All language subtitles for The.Confessions.of.Frannie.Langton.S01E02.720p.WEB.H264-DiMEPiECE

-Double murder is a hanging
offence, Miss Langton.

-I don't know what happened.

-You have to try to remember.

You have to think.

Frannie!

-I loved her.

-I think everyone should be
prescribed a poem a day.

Don't you?

-She loved me.

-You loved her?

And you hated him.

-You know, I think
we should speak frankly.

It will assist us both.

-We have to fight this,
or them are gon' kill you.

Mi nuh waah to lose you.

-You're always trying
to save my skin.

-You're worth savin'.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

♪♪

-I can't prove it wasn't me.

I can't.

Not even to myself.

How can I be sure
I didn't do it?

-I don't care what you said,
I told you not to come.

-I need to speak with you.

-Stay away from me.

♪♪

-She hurt me, Sal,
and I was so angry.

[ Glass shatters ]

-Why won't you leave her alone?

Can't you see
you've done nothing

but distress her
ever since you came back?

-Madame.

This is death.

This is death!

-The pair of you always
in some kind of argument.

♪♪

-Not always.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Her Highness
has asked for you

to take those up this morning.

It's typical of her.

She must always have some pet
by her side.

First the boy, Laddie
and now you.

I saw you prowling around up
there last night.

I've been to see the master
about you.

-[ Chuckles ]

Since I am still here,
Mrs. Linux,

I assume you
didn't get your way.

♪♪

♪♪

'I'd had a measure
of happiness,

the dancing,
the feel of her.

Like a taste I couldn't
get out of my mouth.

Since then...
-Come in.

-...I had pictured her
a thousand times.

And then...

there she was.

My thoughts made flesh.

Mrs. Linux said
you'd like topping up.

-Alright, then.

Top me up.

[ Horse whinnies in distance ]

-I've been meaning to ask
how you're settling in.

-You seem to have found
your feet well enough

last night, at least.

-Next time, I promise
to keep them more to myself

and less on your toes.

-Are the dances
so different in Jamaica?

-I never danced there.

-I could tell.

Oh, please, don't fuss
about those.

They'll only slip
into chaos again.

Sometimes I think that is
what tethers me here.

Not the gowns or the jewels,
but the books.

I don't think I could live
without them.

If you must, you can tidy up
after I go downstairs.

[ Door closes ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Here was another beginning.

The moment I recognised
the feelings she stirred in me.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

♪♪

My whole world that,
until then,

had held such horrors
in it,

peeled itself back
to a place that held only her.

So when Benham sent
for me later that day...

[ Knock on door ]
-Come.

-...I decided to use it
to my advantage.

♪♪

-I'd like you to take
a look at this.

They're getting it wrong
about me,

about Paradise,
my association with Langton.

I need to set the record
straight.

-You are arguing that the slaves
on your estate are contented

because you allow them a little
religion, a little education,

a little land
of their own to plant?

And you want my testimony
in support?

-Yes, the testimony
of a former slave.

-There is no such thing
as a happy slave.

I think we should
speak frankly.

-Yes.

-It wouldn't hurt
for those naysayers to see me

flourishing under your roof,
in a position more in-keeping

with that education
you arranged for me?

♪♪

There's only one way to get
anything from a man

like George Benham.

You have to let them think
it's their idea.

He wanted to be seen
as a benevolent master.

He was setting out
to prove it.

So he made me
into a lady's maid.

[ Knock on door ]

And the lady was his wife.

-Mr Benham has never
recommended anyone to me before

as a lady's maid.

Mind you, I make it a habit
to look any gift horse

that comes from my husband
right in the teeth.

Have you read this?

Rousseau's Confessions?

It's his autobiography.

The story of his own life.

-I know
what an autobiography is.

-I am planning to write my own.

I was thinking
you could help me.

Be my scribe, or...

Well, more of a secretary,
really.

-Mrs. Linux
will not be pleased.

-Surely the attraction
of the whole arrangement?

I take it you are saying yes?

-I am saying yes.

♪♪

♪♪

-In France, they say you
only need a few lines

in any honest man's hand

and you can find something
to hang him with.

♪♪

You must promise
not to hang me.

-I promise to keep you alive.

♪♪

♪♪

-I think I remember life
in Paris,

but I was very young
when we left.

There were many families
like ours that came to London,

and very soon we discovered
that you can't eat noble titles.

But Papa, he had
brought his violin,

and for months, he earned us
a crumb each day playing

on a street corner
in Spitalfields.

When he wasn't too drunk
to do so.

Hm.

I've not seen that
in a long while.

-The boy in the portrait?

-Once upon a time,
he and I were the two

saddest creatures
in this house.

It was after I lost a child.

I lost two in short order
just after we were married,

though I was barely out
of childhood myself.

