Original subtitles

Love is like a butterfly, soft and gentle as a fly. The

multicolored moods of love are like its saddened wings.

Love makes your heart feel strange inside.

It flutters like soft wings in flight.

Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing.

Red kidney beans in 40p sauce.

Pasta twigs.

Instructions for cooking.

Place in boiling water and simmer for 32p minutes.

Dew -fresh yoghurt.

Pure and natural food. Ingredients, strawberries, sugar, gelatine,

flavouring, preservative, modifying, starch, colouring.

Eggnog.

Cauliflower.

Complete frozen meal.

Steak pie, duchess potatoes, carrots and peas?

Apple, crumble and custard?

be in for dinner.

They didn't say anything. They were too preoccupied with breaking and entering

the biscuit tin.

I hope they won't be too long.

The meal was frozen when I bought it.

I took it round the park for a bit.

I put it in the fridge for a bit.

Then I put it in the hot oven.

Took your bit out and my bit out and put their bits back in.

I'm not sure it can take much more.

Did they say where they were going?

No.

One gave me a punch, the other blew me a kiss, and that was it.

Funny how insignificant one becomes. I feel rather like the family dog.

Hi, Dad.

Mind how you go, Dad.

Don't be throwing sticks for me on the lawn yet.

I thought, how casual are these children, these half -men?

How remote.

After years of working and caring, the reward is not conversation, not concern,

but a token gesture.

Just to make sure that I hadn't, like the elephant, come home to expire.

Well, what else could they do?

They're busy and full of energy.

Busy and full of energy? They haven't worked for two years.

Adam drove a lorry for a month, then spent a week in his intensive care unit

upstairs.

What I mean is they don't think.

As long as we're coherent and upright, they don't think.

Well, I suppose if I was sitting here in an advanced state of rigor mortis, they

might just notice and ask how I am.

That's all I want.

How are you, Dad?

How is your life?

What do you feel and think?

Have you cried lately?

Now, you know it would embarrass you if they fart.

Look what happened on your birthday.

Ruffle put his arm round your shoulder.

Adam shook your hand.

You backed out the room as if they were going to mug you.

Funny how your children can make you feel lonely.

Thank you, sunshine.

Oh, yeah?

Then how come I ended up with her phone number?

Because she knew you were my brother and she didn't know how else to get close

to me.

Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad.

Sorry we're late.

Aren't you going to wash your hands, either of you?

No. We don't mess about with people's teeth like you do, Dad.

Wow. Two veg.

And some sort of pie.

Not some sort of pie, Adam. Steak pie.

It may be a bit fossilised, but that's because you're late.

Why are you late?

What have you done?

Well, uh... We were talking.

You know, kind of going over things, and... Do you realise in the two years

Ruff and me have been out of work, you've given us over £1 ,000 allowance?

Now, that's a lot of bread, right?

It's quite a lot of money, too.

What have you done?

We've been to the Social Security.

Social Security.

My son.

Oh, come on, Mum. This is the 80s. Being on Social Security is the in thing.

Yeah, right.

And Dad's already paying for it by paying his taxes. If he gives it an

allowance, he's paying twice.

Doesn't pride come into it somewhere?

Talk to them about pride.

Come on, pride went out of fashion, Mum.

Besides, it's one of the seven deadly sins.

Yeah, right.

I mean, we're still into the other six, obviously.

I think your mother is using the word pride to cover a variety of things,

to do with the neighbours.

I had hoped to preserve a degree of my kind of pride, which I suppose is to

preserve my instinct.

to be a provider for those I'm saddled with.

However, it shows a certain amount of concern on your part, and I certainly

approve of that.

Great. Yes, great.

I absolutely disapprove.

We are a self -supporting family unit. We take nothing from anybody.

Well, what I mean... Well, what I mean is, if we take anything at all, we take

it from your father.

Oh, it's too much.

Everything's changing in this house.

My son going on social security. I feel as if I'm living on shifting sand.

Oh, come on, Mum. We get £20 .50 a week each.

Plus £3 .10p if we rent a room.

Yeah, so we said we rent a room.

But that's lying.

Oh, no, it isn't. We will rent our rooms.

We'll give you the £3 .10p. Yeah, and you can give it back to us.

No, I'm not your mother. I'm your landlady.

Right.

The decision rests with your father.

I'll get the dessert.

All we need is the rent book.

Oh, come on, Dad, it'll help all of us. You won't have to give us an allowance.

Mum won't have to do so much cooking.

And we'll be able to eat out.

Look, I realise that as a family we are always threatened by what might come out

of that kitchen, but I also realise that eating together is a reliable family

bond.

The more so, in our case, because of the accompanying terror.

However, providing you agree to drop the rent book part of it and promise to be

at the table when your mother staggers in here with her culinary disaster, I

would say nothing more.

OK, if it's fine with us. Yeah.

I suddenly feel all sort of independent.

