Original subtitles

[Orchestra]

[Orchestra Continues]

[Orchestra Continues]

[Orchestra Continues]

[Orchestra Continues]

ANNIE: Papa?

DARWIN: Mm?

Tell me a story.

Alright, what about?

I don't know. About everything.

Everything?

Very well, then.

[Violin]

DARWIN: In Tierra del Fuego

the 'land of fire'

a blighted and loveless country on the Earth's furthest rim

lives a community of the dirties

most vulgar, and least civilized

people you can possibly imagine.

[Drum Beating]

DARWIN: They appeared almost entirely naked

with their hair all the way down to their bottoms.

[Men Chanting]

And they never washed their hands or their faces,

even before dinner.

[Chanting Continues]

One day, Captain Fitzroy went ashore to meet them.

[Chanting Continues]

[Chanting Continues]

[Door Opening]

[Footsteps]

Thank you.

[Footsteps]

Not long now. I shall be with you presently.

Head to me, please.

Very good.

Now, very still, please. No fidgeting.

And above all, no smiling.

Excuse me, sir?

Mm?

Will this hurt?

Oh, no, no, no, no. No, no, no.

It is only a beam of light.

[Blinds Drawing]

-Papa? -Mm?

How can light make a picture?

Well now, they... they take a copper plate and they

prepare it with chemicals, and these chemicals are activated

by the light that reflects back

[Camera Shutter Opening]

from your face, and so the silver

sticks to the places where the light is brightest.

Understand?

-Yes. -[Clearing Throat]

Sorry. So sorry.

[Sighing] Now, thank you.

Go on. He went ashore to meet them.

Yes, that's right. So, um, Captain Fitzroy

went ashore to interview the Fuegians.

Now.

[Camera Clicking]

[Suspenseful] DARWIN: He offered them some

axe heads some calico, and some very pretty buttons.

Total value, probably two shillings.

This is yours. You take it.

[Suspenseful]

Look how it... Look how it glisters.

See?

And all he asked in return?

[Fuegians Murmuring]

A few spare children.

You give me el nina.

Well, to the Fuegians, children were cheap

and buttons were precious, so it didn't take very

long before the Fuegians had their trinkets

[Fuegians Cheering]

and Captain Fitzroy had his three children.

He named them Boat Memory...

Jemmy Button and Fuegia Basket.

[Children Screaming]

[Drumming]

[Background Chatter] [Lively Music]

[Child Squealing]

DARWIN: The good captain had them washed and dressed,

and he taught them the proper table manners.

[Child Shouting]

[Classical]

[Cutlery Clinking]

[Classical Music Continues]

[Cutlery Clinking]

[Potato Whooshing Off Table]

[Potato Thudding On Floor]

[Gurney Wheels Squeaking]

DARWIN: Boat Memory died of smallpox,

but the two littlest ones, they... they

learned their prayers and their times tables so excellently

that they were invited to meet the King and Queen.

[Regal Music]

[Regal Music Continues]

[Regal Music Continues]

DARWIN: Everyone agreed that good Christian values

had tamed the most savage of hearts.

The King gave Jemmy a genuine brass telescope and the Queen

gave Fuegia one of her Sunday best bonnets to keep forever.

Two years later, Captain Fitzroy and I took them home,

accompanied by a young missionary, in the belief

that, by example, they would bring their

fellow savages to God.

[Oars Squeaking]

And what do you think happened?

It didn't work.

That's right. It didn't work. Of course it didn't work!

[Chanting] [Children Shouting]

Oh! Wait!

-Well well after them, you fool! -Stop!

Just get them now. You...

Jemmy! Fuegia!

-Put your clothes back on! -[Shouting]

Come back!

DARWIN: It was a complete and total failure.

-[Laughing] -No, no, no!

Quite still, didn't I say?

You shall have to do it all over again.

[Camera Clicking]

So sorry, Sir. Badly behaved. So sorry.

[Laughing]

[Camera Plate Inserting]

[Camera Plate Clinking]

[Clock Chiming]

[Ominous Music]

[Droplets Falling]

[Stirring In Glass]

[Pipette Laid On Saucer]

[Sipping]

[Clock Ticking]

Mr. Darwin, sir?

[Knocking]

Come on, Mr Darwin, or your dinner will be spoiling.

[Clock Ticking]

[Background Chatter]

[Door Opening] [Door Closing]

[Footsteps]

Mr. D will be in presently, ma'am. I imagine.

[Door Opening and Closing] Thank you, Mrs Davis.

Is Papa unwell again?

