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[ Door opens ]
Oh, Miss Elizabeth.
Hope I ain't gonna be in your way.
-[ Door closes] Rose, I'm so happy.
Miss Elizabeth, I'm trying to pack for you.
You'll squash them blouses.
I've got something to show you, Rose.
Roberts is packing warm things for Lady Margaret.
She says Lyme's a very drafty house, so I thought --
- Did you say "pack"? - Yes, Miss Lizzie.
Oh, dear. I should have told you. I'm not going.
Not going?
Lady Marjorie know? Mr. Hudson?
Well, nobody knows yet.
You see, I only made up my mind this morning
to stay in London for the weekend.
You see, Rose, dear,
I've been invited to a small, exclusive party in Bloomsbury.
And what would a properly brought-up young lady like you
be doing in a place like Bloomsbury?
A friend of mine has lodgings there,
someone I admire very much.
That's where I'm going.
Oh, stop looking so shocked, Rose.
And you can stop packing, too,
and help me to untie this infuriating knot.
Then I can show you what I bought to wear at the party.
I'll fetch the scissors.
Certainly not!
One must never out string. You always untie it.
Didn't your mother teach you that? Nanny taught me.
Well, we didn't get that many parcels to practice on, miss.
No, I suppose not.
How unfair the world is.
Oh, dear.
No, one cannot waste time on these stupid conventions.
Would you fetch me the scissors, Rose?
Snip, snip, and it's done.
I suppose one unties because
one should not appear greedy as to know what's inside.
It's like bread and butter before cake
and always leaving something on one's plate.
One must never appear to be in need, must one?
I suppose not, Miss Lizzie.
Like kissing a gentleman and not just waiting to be kissed.
- Miss Elizabeth. -[ Chuckling ] I'm sorry, Rose.
Just out it.
There now. Off with the string.
Away with the paper wrappings.
Aren't you going mad with curiosity, Rose?
You mind your fingernails, Miss Lizzie.
And abracadabra, hocus-pocus.
Shut your eyes, Rose. I'll tell you when to open them.
Now.
Isn't it beautiful?
- Yes, miss. - It's from Liberty's, Rose.
Well, that don't surprise me at all.
I'd better get on with your unpacking.
You don't like it.
Well, it's a bit bright, miss.
It's colour, Rose.
Nothing has to be dreary and dingy.
The world is beautiful if only we let it be.
Well, look at it more carefully.
Hmm.
Well, the material is quite nice.
There you are. I knew you'd like it.
Your eyes were closed. That's all.
All our eyes must be opened, Rose.
All eyes shall be opened one day.
What is it?
- well, it's a jibber. - Oh.
- women wear them in the East. - Oh.
And I'm going east on Saturday evening towards Bloomsbury.
So I must dress as the natives do.
Now, I must try it on.
Would you unlace me, Rose?
Undo me.
Horrible whalebones.
What is the use of having a body
if it's to be all twisted out of shape?
Here, you can't wear that downstairs.
Lady Marjorie'd have a seizure.
This time next week, I shall be 21.
Things are going to change.
Now, come along, Rosie, my faithful handmaiden.
Help me into my arrayment of gold and silk.
"What's the use of having a body," she says,
"if it's to be twisted all out of shape?"
Talk of bodies, is it now?
We all know what that means.
Well, I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Mrs. Bridges.
- wish I'd never mentioned it. - The colonel's lady
and Judy O'Grady.
Mrs. Bridges, I won't have you talk
about Miss Lizzie like that.
She's as pure as the driven snow.
It's my belief she's got a young gentleman.
That's right. I've heard her singing up and down the stairs.
- That means she's in love. Rubbish!
If she was, we'd all know about it.
Leastways, I would, 'cause she'd have told me.
It's malicious lies.
And what is malicious lies, Rose?
Nothing, Mr. Hudson. We was just talking.
Miss Elizabeth's new garment, what she's bought.
Arab and none too modest.
Well, you all know my rules.
I will not have gossip about members of the family.
We was just saying that Miss Elizabeth is on her way
to becoming a new woman, that's all.
I'd like to be made a new woman.
Nobody asked for your opinion, Doris.
New woman's right.
You want to see the young madam hopping up and down them stairs?
Stays? Not a bone in sight, except her own.
Edward, I won't have talk like that.
What would you know about stays anyway?
- You'd be surprised, Doris. - Edward!
Might I be excused from present company, please?
I wish I hadn't opened my mouth. I feel quite unwell.
Oh, I don't know.
Nothing but trouble.
New woman!
I've no time for people who want to change things.
Nothing wrong with them as they are.
Isn't that so, Mr. Hudson?
Oh, quite so, Mrs. Bridges.
If the Almighty, in His infinite wisdom,
has seen fit to ordain the world just so,
how can we poor creatures, be we high or low, seek to change it?
Consider the words of the hymn
that we all joined in only last Sunday.
♫ The rich man in his castle ♫
♫ The poor man at his gate ♫
♫ God made them high or lowly ♫
♫ And ordered their...♫
- what's the matter with you? - Mr. Hudson's been at the...