The week after my loss,

I sent word to Mr. Benham
who was visiting

his estate in Antigua.

Three months later,
he came home

with a little boy in tow.

He was four.

He kept telling us his name
was Olaudah.

Olaudah.

But Mr. Benham insisted
he be called Laddie.

An English name,
not an African one.

♪♪

♪♪

I tried to look after him.

To be a friend to him.

[ Giggles ]

♪♪

♪♪

-They had done
the same to him

as they had been done
to me at Paradise.

Except I thought
I wanted it.

And I thought that it was
a stroke of luck.

-Listen to me,
make sure you mind yourself.

Ya hear me now?

Mind yourself.

Not one damn ting more dangerous
than a White woman

when she get bored.

Come, pygmy.

Come.

♪♪

♪♪

-So, you are Frances?

It's the name
I gave you myself.

-Thank you, missus.

-[ Gasps ] Oh!

You are a little savage.

-Am I staying here now?

-Yes.

What you and I have in common
is that neither of us

had any say in the matter.

-I's happy to be here, missus.

How long am I to stay?

-However long it is,
it will be too long in the end.

♪♪

-I was taken
from my mother also.

♪♪

-I think we should
shut the door.

♪♪

♪♪

-But you were fortunate
in other ways.

Your education.

It's more than most women
ever get.

Even free women.

-Nothing that happened to me
at Paradise was luck.

♪♪

♪♪

When it comes to charting
the course of my life,

the old coach house
is the place

where the map would show
a desert full of wild beasts.

Here are lions.

♪♪

♪♪

Everyone thinks that bodies

are the only things
that suffer.

But it wasn't only bodies
that did Langton's bidding.

-This is science, Frances.

We're doing important
work in here.

-It was minds, also.

"Him not just the devil,
you know."

Phibbah would say.

"You and him
the same devil."

I saw things
in that coach house

that I can't stop seeing now.

I see them every time
I close my eyes.

And worse, I see her.

I see Phibbah,
what happened to her.

And it always
shakes me awake.

[ Owl hooting ]

You can't sleep either?

-I can never sleep
at this limbo hour.

Neither morning nor night.

Nor one thing, nor the other.

-Should I freshen up
your warming pan?

-Mr. Benham is fond of saying,

"A dream is a wish the dark
part of your soul makes."

But it was just a dream.

-It was just a dream.

-Would you like some?

-No, thank you.

Why can't you sleep?

-I spoke to my husband
at dinner.

It seems I have
misunderstood him.

I can write,
but I may never publish.

I wish I'd never married him.

La -- but a lady is not
supposed to discuss

her own marriage, of course.

Only other people's.

I think I will try
to sleep now.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Thank you...

Frances.

♪♪

Good night.

♪♪

♪♪

-That night had opened
something up inside me

that would not stay closed.

And yet, she didn't say
a thing about it.

-I forgot to say,
we have to pack today.

We're off to
Long Reach tomorrow.

-As if it had not happened
at all.

-What's in Long Reach?

-Lord Percy.

Mr. Benham's brother,
he's letting him host

a shooting party to gather
support for his petition.

[ Birds chirping ]

He said you may come also.

It will be much better
to have you with me.

They always give me a maid
with cold hands there.

I forget her name.

♪♪

-What shall I pack?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-So when he protested
his innocence,

but the evidence was there
for everyone to see.

Excuse me, gentlemen,
for one moment.

Baby brother.

Where the devil
have you been hiding?

-Perce!
-Georgie!

Marguerite, welcome back
to Long Reach.

-Percy.
-Georgie, there's some people

I'd like you to meet.

-Meg.

-Dearest Hep.
How have you been?

-I'm going to assume you're not
in the least bit interested.

It's been weeks since you
thought to ask me in person.

Isn't this that terribly
soggy maid

who was cleaning
your front steps the other day?

-Frances Langton.

-My very competent
new secretary.

Frances, may I present to you
Mr. Benham's cousin,

Hephzibah Elliot.

-Miss Elliot.

-Since when do you have
a secretary?

-Frances has been helping me
with my writings.

She's been frightfully
clever, actually.

-Fascinating.

You'll never guess
who I invited.

-Who?
-You'll see.

-Cousin.
-George.

-Our rooms are ready.

♪♪

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Indistinct conversations ]

♪♪♪

-Are you ready
for my surprise?

-I'm intrigued.

-I found your little Laddie.

I ran into him
a few months ago

at the ice cream parlour
we used to take him to.

Remember?

He's here as my guest.

George and Percy be damned.

No sign of the poor
little wretch

in your portrait, is there?

-Laddie?

-Madame Bebbum.

That was my pet name
for her.

You look like you've seen
a ghost.

Not happy to see me?

-Oh, of course, or course.

Yes.

-Methinks you protest too much.

-Look at you.

My little Laddie.