He's always unwell these days.

[Door Closing] [Footsteps Approaching]

He's not, Franky. Let us not exert him.

He's probably caught something awful from the Hottentots.

Nanny Brodie said God was angry with him.

Brodie said no such thing.

Yes, she did!

Good evening.

-Good evening, Papa. -Good evening.

Good evening, Papa.

Sorry I'm so late.

[Soup Ladle Clanging] Soup du jour, sir.

[Children Laughing]

Thank you, Parslow.

[Cutlery Clinking]

Lord God, bless this family and the food we eat.

We ask in Thy name. Amen.

-Amen. -Amen.

[Cutlery Clinking] [Slurping Soup]

I hear Mr. Hooker is coming tomorrow.

Yes. Yes, that's right.

Did he say what it was about?

I'm not sure that now's the time to discuss it.

Perhaps the time to discuss it was before you invited him.

Well, quite possibly, but he... He invited himself.

Sorry.

Tell Mrs. Davies it was delicious but my...

my stomach's still not quite what it...

it should be. Forgive me.

[Footsteps]

[Door Opening and Closing]

GEORGE: Can we go fishing then? FRANKY: Can we pick gooseberries

GEORGE: I don't want gooseberries.

GEORGE: I want to go fishing.

FRANK: Well, I don't.

DARWIN: October 17th, 1858. [Underscoring]

Passed a poor night. Stomach still wretched.

[Bird Cooing]

Noticed a slight tremor in right hand.

Consider increasing laudanum by ten per cent, perhaps.

DARWIN: So, we'll sacrifice the two tumblers.

I want to skeletonize them as soon as possible.

Yes, sir.

DARWIN: Selective breeding is undoubtedly working.

Already seeing real changes in wing structure.

[Steam Hissing]

DARWIN: I'm convinced that all fancy breeds,

pouter, carrier, tumbler et cetera,

derive from the common rock pigeon.

Nature selects for survival, man for appearance.

[Birds Cooing]

[Water Dripping]

Must improve skeletonizing methods. Consider aqua regia.

[Water Draining] Quicklime, perhaps.

They'll need a few more hours, those, sir.

[Background Chatter]

[Horse Hooves Stomping]

[Children Shouting]

Master George! Master Franky! [Children Shouting]

Lady Etty and Master Lenny. How are you, sir?

[Children Chattering]

-Sir? -How are you?

Thank you.

GEORGE: Is it true that you were imprisoned by the

King of Sikkim?

HOOKER: Absolutely true. Anything else, sir?

GEORGE: And is it true that he -No, no, no, you... carry on.

-Ill clean myself up. GEORGE: And is it true that he

would only let you go if you married his fattest daughter?

Absolutely true, George, but don't you dare tell my wife.

[Horse Whinnying]

Dear Joseph.

Dearest Emma.

[Coach Door Slamming]

Ah. Yes. Forgive the short notice.

I believe you know Thomas Huxley?

Only by reputation.

He insisted on coming and I could not refuse.

That's a lie. I have a question

for your esteemed, reclusive husband

and I didn't trust Hooker to ask it for me.

I see. Children, tell Papa his visitors are here.

He already knows.

He's hiding.

[Laughing] - [Laughing] Do come in, please.

Can we play Charge of the Light Brigade?

-Of course. -You must be exhausted.

In that case, I shall be Lord

-Will you take tea? - Raglan and watch the massacre.

Hooker! My dear fellow! And Huxley.

Do come in. Come in.

-Lead the charge, boys. - Good heavens.

HOOKER: And away we go. Now I shall sit in the far and watch..

[Chickens Clucking]

[Mysterious Music Playing] [Birds Chirping]

HUXLEY: We're reforming the Linnean Society.

The committee will comprise of myself,

Lyell, Hooker, yourself, of course if you're game for it.

Now that Hooker and I finally have a bit of clout,

we can start to reclaim science as a profession. Wrest it away

from the... the country parsons and beetle collectors.

Some of whom are dear friends of mine.

Your book will be our rallying point.

No, it won't. There is no book.

There's... there's fragments, and they're not in any

-fit state to publish them. HUXLEY: Nonsense. I've, Ive

read your detailed abstract and the argument is hugely powerful.

Clear evidence of transformation over millions of years

from a free-swimming prawn to a shellfish stuck on a rock.

Well, that's my point, you see? You can't be entirely sure of

that and that's why I need more time. I need --

Mr. Darwin, Sir?

Yes?

Either you are being disingenuous or you do not fully

understand your own theory. Evidently, what is true of the

barnacle is true of all creatures, even humans.

