Original subtitles

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

multicolored moods of love are like its satin 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.

We've got to get them out. Don't shout, sunshine.

Don't shout.

We've got to get them out.

Mum and Dad will be back this afternoon.

Yeah, OK.

You move them, I'll... coffee.

All right, come on, on his back!

Come on, wakey -wakey, it's Monday morning and all is well.

All right, come on, up! Up, up, up, up, up, up.

Now listen. One, repeat, one black coffee each and out. Okay?

Thank you.

Easy now.

Welcome back, folks.

What time's dinner?

There don't seem to have been any disasters while we've been away.

Nothing seems to have exploded or caught fire.

Thank you.

I'm glad we stayed the extra night.

Maybe we should have stayed a little longer.

It was just right.

Oh, they must have had a friend in.

Some sort of tobacco.

Smells like stale talcum powder.

It's pot, isn't it? Oh, come on, Ben. We're modern parents with modern sons.

What next, I wonder?

It might not be Russell and Adam.

They're not the type.

Adam couldn't take it for a start.

He's not built for it.

Carrie sends him into a spasm.

We go away for 48 hours and come back to this.

I mean, it's not as if they're crushed by responsibility, is it?

If they're not stagnating in their beds, they're sitting around that table like

fledglings waiting for someone to cram something into their mouths.

All you've described is sleeping and eating. Everybody sleeps and eats.

Yeah, but most people do something else in between, don't they?

All right, so they can't get work.

They could weave the garden, paint the house.

You ask them to do a simple thing like put the kettle on, they look at you as

they don't speak English.

Well, at least they don't go around mugging little old ladies.

As a parent, am I supposed to be grateful for that?

These days, yes.

Young people are broke and bored. It's a time of adjustment.

The usual pattern of school and work and progress and hope have gone.

They've had to learn to be idle.

You're not strict enough with them. But they're grown men. You can't be strict

with men.

You devote too much of your time to them. You cook for them, you wash for

you make their beds.

Heaven help us if the scientists come up with a portable ventilator. They'll

give up breathing.

So it's my fault.

I didn't say that.

Oh.

I merely suggested that you encourage them to do something for themselves.

I don't mind what it is. They can start with minor things, like putting their

own milk in their tea.

I mean, who knows? They might even get on to higher things, like pouring it.

If you slam that milk jug down, I will really lose my patience.

A lot of good a trip to Paris has done for us.

I will not be blamed for the things our sons do.

Not that, in my opinion, they do anything much, considering they've got a

father. who undermines and criticises them, and sits round that dinner table

making caustic little remarks.

Anyone looked up the word work yet?

Could you stop playing with the sugar, please? This is a dinner table, not

Brighton Beach.

Oh, and your favourite.

All you ever think about is sex.

If you were to use your brains with as much fervour as you use other parts of

your anatomy, we could all be rich.

Perfectly reasonable observations, I would have thought.

At least I show them love and understanding.

At least I think about how difficult it must be without jobs and money.

At least I don't see any harm in playing with the sugar.

And as far as sex is concerned, why shouldn't they be obsessed with it? We

once.

Oh, Ben, I'm sorry.

Oh, it's all right.

It's just that they're my sons. I have this female need to protect them.

Well, you've seen thrushes.

In the garden do it, and whales do it.

I mean, if a child whale strands itself on the beach because it's sick, the

mother whale goes with it.

It's how we are.

From what I know of whales, the father whale strands himself too.

Yeah, but damn it, I've only been back from New York three days.

a new car.

It's your duty, she says.

After all, you divorced me. I don't see why I should suffer.

Isn't there a law governing these matters, sir?

Yes, Thomas, there is a law.

But by the time I pay for it, I could buy ten cars.

It's my first one, Thomas. Explain that to your face, will you?

Right, well, we'll get this place tidied up and then we're back in business

again. You have an appointment in ten minutes, sir.

Miss Davidson.

She's applying for the post of secretary.

Oh, yes.

I'd forgotten.

I'll take her for lunch.

I feel a new era approaching, Thomas.

And a new me emerging.

I'm coming up through life's soil in spite of the weed killer.

Goodbye, dear lady.

What was your name again?

May I say how sorry I am, sir?

Sorry, Thomas, why sorry?

What about the lady, sir, and everything?

Oh, don't be. There never was any future in it, I knew that.

She was like Cinderella.

She always had to get back to that bloody kitchen before it struck noon.

