodbye to them all As back to their billets they crawl
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean
So cheer up, my lads Fuck 'em all!
Mike!
Hold up, guv.
Wait here.
Why don't you sit down?
It's so hot in here.
Take off your boots.
I have to get back. I promised her.
To put things right.
And she loves me. She's waiting for me.
Oi!
Wait, wait, wait.
Hey, what have you done with your boots?
- Look, you're sure you're feeling all right? - Never better.
Now I'm wondering whether the beach really is the best place for dinner.
- I'm not sure, I don't recognise it. - Dunno.
- This'll do, down here. - No.
- No, no, it's further on. - What is?
This place I know, an old cottage with white clapboards
and blue-painted window frames.
Aw, yes. That's right, that's where we're going.
- It's close to here. - We're there. This is it.