♫ ...all things bright and beautiful ♫
ALL: ♫ All creatures great and small ♫
♫ All things wise and wonderful ♫
♫ The Lord God made them all ♫
You're with us down here now, Rose -- not up there with them.
HUDSON: ♫ ...the rivers running by... ♫
ls Elizabeth lunching with us today?
- So she told Hudson. - Good.
I think I heard her come in a few minutes ago.
Thump, thump up the stairs three at a time.
She's too much energy.
Life and time will soon cure that.
The Scott-Kerry boy will be at Lyme for the weekend.
I hope she behaves herself.
I think you'd better train him to hold his breath,
because I'm afraid one puff of wind
would blow the Scott-Kerry boy right over.
Oh, the fact that we're having to scrape the barrel
for Elizabeth is nobody's fault but her own.
She was born clever
but without the wit to disguise it, poor child.
London's full of young men who turn pale when she approaches.
[Chuckles softly] Really? why?
She will lecture them about the poor and the needy
when she ought to be listening to what they have to say.
She'll learn in time.
It's time that worries me. She'll be 21 next week.
She'll probably die an old maid.
I don't think there's much chance of that.
Well, Richard, she doesn't know how to attract,
how to walk into a room and make heads turn.
Oh, my god!
Is it all right to wear this for lunch?
MARJORIE: Well, what on earth is it?
Well, I'm trying it on. It's for a party I've been asked to.
A costume ball. What fun.
It's not supposed to be fancy dress, Father.
- It's the very latest thing. - what party?
Mother, I know it's all rather last-minute,
and I do realize it's somewhat ill-mannered of me,
but this friend of mine, Henrietta Winchmore,
who goes to the lectures --
Fabian Society? - Yes.
Well, there's a group of them, all very clever and interesting,
and they've asked me to go to somebody's house
on Saturday evening for a party.
But we're travelling up to Lyme for the weekend on Friday.
Well, you see, I'm not going with you.
I'd rather go to this party.
No, it's out of the question, darling.
Mark Scott-Kerry's been invited specially for you.
Well, I've never met Mr. Scott what's-His-Name,
and even if I did, I probably wouldn't like him very much.
I've got friends of my own.
Well, who are they? What sort of people?
Oh, they're all very intelligent people, Mother,
who talk about things that matter.
Ooh, I say.
Well, I feel elated and happy when I'm with them.
And I'm very honoured to be asked into their circle.
Oh, they're poets, mostly, and painters
and people who write books.
MARJORIE: They're not of your world, darling.
It's the world I want, Mother. Please?
I beg you, telegraph to the Mortons at Lyme
to say I'm not coming.
They won't miss me.
There are plenty of girls up there
for Mr. Scott Thing to bore to death.
[Clicks tongue]
I'm -- I'm sorry. That was unkind.
Oh, please?
Let me stay in London just this once?
Oh, Richard, what am I to do?
Well, you're her father.
Well, she's old enough to choose her own friends.
MARJORIE: Not if they're unsuitable.
Well, surely that's up to Elizabeth to decide.
Well?
Well, I think I'd better send a telegram.
[ Door opens ]
HUDSON: Luncheon is served, my lady.
Oh, Hudson. Miss Elizabeth will not be travelling up to Lyme
with us on Friday after all.
She's remaining in London.
Very good, sir.
[ French accent] I am an anarchist!
But don't be frightened of me. I'm quite bombless.
You can feed him through the bars with buns and whiskey.
Oh, save me from nut sandwiches and unfermented wine.
Mr. Bernard Shaw is living proof
that a teetotal vegetarian diet produces the perfect mind.
And as bicycling the perfect body.
The webbs frequently bicycle 40 miles.
Ah, you British Socialists. Masochists you are.
Whose harem have you robbed of that little odalisque?
Henrietta Newer.
Soup kitchen somewhere in the slums.
She was a mousy-looking thing when I met her before.
Well, now look at her.
You have this effect upon people, my dear Evelyn.
She's good material.
Tougher than she looks.
One for the caves?
We'll see.
She's very young.
A neophyte ready for action and unsullied.
Now, don't you corrupt her, Perdita, my dear.
Me?
A bright little candle like that
will be chased by all kinds of moths.
Now, where have you put the whiskey?
Poetry is as natural as eating or making love.
It's life.
It's a spirit of gloriousness in things.
Do you read poetry, Elizabeth?
Oh, yes.
I admire your poems enormously,
though I don't always understand them.
Well, my poetry's not to be understood by the brain.
Just let it flow over you,
like the great spumy waves over the body of the naked swimmer.
PERDITA: All poetry is derivative.
We drink in the lessons of Milton and Swinburne
with our mother's milk.
Tolstoy is a fraud!
STANLEY: If I thought Tolstoy was not sincere,
then nothing would matter anymore.
Dead, my friend. They're all dead!
It is we who are alive.
We must lead. We must live for art.
I myself live for art, especially in the evenings.
In the ideal state, only the mentally and physically perfect
should be allowed to procreate.
LAWRENCE: Oh, nonsense, Henrietta!
My father was a dull professor of physics
married to the seventh dull daughter
of an even duller Dorset baronet.
And look at me -- brilliant.
