All language subtitles for [English] The Golden Bowl - Episode 1 [DownSub.com]

Bob are you coming up? yes
yes i'm coming i'm coming.

that's Fanny my wife. she takes so long
to get to bed anyhow I could walk around Hyde Park

before she's ready to turn out the light. I want to
tell you a story. it's the most extraordinary story

you've ever heard. it's the most extraordinary
story I've ever heard anyway. not that the events

themselves are particularly startling but they're
unusual well no extraordinary in a sense more for

what didn't happen than what did more for what
was never said than what was actually spoken

it was a very silence of people who could
so easily have given vent their feelings

the fact that they did so little when in
the normal way one would have expected

them to have done so much that makes the
story curious and I repeat extraordinary.

I was connected with it only on the fringe but
Fanny was you might say in the thick of it where

I'll be honest she has a habit of being and
dragging me along with her. not that I minded

in this case because when, as a matter of fact,
I got rather fascinated by it. Fanny's a good

storyteller I suppose because she displays such
a genuine interest in other people's business.

but she roped me in well more in the nature
of a broom to sweep and tidy her mind of all

the clutter that was accumulating in it as the
complicated affair unfolded. so I got it mainly

from her and partly from being involved myself on
the fringe. and by the way my name's Bob Assingham.

I was in the army for a long time, but uh that's
neither here nor there, and we live in this house

in Keduggin place where we're enough off I suppose.
I wouldn't say rich exactly not by some standards.

anyway not by Adam Verver's. for instance Verver
is one of the curious people in this affair.

an American a millionaire, aren't they all, but
not the usual sort. oh I've met them in lots of

places but he was different. he was a quiet
man for one thing and for another a man of

exquisite taste. he was a collector of object d'
arte from all over the world. it was his hobby.

well more it was his passion in the quietest
way of course. he'd actually founded a town or

something in the States called American City
and filled it with some of his acquisitions.

it's amazing that you know. that's not
the sort of thing an Englishman would do.

I might I don't say that in a carping sense
of course because Verver really was the most

admirable of human beings who displayed qualities
in the end uh well I'll get to that later.

first let me try to sort this thing out in my
mind and decide where to begin because I want

you to understand it fully and I want you to see the
characters clearly in your mind's eye as I did and

I don't have Fanny's gift for words. fortunate
I suppose as we have a cheek over a listener

but I do want you to see them. and more
I want you to to know them. I want you to

know all about them. I want you to see them
as it were not just in the flesh but in the

bone the fiber and the nerve ends as well. so
just let me think for a moment where to begin.

well I can't begin at the beginning
because that's too far back and uh well

Fanny didn't know too much about
all that, which as it turned out,

was part of the trouble. it often is
with things Fanny's connected with.

if she had known well perhaps she wouldn't have
acted the way she did. perhaps she'd have warned

others or be more cautious I don't know there's
so many ifs and buts about the whole business.

now you'll just have to pick it up as
you go along. feel it out and fill it in

as I did. so on second thought let me start with
Maggie. Maggie Verver. she was an attractive girl

22 or 3. her mother had died when she was 10 and
her father Adam Verver had taken her with him on

all his travels. she received her education in
all the art museums and junk shops of Europe

and they were both terribly fond of each
other. I mean they were devoted to each other.

they lived in and for each other. they complimented
each other as a man and wife might to have lived

together for a long time one knowing the other's
thoughts before he's even thought of it, able to

communicate by a look or glance as the common
shorthand of communication amongst the happily

married. Fanny and I we communicate by the longest
shorthand in the book. but you see that's because

Fanny she loves to talk so and she her mind is so
tortured sometimes that it's, well I know there's

something else, but the Ververs were quiet people
not over given to expressing themselves in words.

they could be silent together for hours strolling
through the boulevards of Paris or the Borghese

Gardens in Rome. as I say they didn't really
need to talk. they understood each other

and they positively liked each other's company.
in fact though neither of them had ever thought

about it much, I daresay they couldn't really
imagine a life apart from each other, which

to say the least was curious, because
after all, Maggie was of marriageable age

and what was more to the point, would inherit
a great deal of money when that day came.