Yeah, me too.

Joe, it always embarrassed me, taking that allowance from you, Dad. Oh, yeah.

Especially when you forgot.

We used to have to hang around mentioning the word Fridays all the

Yes. As I recall, he used to start on a Tuesday.

We always worried about spending it on things you wouldn't approve of. Oh,

right. Hey!

We'll book a course down the sunbed parlor. No, I'm not into all that

narcissism. I think I'll join the erotic tape library, then.

had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I bought it already made.

All I had to do was cook it.

And it's very nice. Your father said so.

And if you want any more, you can finish his.

I miss you Leonard.

I miss seeing your car.

I miss your silly tracksuit coming through the park.

I miss the nonsense you brought into my life.

Hi, Mum.

Hi, Mum.

Russell, that's my car.

Yeah.

You should get it fixed, Mum.

Hold on, hold on.

Adam, that's really very dangerous.

Yeah, you're right.

Oh, Mum, there's a letter for you. It just arrived.

Right.

It's from New York.

Oh, Ruby.

I've found some of them dirty magazines in the bowl.

What shall I do with them?

Oh, just put them in the bin, Ruby.

In that case, I'll take them home.

Hello?

I just got in.

I won't be home for lunch. I've got a lot on here. Is that all right? I

started anything.

Oh, good.

I'll see you about six then.

See you at six.

Of course, I'm fine.

You sounded a little over -bright.

It's Billy.

See you later.

See you later.

What are you doing here?

Oh, I wasn't sleepy.

I didn't want to disturb you.

I miss you following me around the bed.

Funny how bereft we feel when things change.

Sometimes I long to have the entire bed to myself.

Sleeping with you is like sleeping with a rucksack on your back.

Yet when you're not there, I... Here they come, the midnight cowboys.

They always make so much noise.

You go on up to bed. I'll talk to them. Go on.

I won't be long.

They don't drive up that path. They land on it.

I love the gym, Dan. Oh, very sweet.

Hello, Nun.

You're up late.

Yes, well, I was a bit restless.

Where have you been? You're late, too.

Oh, we just went to Guy's.

You know, I got such a shock when I saw the magazine gone from the table.

Oh, yeah, you were on the phone, right?

I couldn't believe it.

I thought I was imagining things.

We did a swap with Guy for that one.

I mean, this is a different one.

Yeah. Anyone for coffee?

Oh, yeah, make it two. Mum?

No, no, thank you.

We filled in our B1 form today for our supplementary benefit.

Oh, good.

Boy, all that red tape.

Fancy the one behind the counter, though.

Oh, wow.

She was dumb dusky, mate.

Full of Eastern promise.

Listen, if there's any belly dancing to be done, she'll be doing it for me.

She took longer taking my detail.

Only because she knew you were my brother and she didn't know how else to

close to me.

I need that magazine.

The letter within it. The one I got from America.

From a friend.

I put it inside. Just have it.

Tidying up, I was going to read it after I came off the phone.

We'll get it tomorrow for Ema.

Don't worry.

Yes, of course.

Maybe Guy's still up.

No, no, it's all right. No, I'll phone him.

Adam, you might wake him.

Oh, no chance.

He's coming through all right.

And he's got Rita the rattlesnake staying with him.

He'll be lucky if he gets any sleep.

Yeah.

This is really not that important.

Yeah. Guy, Adam.

Listen, mate, have you got that car magazine handy? The one we swapped?

It's probably from my old school friend, Josie.

She went to New York.

You sure?

Yeah,

OK.

Sorry to hold up the action.

He used it to sit

on when we were in the park. Forgot to pick it up.

Dummy. Oh, yeah, we had a bag of chips in the park.

Oh, well, never mind. I'm sure she'll write again.

I think I'll go to the doctor for some tranquilizers.

Tranquilizers? What for?

Well, I'm just not going slow enough for me.

Yeah, it must be difficult charging through life at the breakneck speed of a

milk flight.

I don't just want to look at things, you know. I want to experience them. The

colours, the shapes, the movements.

I want to think about things.

And to do that, you have to sit around a lot, right?

Would you say his problem was that he never wanted to leave his pram?

Oh, yes, she's bound to write again soon.

Isn't she?

Excuse me.

Could I see that magazine, please? You see, I... Sure.

Thank you.

Any time, darling.

Excuse me.

Excuse me!

Welcome home, sir.

Thank you.

It's becoming a habit, those two not being here for their meal.

The nice thing about salad is it doesn't matter.

Saltless, I call it.

They just don't care.

They inherit a timeless world where the only things that count are money and

sex.

They rush out of this house like procreating rabbits.

And wander back in looking as if the ferrets have been at them.

I've actually seen Adam eat a whole meal without opening his eyes.

What happens when he does manage to go for a bath?

We sit here worrying in case he drowns.

It is age, Ben. You should know that.

His hormones haven't sorted themselves out yet.