[ Laughter]
And 40 times as sensitive as both my parents.
How are you bred, little blackbird?
- Oh, uh... - Oh, Elizabeth's parents
are frightfully nice.
My father's a Norfolk parson's son.
Nothing could be duller than that.
HENRIETTA: That is where free love comes in.
A true friendship with a man is not possible
Without physical intimacy and his beloved and lover.
If a woman has 12 brilliant men in her...
Nonsense, child.
If you think you can absorb wisdom like hot soup
merely by sleeping with a genius,
then I should be the wisest woman in Christendom.
[ Laughter]
Rodin once did my torso,
but all I can remember about him are his strong hands.
Oh. [Chuckles]
Rodin, the Michelangelo of the common man.
Common man?!
A bourgeois cliché, like your poetry.
That's unfair.
Well, you don't understand it. You said so yourself.
I will teach it to you.
He will teach you all about hunger strikes
and why having dirty fingernails is so important.
And that butterflies aren't much use when it comes to a fight.
Oh! what do you when they start chucking vitriol about?
Do you suppose an umbrella would be of any use?
Oh, protect me, my friends,
from the slings and arrows of the Philistines!
Protect you?
If you can't look after yourself in the jungle,
that's your lookout.
She likes to see her cubs
sharpening their claws on each other.
[Shouts indistinctly]
They test the breeder's make on the young bulls.
Now, how brave is this little one?
[ Laughs ]
[ Laughter]
You're mad.
We're all a little mad, Elizabeth.
We're special people, brought together from a wilderness.
We've thrown off the stupid convictions of our forefathers.
We're not shackled by convention.
We can be utterly frank.
We're in the lead, and together we can make a new world.
Viva la révolution!
- To the streets! - Ah!
But there are 3 million destitute in this country,
cradled in a gutter, housed in a slum,
slaving in a sweater's den, and dying in a workhouse infirmary.
Nobody loves them. They poison society.
You won't get rid of them by giving them soup.
But give them work, give them hospitals,
give them boots.
Then they will increase the wealth of the community.
We must fight commercialism not just by words, but with deeds.
And yet behind the night waits for the great unborn --
somewhere afar, some white tremendous daybreak.
Oh, gosh! I forgot!
We can't have the hall tomorrow for Lawrence's poetry reading.
- why not? - The beastly Bible readers
have bagged it first.
Well, we'll just have to have it here.
What?! In this box?!
Never. Cancel it. I-l need space.
Elizabeth, there's a lovely big room in your house.
Oh, but, well --
Is that possible, Elizabeth?
LAWRENCE: well, it's evidently not a welcomed suggestion.
Well, I'd have to ask my...
Oh, well, they're away.
Yes, yes, please come -- all of you. It'll be divvy.
LAWRENCE: Bless you, my child.
You are the true friend of us.
To commemorate the occasion,
I shall write a piece to my lady of the casbah,
something in the style of the "Rubaiyat."
It will consist of seven stanzas,
each one as exquisite and ephemeral and meaningless
as the eyelash of a gnat...
[ Laughter]
...or the first pale flush of dawn.
It will be inscribed gloriously with a lark's wing quill
in red ink on golden vellum.
[Light laughter]
There will be only one copy.
And you and I will read it together a stanza each evening.
And then we shall die, for that is our tragedy.
[Light laughter, applause]
Allow me to fill your glass.
Oh, uh, thank you.
I do find, uh, Kirbridge's style
so tediously over-florid, don't you?
I mean, "the eyelash of a gnat." Really?
You'd never find any of the major Russian poets
resorting to an allegory like that, now, would you?
Is anything the matter, Elizabeth?
Is dear Stanley forcing Pushkin down with the wine?
No, I was just wondering Where Lawrence was and Evelyn.
Well, they were here a moment ago.
Oh, I think they must have grown tired of our company
and left us.
Oh, but I must say goodbye and thank them.
Oh, we'll see them again --
tomorrow afternoon at your house.
Oh, yes, of course I will.
Better not disturb them now.
I expect they're communing with nature.
Oh.
Perhaps you'd, uh, rather stop discussing Kirbridge
and talk about the major poets?
On the contrary. You see, I don't agree with you.
I think Lawrence Kirbridge
writes and talks quite beautifully.
[Church bells tolling in distance ]
What's the time, Rose?
Almost 11:00.
The church bells have started ringing.
Oh, let them ring.
What time did you return home last night, Miss Elizabeth?
I didn't return home last night, Rose.
I returned home this morning at half past 3:00.
Miss Elizabeth, your nightdress!
- It's in the drawer. - But --
I've decided never to wear anything in bed again.
From now on, I'm going to dedicate my life to the truth
and to freedom for all mankind.
Well, without our clothes, We're all alike --
rich and poor, nobleman and peasant.
In our naked state, We're all equal, Rose.
Do you hear me?
Equal, equal, equal.
We're all equal!
- And free! -[ Gasps ]
Good morning, Father.
[ Smooches ]
Morning, Mother.
[ Smooches ]
Yes, I had a wonderful evening, thank you.
Such fascinating people.
Oh, I'm sorry to be a bit late down,
but I slept in this morning,
owing to an excess of rum punch and intellectual conversation.