Verver was nothing if not generous which
is really the starting point of the story.

a young and pretty heiress with lots of
suitors sooner or later must make a choice

knowing full well she was a prey to the fortune
hunter. and though both Verver and Maggie were

rather simple people they weren't so unworldly
as not to know the dangers. they knew perfectly

well it was the easiest trap in the world to
fall into and that others cleverer and more

sophisticated than they had fallen into it. so
although Maggie scarcely ever thought of marriage

indeed unconsciously I suppose assumed an
attachment to her father that seemed to preclude

any other. when Fanny introduced her to the
prince it was as if both she and her father,

at once and, as if it were a hidden signal,
saw the possibilities and saw the advantages.

and if he came recommended by Fanny when he was
all right to start with. and if Maggie liked him,

which she did, then they could do worse than
think about it seriously. he was a young man

of antecedents so old that mr Verver could scarcely
be blamed for wanting to add him to his collection.

on this particular afternoon the prince had gone
to mr Verver's home where his own representative

CalderonI and mr Verver's were drawing up
the marriage settlement Verver was making on

the prince. it was as with everything Verver
did generous to a degree. there'd be no hard

bargaining. the prince wouldn't have allowed
it. his manners were far too good for that

and I dare say that had he not believed
Verver's settlement would be beyond reproach

from the beginning, he probably never would
have entered into the arrangement at all.

and he liked Maggie make no mistake. it would have
been hard not to she was such a charming girl.

so that afternoon while he and Verver watched
the legal gentleman arguing about commas and

full stops but not about money he had good
reason to feel satisfied and so did Verver.

if you think I am a self-evident - can we return to
the matter? I was not aware we had the left it.

we seem to have wandered. all i'm asking is
that in the matter of a settlement of this kind

English law requires the lady in question and her
family be protected and I must protect my client.

no one expects you to do otherwise sir but you are
asking me to advise my client to sign a document

that will take effect only on the death of
my client. it seems a reasonable provision.

excuse please, your client? yes sir my client
the party of the first party. I thought you meant

my client. no sir my client. you idiot could you not
hear what he is saying? you are supposed to speak

English. oh you idiot. why I bring you here. I feel
as if I've been valued knocked down parceled up

and about to be posted. oh you're valued, I can
tell you that. you're like crystal but without the

rough edges. pure and perfect.
not easy to find.

i'm delighted i'm a perfect specimen
I believe they sometimes have cracks

and flaws in which case they're
to be had very cheap.

when I say Verver was generous
I don't simply mean with his money.

just think. he had no one in his life apart
from Maggie for the last 12 years or so.

she'd been his constant companion. he depended on
her utterly. not for any obviously important things

but like a habit one is hardly conscious of
until suddenly it's broken by a change of

circumstance. they were like an old married couple
in whom the bloom of romantic love had long since

faded but are as necessary to each other as the
soil is to the plant. and yet not for one moment

did it cross his mind to make objections. never
by word or deed did he display the slightest

vexation of this permanent wrench in the order
of his life. and though he felt once again avoid

looming up before him such as he must have felt
when his first wife died. it never crossed his mind

to put difficulties in Maggie's way. and Maggie
too she was enchanted with her coming marriage.

she sat that afternoon waiting in a tea shop off
Knightsbridge for the prince to join her and the

approaching rift in her life, the alteration, it was
bound to make never really impinged on her mind.

I suppose that was partly the trouble. I suppose
in a way that was the cause of all that followed.

well are you all added up and counted? balanced
and brought down and carried forward to a nice

new clean page. did you mind? no your
father's quite the best man I've ever had

to deal with. I agree with you there. he's a real
galantuomo. and so are you. a real galantuomo.

well i'm like a chicken at best. chopped up and
covered in sauce and half its parts left out.

your father's the whole natural fowl running
loose in the yard. I like him. you might change

your mind before you've done with us. done with
you? found out about us. all there is to find.

you know it's you really. you know so little about
me. I've read a lot about you. no that's the history part.

the follies of ancestors, especially the
infamous waste of money that might have come to me.

what's the other part? my own
self about which you know nothing.

lucky for me then. I'll have
plenty to occupy me in the future.

and anyway what would you be without all
those wicked generations of popes and princes?

well what am I now?  a morceau de musee.
a museum piece?

oh yes that cost a lot of money. I haven't
the least idea what you cost. wouldn't you

find out if you were a question of parting with
me? yes if you mean not pay rather than lose you.

well I hope there's one thing
you believe about me.

one? there are lots and all
in watertight compartments.

well you do believe that i'm not a hypocrite.
is that in one of your watertight compartments?

that's not a compartment that's the
ship itself and she's unsinkable.