Clearly, the Almighty can no longer claim to have authored

every species in under a week. You've killed God, sir.

[Birds Chirping]

You have killed God.

Or to put it another way...

And I for one say good riddance to the vindictive old bugger!

[Panting] -Charles? Charles?

Oh, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.

-Thomas, please. -Yes, I quite understand.

It is time to write your book.

Strike hard and fast with a blow that is utterly conclusive.

Really, sir, you... You talk as if we're at war.

Yes. Science is at war with religion.

and when we win, we'll finally be rid of those damned

archbishops and their threats of eternal punishment.

No, Mr Huxley. We live in a society

and it is a society bound together by the Church.

An improbable sort of barque, I grant you,

but at least it floats. It floats.

And you would what? You would have us all rebuild,

plank by plank, the very vessel in which we sail?

Oh, come, come, Charles!

Did... did God's laws change your Fuegians?

Was Jenny the ape any less personable

for not being a person?

Our behavior, like our physical forms,

evolves according to our needs. Your very own words, sir!

And thus, in time, we lose those parts

that are no longer required. Like the appendix, the male

nipple, and finally, thank Christ, our belief in an

utterly redundant Almighty!

[Underscoring]

[Birds Chirping] [Footsteps]

Mr Hooker?

[Footsteps]

I... implore you, please do not push him.

No one can push Charles. You know how fixed he is.

Bit of a barnacle himself, really.

Yes. And if you prise him from his rock, he will die.

Come on, Hooker. It'll be dark soon.

[Footsteps]

[Horse Winnying] [Dogs Barking]

[Footsteps]

[Coach Door Closing]

So, what did she say to you?

She said it was killing him.

[Knocking On Glass]

[Background Chatter]

Yes. Mighty slow death considering the length of time

he's sat on this stuff.

[Blowing Nose]

We shall all be dead and buried ourselves

if he takes much longer. [Sniffing]

Yes, since his girl died, one has to admit

he's not the man he was.

[Door Opening and Closing]

[Vomiting]

[Dog Barking In Distance]

[Spitting In Sink] [Sighing]

[Clock Ticking]

[Sentimental]

[Adjusting Microscope]

When are you going to be done with those stinky old barnacles?

[Dissecting barnacle]

Well, I've been tracing this little crustacean

in all of its evolutionary forms over 30 million years.

Now, eight years doesn't seem a very long time

to achieve that, does it?

What does procrastinating mean?

Oh, I think you know very well what it means, Annie.

It means putting things off. Why?

That's what Mr Hooker thinks you're doing.

Does he indeed?

Is it because of Mama or what's in that box?

Both.

I should probably just burn the lot.

You can't. I'm in it.

Don't be absurd, Annie! Of course you're not in it.

What do you mean?

When I was a baby, you said.

Oh, that.

“The Natural History of Babies. ”

[Piano]

Yes, that's right.

BABY ANNIE: [Cooing]

Oh, you're so strong! You're so strong!

[Pencil Scribbling]

[Rattle Jingling] Here. Annie.

[Piano] [Rattle Jingling]

[Blowing Raspberries]

I think that will not help her sleep.

I'm sure you're probably right.

-[Baby Cooing] -Who's that?

Who is that? Is that you?

Rarr! [Growling]

[Growling Sounds] [Baby Crying]

Oh, sweetheart. Oh, I'm so sorry.

[Baby Crying]

Oh, what a mean old papa you have.

[Baby Crying]

-Oh, sweetheart! [Laughing] -Oh!

What a mean old papa you have.

-[Laughing] Oh! -What a mean old...

[Baby Crying] What a mean old man you have!

Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

-Six weeks. -Shh!

“Gurgles. Tries to suck. ”

- ”Holds tight to my finger. -Shh.

“Perceives bosom when three or four inches from it. ”

I should add that she's musical.

I hope you do not plan to treat all our children

as little specimens of the ape genus

to be included in your experiments.

All of our children? You mean you want more?

[Baby Gurgling]

Oh, sorry. I assumed.

No, no. If the idea doesn't appeal then...

Darling, darling.

-No, no. We don't have to have -Darling, darling! Darling!

-any more children. -Darling!

I have plans to breed an entire army of them.

[Upbeat Music]

Look at that!

That's called the waltz.

[Children Laughing]

[Upbeat Music Continues]

Careful, now! Not too far ahead.

Make yourself useful, Hooker.

As ever, Charles.

And stay away from that water!

Fear not, Brodie.

I have them in my sights. Children!