By the way,
there was a most charming young man there -- a poet.
Such exciting eyes and a voice like a caress.
When he looked at me
and spoke these beautiful sonnets he's composed,
I felt as though I were almost undressed.
Oh, I'm sorry, Mother, but you wouldn't understand.
I don't mean literally undressed.
I mean I felt somehow
as if he were penetrating right through me, possessing me.
I was seized and flung across the saddle of his white charger,
and we galloped across the desert
to the sunset of my maidenhood.
HUDSON: You rang, Miss Elizabeth.
Oh, my heart! Hudson, you made me jump.
I beg pardon, miss.
It's quite all right.
I was just memorizing some passages from a book.
Uh, from a book I've been reading.
Were you requiring something, miss?
Yes, Hudson. It was simply to say
that I've invited some people to call this afternoon for tea.
We'll have it in here.
Very good, miss.
And how many visitors would there be, miss?
Six.
Or possibly seven or even eight.
I'm not quite sure.
Very good, Miss Elizabeth.
And luncheon, miss?
Oh, I'm not very hungry today.
HUDSON: I think Mrs. Bridges has prepared
some veal cutlets for you,
and Edward has laid for one in the dining room.
Oh, well, then I'll have to, won't I?
You can fetch in the Brussels sprouts now, Doris,
and the Yorkshire pudding.
Yes, Mrs. Bridges.
There will be tea in the morning room for eight today, Edward.
Eight! Who's coming, then?
All them beggars down in Whitechapel?
HUDSON: None of your business who's coming.
Well, I wouldn't put it past her.
Much more of your cheek, young man,
and you'll find yourself down there,
queuing up for a bowl of soup.
And glad of it.
You will serve tea as it is normally served, Edward,
and Rose will assist you.
Just because the master and her ladyship are away,
there will be no falling off from the work in this house.
You'll be taking the afternoon off, Mr. Hudson?
Oh, not today, Mrs. Bridges.
I had contemplated a wee stroll beside the Rotten Row.
However, with Miss Elizabeth entertaining her friends,
I shall remain on hand just to be on the safe side.
MRS. BRIDGES: Quite right, Mr. Hudson.
The Yorkshire's nicely browned, Mrs. Bridges.
Where's Rose?
She's up doing Miss Elizabeth's room.
- Tidying up after her. - At this hour?
Well, she stopped in bed till gone 11:00.
I'm sorry, Mr. Hudson.
I couldn't get in to do Miss Lizzie's room
till she was up and dressed and that.
Very well, Rose.
"When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces,
The mother of months in meadow or plain
Fills the shadows and windy places
With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain;
And the brown bright nightingale, amorous,
ls half assuaged for ltylus,
For the Thracian ships and the foreign faces.
The tongueless vigil and all the pain.
Come with bows bent and with emptying of quivers,
Maiden most perfect, lady of light,
With a noise of winds and many rivers,
With a clamour of waters..."
Shall I serve tea now, miss?
LAWRENCE: "...bind on thy sandals, O thou most..."
Is it a long poem?
LAWRENCE: "Over the splendour..."
- Yes. - Very good, miss.
LAWRENCE: "For the faint east quickens,
the wan west shivers,
'Round the feet of the day and the feet of the night.
Where shall we find her, how shall we sing to her,
Fold our hands 'round her knees and cling?
O that man's heart were as fire and could spring to her,
Fire, or the strength of the streams that spring!
For the stars and the winds are unto her
As raiment, as songs of the harp player;
For the risen stars and the fallen cling to her,
And the southwest wind and the west wind sing.
For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remember'd is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom..."
Could we have some more sandwiches?
And where do I get a dozen loaves on a Sunday evening?
Has anyone thought of that?
Not that I don't like to see
young people with good, healthy appetites.
The way some of them are gobbling it down,
you wouldn't think they'd had a square meal for a week.
Or a bath for a month.
Cor, some of them, oh!
- Edward! -what are they like?
Like something out of a zoo, if you ask me.
There's one there that looks like a mangy old parrot.
Although the boy what's reading the poems is quite romantic.
Oh, can I go up and have a peek?
No, Doris, you cannot.
And just look at the way you've out that bread.
You're not making crumbs for the birds, you know.
What were they reading about?
Arms holding round bodies
-and knees and clinging. - Oh, give over, Edward.
Oh, right.
I suppose they're all people
Miss Elizabeth's found in the East End.
She can't resist stray dogs. Never could.
Look at Sarah.
Oh, no, Mrs. Bridges.
No working-class person
would come into this house dressed like that.
They'd have more respect.
They're all Socialists, if you ask me.
I don't know what makes Miss Lizzie mix
with those sort of people -- I don't really.
Tainted blood.
I'll not forget the night
her Aunt Helena danced naked on the lawn at Southwold.
Bold as brass.
Now, up you get, Rose. You too, Edward. we haven't got all day.
Well, I never used to think Miss Lizzie was like that,
-but I'm beginning to wonder. - well, you just wonder
if you're going to drop those plates, my girl.
Knees clinging, folded round bodies.
Was she stark-naked, Mrs. Bridges?