I have some shopping to do. I'll come with you.
no there are things a girl must do on her own.

now have you made a list of all the people you'll
be asking to the wedding? yes. there aren't many.

it will still be longer than ours. is that right? well
we have no relations as such. but you both have

friends. acquaintances. you ask them when you have
relations not to cover up the fact that you don't.

where will you go? hmm I'll walk for a bit. I might
drop in on Fanny. what for? well I've never properly

thanked her for introducing us. do you think
she needs it? I need it. I feel in the thanking

mood this afternoon. I shall thank Fanny. it's
a good substitute for thanking my lucky star.

well give her my love then.

he came to see Fanny that same afternoon. exactly
why he came I don't know. perhaps it was as he

said to thank her, to tie up all the ends on a day
when he felt his life was in fact being tidied as

never before. whatever the reason for his calling,
whatever his inner compulsion, it was as if some

secret fate had led him there as inexorably
as a doomed man to the gallows.

you look restless. you're feeling I suppose like
all men, the trap closing around you. I don't know.

perhaps it's all those solemn signatures
of an hour ago. I feel uneasy. you mean

you're afraid? oh terrified. all is settled,
the bridges are burned, I've crossed over.

I've now but to wait to
see the monster come.

and the marriage is what you call the monster. yes.
well for heaven's sake don't run away from it.

to run away from it would be to run away from you
and the monster frightens me rather less than that.

I depend on you you know, to see me through...

as you've seen me through up to now.

I'm at the end of the preliminaries and I can't help feeling how
little there would have been of those without you.

it was nothing. everything went of itself. uh but
you had the conception. ah prince but so did you.

well then you had it first. you had it most.
I liked it if that's what you mean. I simply had

to speak for you. true. but now you're leaving me
all the same and I won't be left. I shall keep

you in sight. if you're afraid, which of course
you're not, are you trying to make me the same?

thank you Jenkins.

you say you liked making
my engagement possible

why? why did you like it? I hardly know what
to make of such an inquiry. well i'm curious.

after all it wasn't simply a matter of your
handing me over. it was also a matter of your

handing over her, Maggie. you adore Maggie and
yet you enjoyed putting her at risk. are you

trying to frighten me? oh that's a foolish view. you
apparently don't understand either my good faith

or my humility. you're very deep your old Italians.
there you are. that's the responsible note I wanted.

I don't in the least want to lose sight of you.
I shouldn't think it right if I did. well that's all

I wanted to hear. you see I can do pretty well
everything I see but I have to see it first.

your eyes will make me see. see what? when i'm
off someday when i'm wrong without knowing it.

that's what I shall trust
you for, to tell me when I am.

you know you're not treating
me quite right. why not?

well you're really not in the least bit troubled
by what I've been telling you and yet you look

troubled. I can only assume that you have something
on your mind that you don't tell me. am I obliged

to tell you everything that's on my mind? only
everything that concerns me. well I have something

on my mind but it doesn't properly concern
you. oh properly. that speaks volumes. what is it?

Charlotte Stant is in London.
she's just been here.

oh really? she has arrived from America? yes she
arrived about noon. going straight to a hotel.

she dropped in after lunch and was here for about an
hour. does it bother you? should it? no but it seems

to. it seems to trouble you. oh I didn't say
that it did. well you had it on your mind. but only

to the extent of not in the least having looked
for it any more than I judge Maggie to have done.

well Maggie will be delighted. oh yes. had Charlotte
gone to see her? no she's gone back to the hotel

to get her things. I can't leave her alone at a
hotel. no I see. I mean if she's here she must stay

with me. and she's coming now? yes I expect her
any minute. if you wait you'll see her. charming.

you know if it wasn't for what's going on
these next few days Maggie would certainly

have wanted her to stay with her. in fact that
might be the very reason she will want her to.

what has she come for? for your marriage.
mine? or Maggie's. it comes to the same thing.

and then she's so lonely. has she given that for a
reason? oh she's given so many I scarcely remember.