[Upbeat Music Continues]

Now, which of the four of you would be the first who would

like to learn how to hook a worm?

Me! Me!

EMMA: “A little further on, the leading Highlander ”

“snuffed the wind like a setting Spaniel, ”

“and then made a signal to his party again to halt. ”

“He stooped down upon all fours, wrapped up in his plaid ”

- ”and advanced in this... -Look what I found, Mama.

-Ooh, look at that. -What shall I feed it?

EMMA: Let's ask Reverend Innes.

HOOKER: Franky?

-Oh, um... -FRANKY: What are you doing?

HOOKER: Franky, abort mission.

A leaf, I should think.

HOOKER: Try and...

Necrophorus humator, isn't he, Charles?

Rather a splendid specimen.

Yes, he is. He's a carnivore.

-He eats carrion and insects. - Mm.

Boys! We need carrion and insects!

-FRANKY: Let's turn it over. -ETTY: Look, here's a worm.

-LENNY: Yeah.. -ETTY: Here's a worm.

HOOKER: What's that?

-ETTY: Ew! -HOOKER: What is that?

-ETTY: An earwig! Squish it! -HOOKER: No, don't kill it.

-HOOKER: Don't kill it. -I know that expression.

EMMA: He's dreaming of his glory days

when he was unencumbered with wife and family.

EMMA: Free to wander the planet. HOOKER: Come along now.

-Actually, I was... -HOOKER: Uh, Franky?

I was remembering how the tropical seas teamed

with living particles that seemed to surround the Beagle

-with a luminous glow [Instrumental]

and leave a glistening pathway through the night.

[Pipette Clinking]

[Droplets Falling]

[Instrumental Continues]

[Birds Chirping]

DARWIN: Puzzling

So much beauty for so little purpose.

What you mean, so little purpose?

They were helping to light the ship's way.

Well said. Exactly.

John, are you familiar with the works of Thomas Malthus?

He married his first cousin, didn't he?

So did I.

Yes, but... [Clearing Throat] I, I wasn't suggesting that...

Of course you weren't.

Anyway, Thomas Malthus calculated that if,

well, if every trout, say, had a hundred or so offspring

and so on and so forth throughout the generations,

That we'd be knee-deep in trout in just a few decades.

How would you respond to that?

I'd respond to that by saying that most of the eggs are

destroyed or eaten so that the numbers remain stable.

That's the beauty of God's plan.

It doesn't strike you as

an exceedingly wasteful plan, these myriad lives created

only to be immediately extinguished?

They're providing food for others.

Cheese and cucumber?

DARWIN: Thousands, John. Thousands die so that only a few

may live. Is not the general sum total of happiness in some sort

of massive deficit?

Charles, it is really not my duty to speculate on the mind of

God, but it does seem to me that nature is at peace.

HOOKER: [Sighing] There is another view.

That all of nature is a battlefield.

Remind me where I read that.

Mm. This is very good.

EMMA: Good. Shall I continue?

Hm, please do.

EMMA: “In a short time, he returned, ”

“and dismissed his attendants, excepting one and intimating to ”

“Waverley that he must imitate his cautious way ”

[Rabbit Burrowing]

[Flies Buzzing]

[Insects Burrowing]

[Suspenseful Music]

[Maggots Crawling]

[Bird Screeching]

[Bird Screeching] [Bird Chewing Insects]

[Bird Screeching] [Birds Chirping]

[Bird Wings Flapping]

[Birds Chirping] [Bird Wings Flapping]

[Birds Nest Cracking]

[Baby Bird Chirping]

[Baby Bird Hitting Ground] [Baby Bird Chirping]

[Bird Chirping]

[Baby Bird Chirping]

[ Continues] [Blades of Grass Growing]

[Bird Decaying] [Insects Crawling]

[Insects Moving]

[Clock Ticking]

EMMA: “Now, thought Christian, 'What shall I do?"

“And ever and anon the flame and smoke ”

“Would come out in such abundance ”

“with sparks and hideous noises ”

“that Christian was forced to put up his sword ”

“and betake himself to another weapon called All Prayer. ”

Let us stop there.

ETTY: Is Papa not coming to kiss us goodnight?

EMMA: He is a little unwell from working.

Maybe tomorrow.

ETTY: You said that last night.

EMMA: There you go.

ETTY: I think when Annie died, he stopped loving us.

No, Etty. He's just a little bit tired and a little bit busy.

[Violin]

Goodnight, darling.

[Key Unlocking Box] [Latch Opening]

[Box Creaking Open]

[Mournful Music]

[Hand Stroking Hair]

What are you doing, Annie?