Now, you just go and wash your mouth out, Doris,
and then get on with doing the dirty things.
Yes, Mrs. Bridges.
Oh, I don't know.
The wickedness there is in the world.
Self-supporting communities of persons
indifferent to material possessions.
Isn't that our aim?
I mean, I-I-I feel degraded even stepping inside this mausoleum,
this monument to extortion and oppression.
It should be pulled down and chucked on the dustheap
along with its inhabitants.
HENRIETTA: Oh, how can you be so ungrateful
after Elizabeth has invited us here
and given us such wonderful eats and everything?
I bet if your father
was a Conservative Member of Parliament,
you wouldn't have the courage to ask us to the house.
If my father was that,
I'd be too ashamed to show my face in this country.
HUDSON: I think Elizabeth is jolly brave and noble.
And anyway, her parents are very nice
and support all sorts of charities.
STANLEY: They also support the forces of evil!
HENRIETTA: I think it's jolly decent
to have us here like this.
It just shows how emancipated she is, doesn't it, Evelyn?
Contributions to the cause are always welcome.
"The full streams feed on flower of rushes."
I love that line.
Swinburne at his most blessed.
Well, you make it all come alive somehow.
Oh, Rose, this is Mr. Kirbridge, a poet.
Pleased to meet you, sir.
Rose, is -- is it really "Rose"?
Yes, sir.
No, thank you.
But I am deeply, almost profoundly grateful.
You give me sweet hope of spring.
Thank you very much indeed, sir.
[ Indistinct conversations]
EVELYN: [Humming]
- Oh! -[ Clatter]
We must make poetry together, my Elizabeth.
Oh, I couldn't possibly. I'd be hopeless.
I've got no ear.
[Chuckles softly] I didn't mean with our ears.
An obscene part of the body at the best of times...
No. In your father's mansion there are, uh...
There are many bedrooms, n'est pas?
Well, what about Evelyn?
Evelyn?
Well, it's just a purely ritual act.
Just paying for my bread and butter.
Oh.
Spare your blushes, gentle maiden, I am only teasing.
I'm incorrigibly irreverent
about all sorts of serious things, like sex or Socialism.
Do you know I've even been known to make a joke
about Mr. H.G. Wells?
[Chuckles softly]
How old are you, my little fledgling?
21 tomorrow.
21 tomorrow?
Tomorrow 21.
Evelyn, our little fledgling here is 21 tomorrow.
Do you think she'll leave the home in sorrow?
We shall have to think of something very special.
Chucked on the dustheap along with all its inhabitants --
That's what he said.
Stuck-up little swine.
He nearly had the lot in his mug, I can tell you.
They're all mad up there, if you ask me.
And the place looks like a pigsty.
We're gonna be up half the night.
GUSTAVE: [Singing indistinctly]
[ Laughs ]
Voila! Les esclaves!
Poor slaves.
So this is the galley Where you sweat away
your little lives Without life, without hope.
Uh, do you -- do you require anything, sir?
I require a bomb --
to blow up this prison, partly to let in fresh air.
You were born free, mes enfants!
Why stay forever chained to this dark...
Fetch Mr. Hudson.
Tear off the uniform of servitude!
Oh, boy.
One day -- One day, all the servant slaves of London --
no, of the whole world --
will march right up into the sun, and I will lead you!
The gutters of Belgravia
will run red with the blood of the tyrants,
-and I -- - Excuse me, sir?
Oh, hello, old man.
Can I help you, sir?
Mais oui -- que le whiskey.
Edward.
GUSTAVE: Alors, uh... [Mumbles indistinctly]
Mmm!
Congratulations.
Vous, monsieur,
uh, uh...et vous, madame,
et vous, mademoiselle.
It is very sad perhaps you are too old.
One cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
Ah!
Mais vous, mademoiselle, who is young and strong and beautiful.
Why should you slave away all the years
until you are a withered old hag?
Scrubbing the floor on your knees!
That's what I am questioning.
I am asking.
- Evelyn, come on! -[ Mid-tempo music plays]
- Yes? Come along. - EVELYN: Oi! For Elizabeth.
For Elizabeth.
[Humming]
Excuse me, uh, Miss Elizabeth.
There's a foreign gentleman in the servants' hall.
He doesn't seem quite himself. He's asking for more whiskey.
Oh, Lor!
Henrietta, it's Gustave. He's in the servants' hall.
Oh, no.
EVELYN: [Humming]
[Rhythmic clapping]
The day of glory has arrived again!
-♫ Da-da da-durn... ♫ HENRIETTA: Gustave!
Oh, how could you?
No, you don't.
I'm so sorry. I do apologize.
He doesn't mean any harm.
Being a foreigner, he doesn't understand our ways.
Gustave, come on.
[ Chuckling ] You see, I am a slave myself.
- On. - well...
if anyone needed locking up...
He needs deporting.
He needs de-whiskeying.
I thought there was quite a lot in what he said.
I'm gonna go and change my dress.
You're going up to bed this instant, my girl.
- Oh, Mrs. Bridges. - Off you go.
You've seen and heard enough nonsensical things for one night
to last your whole lifetime.