Charlotte abounds in reasons but then
there's one that's always permanent with her.

what's that? she has no home very little means
and she hates America. she's extraordinarily alone.

has she come with designs on me? is she
still as beautiful? oh yes she's the same.

on reflection I think she's acted in coming
generously. impulsively but generously. she

has acted beautifully. I say generously
because she can have hardly counted the cost.

you'll look after her?
of course. so it's all right.

it's all right. then why are you so
troubled? I'm not any more than you are.

oh well I'm not. I should hope not for
you wouldn't have a shadow of an excuse.

is that her now?

yes

she can come to us at any time you know. after
all she and Maggie are old friends. would you

like her for your honeymoon? oh no you must keep
her for that. but why not after? why not? splendid.

miss Charlotte Stant.

they confronted each other, these two, across the
room like two tormented creatures from a previous

life. now what that previous life had been in
detail no one really knew, though fanny professed

to be sure of it. but that something had happened
between them was certain. you could see it in the

way the prince was so markedly off balance for a
moment and the way Charlotte was so certainly on.

for a moment he wasn't sure how to respond
and then she gave him just the right note.

you see you're not rid of me. how's Maggie? I've
been thinking of her and at last I yearn for her.

I want to see her happy. then you shall. she is I
think terribly happy. she's the dearest of the dear,

but then I don't have to tell you that. was
my butler downstairs to let you in? only the maid.

you look charming.
thank you.

Maggie would have invited you to the
wedding but it seems such a long and

expensive journey for you, but she'll
rejoice awfully in your being with us.

I hear you don't like America. no. that's not
encouraging for me. are you going? in a month or two.

it seems to be the new idea. didn't Maggie tell you
about it? well not of you're going at once no.

but of course you must go and stay as long as possible.
is that what you did? me? I hadn't your interests.

are yours then rather here? mine take
up very little room wherever they are.

anyway it's not really my
country. it's just my parent's.

I have been thinking it all
the while probably you know

that you would have seen
your way to marry him.

marry whom? oh some good kind clever rich
American. but that's not a very easy combination to find.

oh I did try. perhaps I tried too hard. anyway
one's existence you know doesn't depend on it.

the position of a single woman today is very
favorable. favorable to what? why to existence.

which can contain all kinds of affections.
I am extremely fond of Maggie for instance.

I wouldn't adore her more if I were
married. well you might adore him. ah him.

well it's just a question of doing
the best for oneself that one can.

anyway, I venture to repeat the hope that you'll
marry some capital fellow. thank you very much.

the prince hopes so much that
I shall marry some good person.

we all hope my dear it will be a good person
that you marry. she's been trying in America

she says but hasn't brought it off. if
you take such interest you must bring it off.

and you must help dear as you've helped with
these things so beautifully before. your marriage.

is it on Friday? on Friday? no what do you take
us for. it's not a vulgar Roman wedding.

no on Saturday at 11 o'clock at the Oratory before
12 guests. including me? oh no that won't do. you'll

make the thirteenth. not if you're going in for
omens. shall I stay away then? no good heavens no.

we'll invite another and make it the round number.
well I must go. i'm dining tonight with mr Verver.

have you any message for Maggie about coming
early? she'll want that. then I shall come early.

there is a favor i'd like to ask of you
though. what is it? I want between now

and Saturday to buy Maggie a present. oh no no I
must and I could find nothing I liked in America.

what is it my dear that you like? but that's what I
want the prince to help me decide. can't I help you

decide? of course you can Fanny. we'll discuss this
evening but I want him if he will to come with me.

to look, to help me choose. that is all the
great favor I ask if you can spare the hour.

what you came back from America to ask. why not?
I can certainly spare the hour. don't you think?

why not? you must
certainly find the hour.