Dear God, backward hormones, that's all we need.

I don't know why you criticise them.

They're nice, clean, fresh.

You make them sound like scented soap.

When I talk about clean and fresh, I'm talking about their minds, their

attitudes, their outlook on life.

They're not dulled by the endless problems of being wise, like us.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

Can I help?

Are you bored?

I said yes. You'd misunderstand.

With me?

You see, you're misunderstanding already.

23 years, eating, sleeping, talking with the same person.

Can be boring.

Can it?

Yes.

Are you bored with me?

I'm too bewildered by you to have time to be bored by you.

Perhaps I'm not bewildering enough.

It's just that... that you have some sort of positive role in life.

You mean I take people's teeth out?

You make people beautiful. They look up to you.

Other people in the profession refer to you as brilliant.

You earn money, you have a niche in life.

And when you come home to my huddled -together dinner and unidentifiable

pudding, you can laugh about it because, well, that's a part of your life, but

it's all of mine.

Come on.

You do other things besides cook?

Oh, yes. I go round the park thinking about things to cook.

I go round the shops.

Buying things to cook, go round the kitchen, washing and peeling things to

And when I've cooked all the things I've been planning to cook, you all sit

there wearing the same expression that the Queen wears when she's forced to

pee with the natives.

It's not funny, Ben.

It's not just the cooking.

There's something else.

What else can it be? There is nothing else.

I wish I knew.

I wish I knew.

It's half past seven, sir.

I know, I know.

Would it be wrong of me to suggest, sir, that the lady is not coming?

I sent her a letter, damn it.

It's been all of six months, Thomas.

I've spoken to her on the phone.

She sounded pleased to hear me.

Did you tell her on the phone, sir, when you were arriving?

No. Well, I wasn't even sure myself then.

Besides, it was just a quick hello.

But the rest was in the letter.

Well, perhaps you didn't receive it, sir. Well, of course she received it,

Thomas. I addressed it, I stamped it, I posted it.

Well, I did those things, Thomas, I.

Not my secretary, not a friend, me, Thomas.

I must say, sir, it's very nice to have you bellowing away in the back again.

Oh, dear, Thomas.

The gentleman I worked for while you were away, sir, was very dull.

He had a wife and four children, and they were all washed.

and stuffed, you know.

Compact and adoring.

They used to sit in the back of the car there in a pristine row. Mother, father,

children and a dreadful little poodle with orange blossom breath.

I often used to want to put the brakes on suddenly and throw them into

But I didn't want to disturb the talcum powder, sir.

It has a nasty habit of getting on the lungs.

Well... At least he had something.

I suppose that bloody tortoise of mine is still alive.

Oh, yes, sir.

All fit and ready to go back into your roof garden.

The lady has got a family, sir.

And families are unpredictable.

I know she'll come, Thomas.

She'll find a way to come.

Come on. Look, it all mounts up, sunshine, you know, it all mounts up.

put petrol in the car last night, we both used the car.

Oh, you used it, you mean, you and that scrubber.

We all went to the party in it and we all came back in it. Oh, great.

So I do all the driving, so I have to abstain from drinking, so I have a

time, and then I have to show for you and that scrubber about.

She wasn't a scrubber, sweetheart, she was OK. She was as rough as a badger's

arse.

I bet you would have.

If you could have.

Listen, I like subtlety, sunshine.

The minute she got you on that back seat last night, she spread herself over you

like a giant bat.

All I could see through the driving mirror were your kicker boots.

Yeah, fantastic.

So I don't owe you for petrol, okay?

It's only a series I've been watching for the last seven weeks. It would ruin

all if I saw how it ended.

Dad, now that social security is due, we just wanted to say how much we

appreciate everything.

You know, everything.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You're a nice guy.

In spite of your face.

No, no, what I meant was, you know... No matter how nice you are, it doesn't

join in a lot.

Could somebody come and carry the tray, please? I'm not into weightlifting.

Yep, I'll go.

And she kept nicking my drink.

That scrubber you picked up.

OK,

Mum, stand by.

Oh,

I forgot.

Found the letter.

I was in the car, falling down the side of the seat.

Oh, good, good.

Thank you. I'll read it later.

Yeah.

Um, you've forgotten the sugar, Mum.

I'll bring some in.

Ria, darling.

Sugar.

Yes, I was just coming.

Ria, darling.

I shall be back in England on Thursday the 11th. Do you still go

to the park?

I shall look out for you at the usual time.

I hope you haven't forgotten your old school friend.

Maybe we can have one of our girls together days.

See you, love, Len... Len?

Lenarda.

Lenarda Dunn.

Lenarda. Yes.

You see?

Everybody loves you.

Love is like a butterfly, soft and gentle as a fly. The multicolored

nudes of love are like its satin wings.

Love makes your heart feel strange inside.

It flutters like soft winds in flight.

Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing.

Love is like a butterfly, a rare...

and gentle.