Edward, go upstairs with her, in case.
[ Hoofbeats ]
Well, in all my born days, I've never seen nothing like it.
That girl'll have to go.
[Bell rings]
[ Music, clapping continue]
EVELYN: ♫ Da-da ta ♫
♫ A-ta ♫
♫ A-a-a-a-ta ♫
[Humming]
Olé!
[ Slurring ] Ah, Madame Le Marquess et Monsieur!
Entrez!
[Speaking French]
...le guillotine.
Vive le révolution!
RICHARD: Hudson, what on earth is happening?!
Miss Elizabeth is entertaining a few of her friends, sir.
Edward, get the luggage -- quickly.
-[ Music continues] - Hey! Hey! Hey!
EVELYN; Olé!
[ Guitar, clapping stop]
Oh, um...
This -- my mother and father.
Mother, may I intro--
I hardly think this is the moment for introductions.
Will you please ask your friends to leave?
Father, why shouldn't I have some friends to a party?
You call this a party?
It's the most disgraceful exhibition I've ever seen.
Turning the house into a cheap music hall --
and on a Sunday, too.
With no thought for your mother
or for the wretched servants who have to clear up after you.
But you don't understand.
No, I do not understand.
ELIZABETH: I'm sorry, Evelyn. Um...l feel so ashamed.
[ Crying ]
[ Door closes]
Well, there it is, Rose -- the key to my freedom,
the symbol of my independence.
Yes, Miss Lizzie.
Oh, Rose, don't be so growly.
-'Tis my birthday, after all. - Yes, Miss Lizzie.
Well, how was I to know they were going to come back early?
I couldn't tell Lady Cybil's brother was going to die
-in Baden-Baden, could I? - No, Miss Lizzie.
If I have friends to tea,
I expect my parents to be civil to them,
as I am to their boring friends.
Well, with respect, Miss Elizabeth,
I don't think your friends are the sort of people
one would expect to find in Lady Marjorie's house.
It's my house, too. I live here.
I've got the key to the front door.
Well, if you don't know what I mean, Miss Elizabeth,
-you're just... - I'm what?
You were going to say "stupid," Weren't you?
Well, all right then, Miss Lizzie.
I do think you're being stupid.
Good.
You must say it if you mean it.
I shan't have you whipped and locked in the cellar,
if that's what you're afraid of.
I'm not that cruel.
I think you are.
Cruel?
To your parents, what you should honour and respect --
especially on your 21st birthday.
Cruel to invite a few of my friends
to take tea and read poetry in my home?
Well, all I can say, Miss Elizabeth, is,
if your idea of a refined tea party and reading poetry
is a lot of common riffraff
laying around on the morning-room floor,
and one of them drunk, barging into the servants' hall,
upsetting all the staff,
not to mention the lady
what was leaping around, dancing on the best furniture,
well, I don't belong here no more, then.
It's not your place to comment, Rose, and I won't have it.
Just because I have a few friends
who aren't in smart society,
who know how to enjoy life instead of strutting about
like stuffed turkeys talking about the weather,
there's no need for you to be rude about them,
or for my parents to treat them as though they were dirt.
I shall have to go and apologize to them
for the way they were received in this noble house.
Apologize to them?
I should've thought it was for them to apologize
-to your father and me. - For what?
Turning this house into a bear garden during our absence
and embarrassing the servants.
Mother, I am not going to lose
the few really intelligent friends I have
simply because you and Father refuse to move with the times.
Elizabeth, I refuse to be spoken to like that.
You may be 21 years old, but you're still our daughter,
and you'll kindly show us some respect.
Oh, I do, Mother. I always have respected you.
But I respect my friends, too.
And for that reason, I shall go 'round
to Evelyn Larkin's lodgings this morning
and apologize to her... and to all of them
for the ungracious way you received them last night.
They were under your roof and therefore your guests.
Morning, Father.
Morning, Elizabeth.
Many happy returns of the day.
Where are you going?
I'm going upstairs to put on my hat and coat,
-and then I'm going out. - Mm.
Is your mother in the morning room?
Yes, she is.
Elizabeth, you can't expect us to be very pleased
after last night's performance.
I did hope that you at least would understand.
You've always told me
to treat this house as if it were my own.
Oh, don't worry, Father.
I shall be back for my birthday tea.
"So be a dream, a wisp of fancy,
Frail, fragmented, faint.
And foolish.
Are you endorsing my genius for alliteration,
or are you being deliberately devastatingly damping, darling?
Deliberately devastatingly damping, darling.
I abhor and abominate alliteration.
Now get off my legs, my noble genius.
- I want to get up. - Mnh-mnh.
-[ Doorbell rings] - Oh, there's to be no peace here
this morning, I can see.
Answer the door.
Elizabeth.
What a surprise.
A-Am I interrupting?
Oh, yes, deliciously.
Is Evelyn here?
Yes. She's in bed.
But do come in. She'd love to see you.
Oh, um...
On -- On second thoughts,
I think you better wait a minute.
I'll warn her you're here.
[ Door closes]
Our wealthy, radical, high-minded child is here,
eager to change society.
- She wants to see you. - She bores me to death.