I don't quite see, I'm bound to say, why
you take it even at the worst so hard.

and after it's not your fault she's here. why
couldn't she come after the marriage? why did

she have to come before? why so perversely look it
all so in the face? for discipline. oh nonsense.

you don't understand. you willfully misunderstand.
oh my dear following your thought is like riding

over rough ground on the back of a mule. you get
there in the end but it's painfully slow.

first of all, what on earth took place between
them? they fell in love with each other what else.

no no it wasn't possible so they gave each
other up. why wasn't it possible? because

neither of them had the means to marry. I mean if
Charlotte had had a little, well enough for two,

I think they would have done it. hmm or if he
had a little a little more than a little

mean a little for a prince. yes I take your
point. but there wasn't a way. Charlotte saw it.

saw that he had to have money was life or
death for him. so she bowed out or they both did.

and that's what you call their romance? what more
do you want? didn't he want anything more or

Charlotte didn't they do anything more?
they were in love. she might have been his...

she might have been his what? she might have
been anything she liked except his wife.

but she wasn't? no she wasn't. well how
do you know? there wasn't time. for that?

why does it take so much time? it takes
more than they had. oh you mean you came

on the scene with Maggie? do you remember nothing?
they'd parted before he'd even heard of Maggie.

why hadn't he heard of her from Charlotte?
because Charlotte had never mentioned her.

how do you know? did she tell you? no he
did the prince. oh I see. no you don't see.

we were in Rome end of February remember? Charlotte
had been there since November. Maggie and her

father were on their way there when Charlotte
upped and left a few days before they arrived. why?

hm yeah well why? she left to save herself.
oh to save herself and him. she left to save

herself from becoming his mistress and left to
save him the agony of afterwards dropping her.

well in that case, all that's
needed is to leave things alone.

and what case are you talking about? are there
so many? there's Maggie's and the prince's

and then there's the prince's and Charlotte's.
Charlotte and prince and prince and Maggie.

of course if you're going to be vulgar. not at
all. I think for an old soldier I'm rather refined.

it strikes me as odd really that neither
he nor Charlotte mentioned anything to Maggie.

there's some things my dear that you cannot
mention to Maggie. she should be so scandalized?

she'd be so frightened, so hurt. she wasn't born to
evil she must never know it. some people are like that.

all right. tell me this: if Charlotte
bolted before to save him, well I mean why the

deuce did sh come back to him now? to see
Maggie through. through what? through everything.

Charlotte knows the prince and Maggie doesn't.
huh so Charlotte comes back to give her lessons.

Charlotte when you come to think of it has been
magnificent. she gave him up when she saw it was

the only way to help him and she's back now
to let him see that everything is normal and

that her heart is not breaking. and is it?
certainly and that's why she's magnificent.

oh so that's how she's seeing Maggie
through. by seeing the prince through.

yes and it's up to us to see Charlotte through.
again through what? through her loneliness.

well how are we gonna do that? it
would be all right if she were to marry.

- oh we're to marry her.
- if we can.

it will make up for any mistake
I may have inadvertently made.

and I thought the whole point of this conversation
was that you hadn't made any. which were quite sure

you hadn't. one could never be wholly sure of not
having made a mistake. why risk making another?

where would you be my dear if I hadn't risked
it with you? Charlotte's marrying will prove

the truth of everything I say. it will prove that
she's cured and that she accepts the situation.

we can certainly cover up her tracks.
it'll give her new tracks. it'll give

her her best chance of being magnificent.
and you along with her. I shall do my best.

and you called me immoral. no only obtuse.
although obtuseness carried to a certain degree

is you know immoral.
I'm going to my room

besides which, it is after all at
the worst, great fun.

now I must tell you but I want to be

absolutely honest. you've not been honest? I don't
want to pretend and I can't. I came back for this.

not for anything else really but this. for this? yes
for this. think of me what you will I don't care.

this is why I came back.
this is what i'm here for.

to have one hour alone with you. I don't care what
you make of it and I don't ask anything of you

except this, to see you once and be with you
as we used to be for one small hour or two.