It must have been difficult for her, sir. You had an effect on her.

Oh, yes, I did have an effect on her.

When I gave her an ultimatum, she sobbed all over the park bench and then threw

herself under a passing pram.

In fact, she sat there as hard and as cold as the Cornish coast.

And that's how they are, Thomas, women.

Just as you are groping your way through all the obstacles with the nerve ends

of your soul bared, they turn the bloody lights out.

I'm afraid I'm rather inexperienced in these matters, sir.

I met my wife when my voice was just coming out of the soprano's head.

She's a nice...

Comfortable woman.

Going home to her is a little like taking one's wellies off.

Well, you're a lucky man, Thomas.

A lucky man.

Going home to my wife was like climbing into the liquidiser.

But no more.

No more.

I shall steer my mind away from thoughts of the flesh and concentrate on the

spiritual and the financial qualities of my life.

But you are very fortunate, sir. You have health, money.

Ability. Looks.

Looks.

And freedom.

And a tortoise, Thomas.

And a tortoise.

Thank you, Thomas.

About school. Thomas?

Excuse me, sir.

Yes,

Tom? I was wondering if you were aware, sir.

Oh, I am aware of everything, Thomas.

That's what makes me so successful.

So, what did you expect?

He's free.

I mean, it couldn't go on forever.

And if you won't go to his bed, there are plenty who will.

So, why don't you just pull yourself together and concentrate on being old?

And anyway, supposing you did have an affair, where would you go?

A little hotel close enough to home so that you can keep a check on the oven?

Here's the place, with Thomas on guard outside.

Or were you going to keep the touching subtlety of it all and do it in the back

of the mini?

Oh, Beth, it'll all pass.

Please don't go away.

Please wait for me.

I wonder if they have kitchens in heaven.

Can I get all the way up there and find everybody waiting for lunch?

Mrs. Parkinson.

Mrs. Parkinson?

Jeannie!

Heavens! How are you?

Well, good to have been fitted up with tableizers.

It's got to be any minute.

Yes, any minute.

I know.

You're wondering what's happening between Russell and me.

Well, he did finally tell us you were pregnant.

And as soon as we started making all the caring family noises, he said that you

and he were sorting it out.

I've tried to talk to him since, but he won't let me.

Oh, it's all a bit of a muddle, really.

Marriage frightens me.

People change when they get married.

Marriage is a commitment, that's why.

Suddenly definite.

Suddenly shared.

And suddenly less exciting.

No.

Well, it's a different kind of excitement.

It's not such an excited excitement.

When you're lovers, you do things for each other because you want to.

When you're married, you do things for each other because you should.

I never do anything for Ben unless... Unless he wants me

to.

I mean, haven't you changed over the years?

Hasn't he?

Change is a problem of life, Jeannie. Not just of marriage.

Then don't you think we should stay separate?

So that when we change, we don't hurt anybody.

I'm sorry.

How can you answer that when your marriage has worked? When your kids are

grown?

And here you are, looking good.

And doing what you want.

Anyway, please don't tell Russell we met.

It'll break the silence.

I always think there's a certain kind of silence between people, which is

intriguing.

Don't you?

Yes.

This over's spreading the dust again.

I'll attend to it later.

It's like pushing a bloody lawnmower.

Hi.

Have a good time.

Very nice, thank you.

Bonjour, papa.

Where's mum?

She's gone shopping.

Oh, yeah, we bought some food. It's in the car.

Now, leave that for now. I want to talk to you, Beth.

Oh, yeah, well, can I have a quick bath first? Only we're going out, mate, so

then the water can be heating up for us.

No, you can't. Oh, come on, I'll only be a couple of minutes.

Oh.

Right.

Well, yeah.

Oh, right. Well, yeah. You grow more articulate every minute.

It was an expression of surprise, though.

Shock, even.

I see.

I'm glad it shocked you, because it certainly shocked me.

Well, no, it doesn't shock us. Are you finding it does?

It is yours, then?

Uh, no.

It's a friend's.

So it's a friend who smokes pot?

Well, no, he just happened to be carrying it.

Um, we all smoke it.

All?

All our friends.

Have you any idea what the stuff does to you?

Yeah.

It dulls your mind.

It immobilises your thinking and reasoning.

It turns you into a blob.

Not that there'd be any notable difference in your case.

Oh, for God's sake, why?

Why?

It's something you're into or you're not, Dad. It's hard to explain.