I'm making you beautiful.

But I need to think.

What are you so scared of?

It's only a theory.

No, they're right.

It changes everything.

Suppose the whole world stopped believing

that God had any sort of plan for us.

That nothing mattered. Not love, not trust.

Not faith, not honour.

Only brute survival.

Apart from anything else, it would break your mother's heart.

[Box Closing]

Hearts can't break, silly. You told me that.

Breathe in, Papa. Breathe out.

[Sighing] Tell me a story.

Alright. What about?

About Jenny.

It's late. I have no time.

Please?

[Waves Crashing] Why Jenny? It's so sad.

I like sad stories.

[Dog Barking]

Once upon a time, there was a family of orangutans living in

[Jungle Sounds] the deepest jungles of Borneo.

[Orangutans Rustling in Trees]

DARWIN: Their eldest daughter was the most loving

the most caring, and the most trusting

orang of all.

[Orangutan Climbing Trees]

DARWIN: But she was also the most...

Intelligent.

Well, I was going to say inquisitive.

[Laughing]

Did I neglect to mention she was not always

the most obedient of creatures?

[Crickets Chirping]

[Suspenseful Music]

[Wind Rustling]

[Branch Breaking] [Orangutan Falling to Ground]

[Ominous Drum Beating]

[Grass Rustling]

[Orangutan Squealing]

[Fruit Hitting Ground]

DARWIN: By the time she realized her danger, it was too late.

[Cheering]

[Rope Net Falling] [Birds Chirping]

DARWIN: They put her in a bag [Orangutan Squealing]

-and they carried her off to...

ANNIE: Much to her loving parents despair.

So sorry. Much to her loving parents' despair, of course.

[Waves Crashing]

And the Dayaks [Oar Paddling]

bundled her into a cage and set off to sell her down the river.

[Paddling]

They sold her to a trader for threepence, three farthings,

and he put her in a bigger cage and sold her to London Zoo

for 300 guineas. [Boat Creaking]

[Chimpanzee Squealing]

-She was the first orangutan -[Men Crowing]

that anyone had ever seen in England.

Everyone peered at Jenny, and Jenny peered back,

and she marveled at what strange creatures they all were.

The curators of the zoo, they... they cleaned her up

made her presentable for polite society.

Which was when I was first introduced to her.

[Cages Rattling]

[Orchestra Underscoring]

[Chimpanzee Jumping To Floor]

[Chimpanzee Footsteps]

[Bell Ringing]

-What is that, Jenny? -[Bell Ringing]

[Chimpanzee Sounds] [Playful Music]

[Footsteps Twirling]

[Falling to Ground] [Boot Stomping]

Continues]

[Chimpanzee Footsteps]

[Grabbing Pencil]

[Pencil Scratching]

[Pencil Scratching]

Continues]

[Harmonica Playing]

DARWIN: Oh, come on. [Harmonica Playing]

[Harmonica Playing]

[Harmonica Playing]

[Laughing] Bravo!

DARWIN: When eventually [Harmonica Playing]

it came time to say goodbye,

she grew quite downcast and refused to shake my hand.

Finally, she took it, but only after

I'd made her a promise I was never able to keep:

that I would visit her again very soon.

[Wind Blowing]

Go on. Tell me about the bit where she gets sick and dies.

Why do you want to hear that bit?

I like it. It makes me cry.

[Waves Crashing]

[Sorrowful Music Swelling]

[Waves Crashing]

[Door Opening]

Huxley is of the opinion that I should

write and be done with it. Says it's a question of

moral courage, or of... Or rather my lack of it.

Did you tell him about your health?

His theory is that I'm making myself ill

by holding back and that I should lance

the boil, so to speak and...

Thank the Lord he's no longer a surgeon.

[Hangers Clanking]

I have concluded that he's right You know, bite the gag.

Speed is everything.

It will all be over in a matter of months.

It is not mere months, nor even years nor decades

that concern me, Charles. [Sighing]

Do you really care so little for your immortal soul?

Charles? Do you not care

that you may never pass through the gates of heaven

and that you and I may be separated for all eternity?

Well, of course I care. Of course I do.

What do you think has kept me in limbo all these years?

I am a neuter bee.

I'm a scientist, and I, I dare not study for the fear

of seeing more clearly what is already as plain as day to me.

Do you not think that's torture enough?

I think you are at war with God, Charles.

We both know it is a battle you cannot win.

[Sighing]

[Children Laughing] ETTY: Franky! Here! Here!