I've had it in my head for weeks. I mean,
to get it before your marriage.

so you see it was only a question of whether
I should be able to manage it in time.

and I have. there were moments
over there when I despaired.

despaired of being able to see you
once more alone as we once were.

well it was a risk. if you'd been horrid
and refused to come out with me this morning.

well there was no reason to get a present for
Maggie that Maggie must know nothing about.

yes yes a present for Maggie.
something inexpensive but different.

something absolutely right that she
wouldn't think of buying for herself.

well that's reason enough. it was
my excuse and it will have to do.

I had to have this moment.
you see don't you?

not just to get my time with you.
I wanted you to know. to understand.

no I don't care whether you understand or not.
what I want is that it shall always be with you,

this moment, this meeting that I've made
so that you will never be able quite to

get rid of the fact that I did. that we
were here where we are and as we are.

do you see?

do you?

no I don't think so. she wouldn't like it. well you
must find something. we've been out for two hours.

it's just that the right thing
is not easy to find. don't rush.

well you're right. there's
nothing here that she could wear.

is there anything do you think that you could? why?
is it your idea to offer me something? as a

memento. a memento? of this, our little hunt as you
say. ah as I said, I don't ask you to. a memento

from you to me would be a memento of nothing.
you have, on the other hand, given me my idea.

to offer me something? why not? be just
between the two of us. no. you wouldn't accept? no.

oh that's a pity. it's what i'd hoped. it's
what you brought me out for. that is my affair.

now where would I wear that? under
my clothes? wherever you like.

and is it your idea that I might go
home and show it to Maggie? why not?

how should I give her an account of the pretext?
the pretext? the occasion the ramble we've had

together. I remember we're not to speak of it.
you seem princess to have seen too much perhaps.

my golden bowl. gold? really? gold.
look at it. see what you make of it.

it may be very cheap for what it is but
will be very dear for me. you like it? do you?

it is a perfect crystal. you mean cut from a
single crystal? well I promise you if it isn't

you won't find any joints or pinning. not even
if I scrape off the gold? you couldn't do that.

it is too well put on by some very fine
work and some beautiful old process. a lost art.

a lost art. if it is so precious how comes it's
so cheap? I'll wait outside. I had it a long time.

I must I must have been keeping it for you. because
you thought I might not see what's the matter with it.

what is the matter? that is for you to say. if
you cannot tell what it is isn't it as good as if

there were nothing? I probably should as soon as I
pay for it. ah but not if you hadn't paid too much.

how much is not too much? well
what would you say to 15 pounds?

i'd say it was too much. I can't go lower. then
it's impossible. it's more than I can afford.

but sometimes one can afford more for a present than
one affords for oneself. does one make a present

of something with a flaw? one can always mention
it. leave the gentleman to find out what it is.

what if it should come to pieces? but it won't.
not unless one dropped it onto a marble floor,

smashed it with a hammer. does crystal
break then no? it doesn't shatter like glass.

no it splits if there is a split along lines
and by laws of its own. then there is respect

I shouldn't want him to come to me
and say the golden bowl is broken.

where is the weak place?

[taps bowl, it rings]

for me only the price. I thank you but
you will have to let me think about it.

well...

accept it for me? are you serious? it has
a crack in it. you saw it? I saw. didn't you?

but still it is exquisite. you would offer
me a present of something with a crack in it?

are you superstitious? i'm superstitious.
a crack is a crack. an omen, an omen.

you're afraid? yes i'm afraid. for
your marriage? for my marriage.

well if we are to perish by cracks and
things we know nothing about... ah but I know.

that's the difference. my instinct
protects me. what will protect me?

I will. anything you accept from me will be perfect.
I am to accept something from you. you will take

nothing from me. but you attach an impossible
condition. a gift to me that I must keep to myself.

ah well you can shout it from the housetops if
you like. ah in that case no. I don't want it now.

I should have liked the
bowl but if it won't do...

yet I shall want someday to give you
something. what day? the day that you marry.

for you will marry. you must. seriously.
marry. to make you feel better? well it will.

I would marry I think just to
have something from you in all freedom.

hmm yes

are you going to sit there all night?
no i'm coming dear i'm coming.

I should hope so. what are you doing down here? I
was just thinking. that's all just just thinking.

well I'll continue
some other time.

but that golden bowl was to reappear with amazing
coincidence in the lives of these four people.

when it did
the effect was shattering.

shattering.