-I go by Olaudah now.

Unless I'm in the ring.

-You box?

-Oh, can't you tell?

He does so much more than box.

He's simply
the cleverest speaker.

So articulate.

-Most Whites will fall
over themselves being impressed

by anything that comes
from a Black man's mouth

if it's in plain English.

-[ Chuckles ]

-And this is?

-Uh, My secretary, uh,
Frances Langton.

-Mr. Cambridge.

-Miss Langton.

Your reputation precedes you.

-What do you mean by that?

-Oh, Mr. Benham,
look who Hep found.

-Wandering in the wilderness.

-Laddie.

Well, fancy seeing you here.

Well, I have a craving
for champagne

and blood sport,
same as you.

-That's quite the --
quite the English gentleman.

-Laddie is here as my guest.

-Still, er, still singing for
your supper, young man?

-Well, what else is a little
Black page boy good for

after he's all grown up?

-Quite.

Well, I'm sure that
you can understand

that no man can be expected
to employ a footman

whom his own wife
once cuddled on her lap.

[ Glass tinking ]

If you'll excuse us.

-Er, if I may?

Thank you all for coming
to Long Reach.

Unusually for me, I'm going
to give George the first word.

-[ Laughs ]
-It's his party,

so I shall hand over to him
to welcome you all.

George?

-Gentlemen.

Ladies.

T-This is no mean feat,
that we have all assembled here.

Abolitionists, planters,
parliamentarians,

but experience
has told me

that any man can put aside
his differences

if the wine
is good enough.

[ Light laughter ]

But we -- we must find
a way to keep

putting those
differences aside.

To answer this emancipation
question in a way

which enables us
to repair these rifts

rather than to deepen them.

That avoids the problem
of compensation to planters,

which, as we all know,
is what is holding things up

and that is based upon a model,
my own model,

with which
I've had particular success.

-I suppose that's what I am?

A model of your success.

[ People murmuring ]

My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,
Mr. Olaudah Cambridge.

A free English and --
were it not

for the interruption, Laddie --
I would say, gentleman.

[ Light laughter ]

And I hope that
you will all agree,

a wonderful model of success.

-Yes.
Yes.

♪♪

-Such a shock to see him again.

So unexpected.

♪♪

-Perhaps I should find you
some brandy?

-I shouldn't.
I have to speak with him.

Can you find him
and bring him a note?

-As you wish.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-To think I came out here
in search of peace and quiet.

-Madame Benham sent me
to give you this.

-She couldn't find a footman
to do her dirty work?

-You couldn't find a footman
to tend to your gun?

[ Paper rustling ]

-"Please believe, I would be
delighted to know you again."

I believe we have much
to atone for,

my husband and I,
for the way you were treated."

Blah-blah-blah.

I suspect she would not be
so delighted to know me again

if she knew how much I despise
the pair of them.

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Chuckles ]

Is that all?

-Earlier...

when you said
my reputation precedes me.

What is it you think you know?

-I know that last year,
John Langton purchased

an albino boy from Barbados.

It's all over the gossip rags.

George Benham must be finding
it increasingly difficult

to pretend he has no idea
about the things

that have been done
in his name.

He never gets his hands dirty,
he left that to other people.

Like Langton...

and you.

-I don't know what
you're taking about.

-I want to know what happened
to the boy.

Whether he can still be helped.

Whether George Benham
can finally be forced

to face his own sins.

-You don't have to worry
about any of that.

It's not your concern.

-I suspected
it would be useless,

now that you're
Benham's new pet.

-I'm no one's pet.
-He's parading you around

to save his reputation.
-He's not parading me anywhere!

-Why else would you be here?

-You came here when you were
what, four, five?

You grew up in an English
drawing room with silk

cushioning your backside.

The hardest job you had was
being an ornament, a plaything.

You don't know a thing.

Not a damn thing.

About any of it.

♪♪

♪♪

He was no different
from the rest of them.

All anyone wanted to know was
what had happened at Paradise.

I'll tell you what happened.

I became Langton's creature.

He was doing experiments
to prove

that all a man's potential
is seeded in his skull.

To prove that Blacks
were the inferior race.

When he told me
I had to help him,

I told myself
I had no choice.

♪♪

-Excuse me, miss, the servant's
entrance is just a --

-Which room is John Langton's?

Which room?!

-Top of the stairs,
first door on the left.

♪♪

-Why have you come here?

Why?

-None of your damned business.

-Your business is my business.

-[ Laughs ] Do you think because
Benham's wife

has seen fit to appoint you
as her lapdog

you and I are now
on equal footing?

-Why would he invite you?

-[ Chuckles ] Keep your enemies
close, they say.

[ Grunts ]

-People are talking
about the albino boy.

-It's in the papers.

My illegal purchase.

-You're a monster.

I never want to lay eyes
on you again.