Oh, does she?
She, uh -- She enchants me utterly.
That has not escaped me.
Oh, the horror
of the primped-up, semi-educated children of the rich
who wear their newfound Socialism
like the latest hat from Paris.
She's no more a Socialist than the Marquess of Salisbury.
Or Lord Southwold.
Exactly.
All right. Well, I'll tell her
that you've got nothing more to say to her,
and I'll, uh, send her away.
- EVELYN: No, bring her in. - what?
EVELYN: Let her see me warm in my lover's bed.
It'll be an education.
Oh, you exhibitionist.
Mentor.
Now, what is the girl to learn from seeing you vis-à-vis
apart from the promiscuity of poets,
which she already suspects?
I shall befriend her, put her to a test.
A test?
Of what, her friendship?
In a sense, yeah.
A test of the strength of her newfound political conviction.
Evelyn, dear, she's young and tender.
You let her be. She's not to be harmed.
Oh, not her body.
Her pride a little.
Her Imperial Highness, the Tsarina of all Bloomsbury,
will see you now.
Come in.
I came to apologize
for what happened yesterday evening at my house.
My parents were guilty of incivility.
Now, who's to blame them --
entrenched as they are in their beliefs and their traditions?
- Nevertheless -- - No more is to be said about it.
Do come and sit on my bed.
You're so splendidly tolerant, Evelyn, so forgiving.
Well, you can't help how you were born.
No, I suppose not.
Where did you get your Socialist ideas from?
Not from your father, surely?
Reading, mostly.
I read German philosophy in Dresden, and --
Oh, I don't know, just thinking about things.
Then you agree with me that our society could --
Oh, yes, I do agree with you.
I think the wealth of the nation
is so unfairly distributed under the capitalist system.
More attention should be paid to the poor and uneducated.
The Tories protect the privileged,
and the Liberals don't go far enough,
for all that Mr. Asquith does his best.
Then how would you go about it?
It must be done by new laws, by the Parliamentary system,
by intellectual persuasion.
Fabianism.
Mm. But words are not enough.
Deeds are necessary.
Oh, yes, of course.
I'm going to the Paddington district this afternoon
to collect some pamphlets, and...
Would you like to come with me?
Oh, yes, please.
What could be more suitable for my 21st birthday,
the day of my emancipation?
[Bell rings]
SUMMERS: what do you want in here?! Go on! Get out of it!
You stay where you are, boys.
Are you the owner of this establishment?
I have that honor, miss.
Summers the name, Summers the nature.
EVELYN: Yes. well, these children have no shoes.
So I see, miss.
And I'd be obliged
if they'd take their dirty feet off my clean carpet!
I do apologize, miss. They're everywhere these days.
These shoeless children are with me, Mr. Summers.
With you, miss?
Oh, I do apologize. I really had no idea.
Well. [Chuckles] Sit down, children.
ELIZABETH: You have children's boots upon your shelves.
They should be on these children's feet.
SUMMERS: A-And so they shall be, miss, at once.
Now then, uh, let me see.
Uh, boots for these children.
Yes, we have their sizes.
Of the best quality, naturally, miss.
Of the very best quality.
In a good society, the children get the best, not the worst.
They are our future.
Uh, what about socks, miss?
We do a very good line in stout woolen socks.
And socks, too, since you have them and they haven't.
Two pairs of boots each, perhaps, miss?
ELIZABETH: If you think that is a good idea.
Oh, I do. I do.
Coming.
- HUDSON: Oh. EDWARD: Oh, Mrs. Bridges.
Really lovely. - HUDSON: Lovely.
Congratulations.
Well, Mrs. Bridges,
I think that's better than the one what you done for Mr. James.
Well, I really believe it is.
It's not every cook can do that frosted icing the like of that.
[ Chuckles ]
Only hope she appreciates it.
Of course she will, Mrs. Bridges.
If I may say so, miss, I admire your spirit.
You deserve to go to Heaven, and I'm sure you will.
Well, these little angels will pray for the kind lady
who bought them boots every night of their lives.
Go along, boys.
SUMMERS: And will, I've no doubt, tell their friends
that we sell the sturdiest and yet the ooziest boots
this side of London.
That will be 4 pounds, 2 shillings,
and 7 pence, 3 farthings, miss.
And may God bless you for your kindness to those poor children.
But we have no money, have we, Elizabeth?
No.
SUMMERS: I beg your pardon?!
Explain to our good friend why we do not intend to pay.
You had children's boots upon your shelves you could not sell.
The children, for their part, could not buy them.
Now you have fewer boots to trouble you
and the children are properly shod.
Thus, little by little, we proceed to the just society.
Are you going to pay for those boots, miss,
or am I going to send for a policeman?
No, I am not going to pay for them,
and you are going to fetch a policeman to arrest me --
so that I can make my protest in a court of law.
-[ Bell rings] - Police!
What has happened to her?
She knew tea was at half past 4:00.
There's no point in lighting the candles till she gets in.
Well, it's past 5:00.
Is it necessary for Edward and Rose...
No. Wait downstairs, will you?
I'll ring as soon as Miss Elizabeth gets back.