DARWIN: Give me the ball!

EMMA: No, you cheated!

-Curse you, woman! -You cheated!

-Etty! -[Children Laughing]

[Children Chattering]

-FRANKY: Etty! -DARWIN: Etty, Etty, Etty!

[Playful Music]

Ah, stop! Etty!

[Family Playing]

[Footsteps]

Were you never married, Brodie?

Myself? No.

He went off to Australia. I missed my chance.

I shall never marry. I know how men give you babies.

I sincerely hope you do not, Annie Darwin!

[Footsteps Running]

Everybody step back and look at the rock.

If you look at it, really look at it,

it can take us back through time.

See these greyish, muddy layers? They were brought here by

quiet, patient, gentle rivers, whereas these dramatic

sandstone deposits are telling us of huge storms,

storms that came through here millions of years ago when

Aunt Sarah was just a little girl and Down Village was a

swamp full of dinosaurs.

What's a dinosaur?

Well, its a... it's a lizard that

Professor Owen invented them.

Well, he didn't exactly invent them.

They weren't real!

FRANKY: Yes, they were.

Annie, put some clothes on. You're going blue!

Look what I found! Spiny starfish!

Don't tell me.

[Seagulls Sounds]

Marthasterias gacialis, look!

Glacialis.

-[Sentimental] - Whoo! Whoo!

-[Sentimental Music Swells] -I am Fuegian!

Ah! I'm making custard!

Ah!

-[Sentimental Music]

ANNIE: He did, he told me!

INNES: It is not fair to the other children.

Nor to Annie herself, that her head...

ANNIE: My knee's really hurting!

INNES: that her head be filled with these ideas.

-ANNIE: But Daddy said! -EMMA: Hush.

-INNES: I will leave you to deal with the matter.

He did. He told me!

EMMA: Hush, I said.

INNES: Goodbye, Annie.

-ANNIE: [Crying] -What happened?

[Sniffling] Nothing.

To your knees. What happened to your knees?

Reverend Innes had to have words with her.

Well, words are all very well. I'm asking what happened

-to her knees? - Reverend Innes sent me to the

corner and made me kneel on rock salt. [Crying]

[Sobbing]

Why?

I said there were dinosaurs, and he said there weren't.

But there were, ‘cause you found them with Professor Owen!

Where's my coat?

Brodie, take her to the kitchen and find her something

-nice, will you? -Where's my coat?

[Footsteps] [Annie Sobbing]

He told her to kneel until she repented, so the marks are a

result of her own stubbornness. She contradicted him repeatedly.

Listen to yourself. Emma! How dare he torture our children

for expressing a plain and simple truth?

It is not the truth as he sees it.

Well, damn how he sees it!

[Sobbing]

Must our children be revolutionaries at nine

years of age?

He is teaching them to deny the evidence of their

-their own senses. -He is teaching them

no more than I have told them every night at bedtime.

It is the instruction of our parents and our grandparents.

It's what all of the village believe, or try to.

Charles, Reverend Innes is a dear friend and neighbour.

Please, do not set yourself against him.

I beg you.

[Clock Ticking]

[Birds Chirping]

For you. Not for him.

[Kissing]

CONGREGATION: All things bright and beautiful...

All creatures great and small...

All things wise and wonderful...

The Lord God made them all...

Let us pray.

[Kneeling]

[Coughing]

INNES: Lord God, we know the world is governed by Thy plan

extending to the merest creatures Thou hast made such

that even a sparrow falls not to the ground without Thy will.

Teach us that all misfortune, all sickness and death

all the trials and miseries of which we daily complain

are intended for our good, being not the whims

of an uncaring universe, but the corrections of a wise

and affectionate parent.

Teach us this in Thy name, O Lord. Amen.

CONGREGANTS: Amen.

[Benches Creaking]

The lesson today is taken from the Book of Genesis.

-Chapter one, verses 26 - Sorry.

to 30.

Excuse me. I'm so sorry.

“And God said, ”

DARWIN: Excuse me.

“Let us make man in our image, ”

- ”after our likeness. “ -CONGREGATION: [Murmuring]

“And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, ”

“and over the fowl of the air, and over all the cattle ”

“and over all the Earth, and over every ”

[Door Slamming] - ”creeping thing that creepeth ”

“upon the Earth. ”

[Earnest Music]

DARWIN: Dearest Emma, last night you said I was at war with God,

but truly it is nothing so dramatic as a war,

just a silent struggle with myself

extended over a thousand afternoons.

The loss of religious faith is a slow and fragile process,

like the raising of continents.