-[ Gasping ]

This is no way
to treat a dying...man.

[ Gasps ]

[ Pants ]

-You're what?

-Dying.
So they tell me.

♪♪

-[ Groans ]

-I should have been
the one to kill you.

And I should have done it
long before now!

♪♪

[ Laugher,
indistinct conversations ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Wind gusting ]

-There you are.

I was looking for you.

May I?

[ Birds chirping ]

You are cross with me.

Please say something.

-What we did,

we haven't even
spoken about it.

You will not speak about it.

It is sending me mad.

-I am your mistress, Frances.

It was wrong.

-What if --

what if I could
say I wanted it?

What if you could say
you wanted it, too?

♪♪

-Some things cannot be brought
into the light.

-Then let it be done
in the dark.

♪♪

-You are a surprise.

-I don't want
to be a surprise.

♪♪

Haven't you done it before?

With one of those
quality ladies.

-You are a quality lady.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Wings flutter ]

What was that?

Did you hear it?

-No.

-I should get back.

I'll ask him to invite you
to dinner tonight.

[ Birds chirping ]

Yes, but you understand,

my husband is not
against manumissions.

It's just that
he's more of a, er,

gradualist
than an immediatist.

-It's an important work,
and one which I still hope

the scientific community
will come to acknowledge.

-Of course, all this stalling
in parliament

is down to commerce
and convenience.

The progressives among us
would like to see

swifter action and less chat.

-It's absolutely without
question inhumane.

-No, no, no, but the picture
you paint, madame,

it's so one-sided.

You seem to rely
almost completely,

entirely on testimonies
ploughed out

by the abolitionists
years ago.

Now I, for one,
take my responsibilities

for all the souls on my Antigua
estate very seriously indeed.

Now I wish that you
could see the place.

When I visit,
there's feasting and dancing.

It's all of us, we're together.

Though I must admit,
the heat does get

rather too much after a time.

-You make it sound so...

bucolic, George.

-Ah, well.

-Tell us one of your stories,
Laddie.

Honestly, I cry
listening to him.

It's heart-breaking.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Glass tinking ]

[ Music stops ]

-I'll tell you the story
my mother told me...

the last night
I spent with her.

I remember every minute of it.

She was feeding me hominy,

and she'd lit a candle
that she'd made herself

from beef-fat...

so she could make
the shadows dance on the wall.

The whole cabin
smelt like barbecue.

It was an Igbo tale.

One her own mother had told her
about the Asiki.

The Asiki were human children
who were snatched by witches.

Kidnapped.

Taken out of sight.

The witches spirited them away
deep into large forests

where they sliced
out their tongues.

[ People gasps ]

Changed every hair on
their heads from wool to silk.

Changed their skin too,
from black to gold.

Put them to sleep.

The next morning, the Asiki
woke with no memory.

Their mothers and fathers...

forgotten.

Their homes...

forgotten.

Full of questions they had
no way to ask.

A toast, George.

To your singing, dancing,
smiling subjects.

To all those men in Antigua

who make your own
manhood possible.

-[ Chuckles ]
-And to the women...

-[ Coughing ]

What is it the women
do for you again, George?

Is my mother still among them?

[ Indistinct whispering ]

♪♪

-Gentlemen.

Cigars.

-Speaking for myself,
I've thoroughly enjoyed

this evening's entertainment,
George!

Top notch!

[ Indistinct conversations ]

♪♪

-Well, I think he had a point.

-It was cruel that you didn't
think to warn me

that you would be bringing him.

-What's cruel is that you can
never simply be happy

about my efforts
to make you happy.

Is that so impossible?

Is your happiness so entirely
out of reach, Meg?

-You and Frances are certainly
very quiet, my dear.

-I am sure we're all
simply tired.

-Welcome home, Sir, Madame.

-Mrs. Linux.

-Hep Elliot had the boy
in tow this weekend.

I shouldn't be surprised
if he tried to call on us here.

If he does,
we will not be at home.

-Him also now, Sir!

-Just see to it, Mrs. Linux.

-And as for you,
Homer is missing.

-Who?
-The cat.

-[ Chuckles ]

I have not taken the cat,
Mrs. Linux.

I have no idea where he is.

I haven't eaten him,
nor do I have his bones.

-I've no idea
what you're capable of.

♪♪

-[ Gasps ]

I was coming to find you.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Door creaks ]

[ Lock clicks ]

♪♪

-I'll stay in the dark
if that's where you are.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Gasps ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I suppose I am your secret now.

♪♪

What do two women
do in a room of their own?

Isn't this the question
that troubles my accusers most?

We loved each other.

But there are things
about that love

I can't bear
to talk about.

She hurt me, Sal.

And I was so angry.

She wanted me to...

-She wanted you to what?

Frannie,
she wanted you to what?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