Yes, milady.
It really is too much,
-whether she's of age or not. -[ Telephone ringing ]
There! If that's Elizabeth, I shan't speak to her.
Yes?
Yes. Yes, it is.
I see.
Where?
Where are you speaking from?
I see. Yes, yes. I'll come at once.
[Receiver clicks]
What's happened?
It seems our daughter has been detained by the police --
charged with stealing children's boots from a shop in Paddington.
I'll be back as soon as possible.
In other words, she passed her test with flying colours?
As far as it went, yes.
I waited outside the shop long enough to see her marched off
by a somewhat confused young constable.
Well, congratulations.
I'm afraid her martyrdom ended abruptly at the police station,
Where the right honourable member for Hampstead-on-Lyme
arrived in a hansom cab and bought his daughter's freedom.
Yes.
Which event you no doubt witnessed from a safe distance
-with enormous relish. -[ Chuckles softly ]
Much as a cruel child might Witness the torture of a kitten.
Oh, what's cruel about allowing
a silly little society girl the thrill of her first arrest?
She'll dine out on it for years.
You're full of hate, aren't you, Evelyn?
You hate Elizabeth's class and mine
as profoundly as some people hate Roman Catholics
or cough mixture.
Or poverty.
Yes. Yes, I do.
Yes, well, you're not a very tolerant person, are you?
I've had to fight life every inch of the way.
There's no room for tolerance in a world of privilege.
Oh, you were born privileged, with brains.
- Oh, thank you. - And with a generous body.
What more do you want?
Your love.
You have my love.
But it isn't exclusive, is it?
No.
No, it's not exclusive any more so than my poetry is.
I'm an artist. I communicate with the whole world.
I love wheresoever my heart takes me.
She's no good to you, Lawrence.
She's everything you've been running away from,
ever since you left winchester and went up to Cambridge.
She is young.
Well, she won't darn your socks or wash your shirts.
- She listens to me. -[ Chuckles ]
Oh, Evelyn, stop hating.
Well, stop making me hate.
[ Door slams ]
[ Door opens ]
MARJORIE: Go upstairs, Elizabeth.
I want to speak to your father alone.
I just wanted to say that I regard what I've done
as totally justified, morally and politically.
Stealing from shops, Elizabeth,
is not morally justifiable in any circumstances.
As for any political justification
for robbing a tradesmen,
I'd remind you and your misguided friends
that a shopkeeper has as much right to his livelihood
as anyone else.
There's no point in arguing with her, Marjorie.
I compensated the shopkeeper and managed by the skin of my teeth
to convince the police superintendent
that Elizabeth was indulging in a childish prank, a dare.
The man was extremely accommodating.
He knew who I was, and the incident is closed.
It was no childish prank, Mother, I can assure you.
There was a social and political point to be made,
and I made it without fear of the consequences.
And if people aren't prepared to suffer for their principles,
there's precious little hope for the world.
Who says so? Your friend Miss Larkin, I suppose?
Yes, Miss Larkin,
who's good and clever and cares about humanity!
She's a troublemaker, Elizabeth!
A bitter young woman out to destroy society
because she envies other people's advantages.
Oh, that's what the Tories always say
about people who fight for a better society.
She's ill-mannered, common, a thoroughly bad influence.
The sooner you give up seeing her, the better for all of us.
I shall not give her up. I need her now all the more.
I've proved myself to her.
I've proved that I, too, put the common good
above private wealth and privilege.
I'm part of it now! I'm committed!
You haven't thought this out, Elizabeth.
There are arguments on both sides.
Let us talk about these things together quietly, you and I.
No, I'm sorry, Father. It's too late.
I've seen enough of the world to know how I feel.
Oh, I know I'm letting you down.
I realize that you sit in the House of Commons every day,
representing the old order of things,
the influence of private wealth and privilege,
the patronage of the many by the few.
And I know that, as your daughter,
I ought to agree with you blindly, but I can't.
- I can't. - Elizabeth, I will not sit here
and listen to any more of this nonsense!
I forbid you absolutely to see that Larkin woman
or any of her associates ever again!
You're to leave London immediately.
You'll travel to Southwold by the first train tomorrow,
Where you'll remain under your grandmother's care
till you come to your senses.
ELIZABETH: No!
I refuse to give up Evelyn Larkin,
and I refuse to leave London.
You can't force me, Mother. I'm 21.
You can't force me.
You will do as your mother says, Elizabeth.
MARJORIE: Elizabeth, go upstairs
and tell Rose to pack your things for tomorrow.
[Sighs]
RICHARD: Elizabeth?
Where are you going?
Elizabeth!
[ Door slams ]
Richard, we were right to speak our minds.
Perfectly right, my dear.
Unfortunately, she's come under stronger influences
than either yours or mine.
[Doorbell rings]
What do you want?
I've left home, Evelyn.
That's a silly thing to do.
But it was because of you.
That's sillier still.
Uh, may I come and stay?
I'll sleep on the floor, anywhere.
No, I'm sorry. You may not.
ELIZABETH: well, is Lawrence in? I'd like to speak to him.
No.
Now, you run away and find your own lodgings.
You can afford it.
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