[Shears Clipping]

[Footsteps]

DARWIN: What can I say to you

except that the process now seems complete?

[Birds Chirping]

[Footsteps]

[Birds Chirping]

[Birds Chirping]

[Forest Animal Sounds]

[Badger Grunting]

[Crow Calling]

-[Sighing] -[Lonely Music]

[Footsteps In Leaves]

[Music Swells]

[Footsteps] [Twigs Snapping]

[Owl Hooting]

[Bird Wings Flapping]

[Catching Hat]

[Crouching in Leaves]

-What are we looking at? -Rabbit.

See the rabbit? [Forest Sounds]

[Music Continues]

[Suspenseful Drum Beating]

Stay very still.

[Suspenseful Music Builds]

[Fox Creeping]

[Fox Running] [Rabbit Screaming]

-ETTY: Make it stop. -[Fox Snarling]

-Quickly, Daddy, make it stop. -[Rabbit Screaming]

Quickly!

-Etty. Etty, darling.

-Daddy, make it stop. -Ssh. Darling girl.

-[Crying] -Dear girl. Dear sweet girl.

-[Kissing] It's not fair! It's not fair!

-[Crying] -I'm sorry.

-Not fair. -It's not fair.

-Etty, it has to be that way. -[Crying]

The fox has to eat the rabbit, otherwise the fox's

babies will die. It's the balance of things.

[Forest Sounds]

Come on, little duck. Give us a smile.

[Laughing]

[Piano Playing] [Children Laughing]

[Children Laughing]

DARWIN: Dear Hooker, I am finally decided.

I think I owe it to my children to at least have the courage of

my own convictions.

-[Pen Scratching] -My title will be

"On the Origin of Species", and I shall endeavour to keep

God out of it, although no doubt

he will see it as a personal attack.

-[Dramatic Music] - [Pen Clinking]

DARWIN: Nothing is easier than to admit the truth of the

universal struggle for life, or more difficult than to

constantly bear this in mind.

[Knives Chopping]

I shall devote my first chapter to variations under

domestication, wherein we will see how great is the power of

man in accumulating slight variations.

I will then pass on to see

how natural selection causes

much extinction

of the less improved

-forms of life. -[Music Continues]

[Nails Hammering]

[Washing Hands]

EMMA: Charles?

Yes?

What is Louis making?

Hes making a water

tower like the one they have

at Malvern.

The writings not been going well.

So I thought I might try my own water cure.

Youre still angry with me.

I can always tell by your playing.

Not angry, sad.

[Placing Book on Piano]

[Piano Playing]

[Piano Continues]

[Forceful Piano Playing]

[Piano Playing Continues]

[Water Pumping] [Piano Continues]

-Pull! -[Pulley Sounds]

-[Water Gushing] DARWIN: The face of nature

may be compared

to a yielding surface

with 10,000 sharp wedges

packed close together and then driven inwards

by incessant blows. [Water Gushing]

Sometimes one wedge being struck and then another with

great force. The mind cannot possibly grasp

the full meaning of the term

100 million years.

It cannot add up and perceive [Pen Scratching]

the full effects of many slight variations.

-DARWIN: We forget... Accumulate

how largely these songsters or their eggs or their nestlings

are destroyed by birds

and beasts of prey.

Thus, over tens of thousands

of generations, [Music Swells]

tiny variations accumulate,

-becoming extreme. -DARWIN: Organs

change their very function. [Wave Crashing]

The female's sexual organ

becomes a cement gland, limbs

become blowing feelers, or [Bird Screeching]

fall away entirely.

What was once a free swimming

creature finds itself

glued by its head to a rock,

blindly flailing for food.

ANNIE: Papa!

[Gasping]

[Clock Ticking]

[Sighing]

[Clock Ticking] [Sighing]

[Clock Ticking]

[Footsteps]

[Water Pouring]

[Ominous ] [Fire Crackling]

Why is sweating supposed to be good for you?

Because it gets rid

of the poisons in your blood.

I thought you didn't believe in sin.

I dont.

Not in the way Reverend Innes understands it anyway.

Then why are you afraid of going to hell?

I'm not.

Yes, you are.

You think you deserve it.

No, I dont. Of course I dont.

What could possibly make you think that?

Because you think you should

never have had me.

[Music Swells }

Oh, for Gods sake, girl.

I dont have to listen to this nonsense.

You're cruel.

You've just being cruel.

The girls gone mad. [Door Closing]

Thats why you won't talk to Mama anymore.

Enough of this. Enough of it.

I talk to her. Of course I talk to her.