You mean I'm too old and feeble and out of touch to understand?

It kind of gives you a buzz, that's all.

It heightens your perception.

You hear and see things more sharply.

You just sort of lay back and get yourself together.

Are you revving up for another bout of profound wisdom, or is that it?

That's it, then.

Yeah, that's it.

You are breaking the law, do you realise that?

The tax on your car's out of date, then.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we noticed that on the way in.

I'll say this once and once only.

You will not smoke pot in this house.

I forbid it, do you understand?

We'll need a minute to think about that, Dad.

By all means, think.

Perhaps if you'd thought more often, the situation wouldn't have arisen.

We've thought, Dad.

And we'll smoke it in our friend's house.

It's a stage we're going through, that's all.

And after this stage, what other delights am I to be subjected to?

There's a great carnival of trends out there yet.

Will it be glue -sniffing, head -banging, the moon is?

His light just isn't switched on, is it?

All right.

I have appealed to you and failed.

You ought to try that.

It takes some of the hassles out of your head.

You're not children. I can't send you to your rooms. I can't stop you collecting

your social security. And since you are of...

unmanageable size and have back thighs as top as butcher's blocks, I can't give

you a good hiding place.

I can, however, wash my hands of you.

And I intend to do just that.

Oh, there you all are.

I'll be in in a minute.

Oh, hello, Ruby. I'm running late again.

I don't know why you don't just do an egg.

Very useful things, eggs.

Poached, fried, boiled, coddled.

And if you drop them on the floor, scramble.

I don't think they're speaking to each other that lot.

They haven't been shouting, have they?

Not that I listen, mind.

Always put me over on when things start warming up.

These washty bands of them, he says.

Funny, isn't it, how only fathers can wash their hands of children?

Yes.

What's the use of going away?

It's like taking a sleeping pill.

When you wake up, the world is still there.

My thing is a bit stupid of Dad not sitting at the table all day.

There comes a time in a parent's life, Russell, when the only way to get your

children is to be more childish than they are.

Take this to your father. Oh, Mum.

You don't have to...

I'd watch out for the gravy if I was you. It's got rocks in it.

Is he OK?

He looks kind of smaller.

We don't make much progress in this house, do we?

Four years ago, you and your father didn't speak to each other for weeks.

Yeah, well, it was long hair then, wasn't it? Dad won't move with the

Mum. Your father does move with the times, right?

If he didn't, his patients would be walking about without teeth.

It hasn't been easy for us either, Mum, you know.

I mean, we went through all that O -level and A -level bit. You know, we

out of school like factual parrots. E equals MC squared, energy cannot be

created or destroyed, all that crap. And who gives a damn?

Because we're still not getting enough money to do anything with.

I'm 22 years old and my mother still buys my knickers.

I still buy your father's knickers, Adam.

If you were married, your wife would be buying them.

The world is full of women buying men their knickers.

Marriage, that's a joke.

How are we supposed to provide food and clothes, let alone houses?

Yeah, right.

I mean, when I met Annie, I got that lorry -driving job to earn some extra

for us, right?

So I had to drive all night and sleep all day.

In the end, she turned around and said she'd rather have a pet owl.

Even after all kinds of jobs.

Lollipop men, gardeners, car wash attendants, decorating.

I even offered to be a cleaner in the job centre.

Oh, the job centre. Now that is something else.

Everyone's sitting around on plastic chairs looking as though someone's been

dishing out frontal lobotomies.

What has all this got to do with smoking pot?

It makes you forget, that's what.

Things don't seem so heavy.

One little puff and it makes the whole day go away.

Yes. Well, the day doesn't go away, does it, Adam? It's you that goes away.

It's a mental insecticide.

Mum, we're big boys now, OK?

Yeah, I mean, you and Dad are great, but all we want is to be left alone.

All you want? All you want?

We can't always have what we want!

You're terrifying the sponge pudding, Mum.

I guess I'll take that as a design.

a competition with the gravy.

I think I'd better come with you.

You want me to lie and deceive?

If that's what it takes, yes.

Then I'll take it you don't want to.

And we'll call it a day.

We brought your dessert.

Yeah. We won't smoke dope anymore. Not if it makes you a mum freak.

Thank you.

See you at the breakfast table then.

Possibly.

It's okay, Mum. We've sorted everything out.

love is like a butterfly a rare and gentle thing

love is like a butterfly a rare

and gentle thing