Not about the important things.

-Not about me. -Youre so selfish, Annie.

Why must everything always be about you?

‘Cause that's what you won't talk to her about.

What?

About how you think you're responsible.

[Music Swells]

Get out of here.

You get out of here.

Get out of here.

You said honesty was the

most important thing

-in the world. -No!

-If you wont be honest then I -Get out!

wont come again. And itll serve you right!

Get out. [Music Swells]

Please. Get out.

[Door Opening]

Get out!

[Footsteps]

[Lamp Hitting Table]

[Sighing] You have not been well for months now.

I'll be fine. I'm fine.

Will you talk to John Innes?

What about?

Whatever it is that ails you.

What does he know exactly?

What is he? He's a physician. Is he?

Yes, a physician of souls, anyway.

[Sighing]

Talk to him as a friend.

You used to be such friends.

[Fire Crackling]

I think he can help you.

[Footsteps] [Melancholic Music]

[Indistinct Chatter]

INNES: You can have this one.

[Indistinct Chatter]

[Melancholic Music] [Birds Singing]

[Indistinct Chatter]

[Pigeons Warbling]

[Pigeon Wings Flapping]

[THATCHER: Mr. Darwin! Excuse me [Indistinct Chatter]

Little ‘un coming through! Ah, Mr. Darwin! [Laughing]

Mister, uh, I was just explainin to Mr. Goodman here about

your interest in breeding.

Oh, good. Excellent.

Mr. Goodman here is our foremost

pigeon fancier in all of Southern England.

I swear

he can give you any beak or plumage

within four generations. [Pigeon Wings Flapping]

DARWIN: Well, what's your secret, Mr. Goodman?

GOODMAN: The truth to tell,

I interbreed them.

Brother and sister.

Cousin with cousin.

Its the fastest way to alter the strain.

Of course, there's a danger that youll weaken it.

But a gentleman like yourself.

I'm sure you can afford to lose a few chicks, eh? [Laughs]

HOLLAND: Now plenty of rest, young lady.

Down you go.

Okay. Keep her warm.

Thank you, Doctor.

HOLLAND: Goodbye, Annie.

ANNIE: Goodbye.

[Footsteps]

Unfortunately, if we let them

run wild on the beach,

we have to expect the consequences.

Do we not, Mrs. Darling?

So increase the Calomel, I think twice daily.

No, I will not give her any more of it.

Why ever not?

She's been taking it for weeks.

Can you not see? She's not getting any better.

It is nothing but Chloride of mercury.

I have prescribed it often in babies.

No, Henry. Not to any of mine, you haven't.

If she would submit to being bled, Charles.

EMMA: Please.

No.

ANNIE: Brodie? Brodie?

I will write to Dr. Gully again.

The hydrotherapist?

I personally have found his treatments very effective.

No matter that they defy all sense of logic.

Well, logic isnt everything, Henry.

Clearly not.

I'll see myself out. Good day, maam.

Good day. [Footsteps]

[Door Closing]

I should take her to Malvern to be treated twice

daily as I was.

It is better shes here.

She needs her family.

She needs love and rest.

She'll get well.

[Dramatic Music]

One more week.

[Music Swells]

Well watch her for one more week.

All right?

Thank you.

[Clock Ticking] [Fire Crackling]

[Ominous Music]

[Music Continues]

[Scorpion Crawling]

[Picture Frame Lifting and Settling]

[Ominous Music Swelling]

[Creatures Moving]

ANNIE: Papa! Papa!

[Chair Crashing Backwards]

[Wind Blowing]

[Debris Flying] [Glass Clinking]

[Footsteps] [Leaves Blowing]

[Window Closing] [Curtains Drawing]

[Water Dripping]

Huh?

[Birds Squawking]

[Birds Chirping] [Wings Fluttering]

[Sighing] [Birds Shrieking]

[Glass Shatters] [Birds Shrieking]

[Screaming] [Bird Wings Fluttering]

[Peaceful Birds Chirping]

[Door Opening]

[Children Chattering]

EMMA: Fasten shoes. Please, children!

[Footsteps]

Post for you, sir.

This one's from the Spice Islands.

[Children Chattering]

[Opening Letter]

EMMA: Brodie! [Indistinct]

[Door Closing]

[Papers Rustling]

[Laughing]

[Papers Rustling]

[Laughing]

[Papers Rustling]

[Birds Chirping] [Ducks Quacking]

INNES: Charles.

Charles, my old friend, there you are.

May I join you?

Yes.

Yes, of course.

[Birds Chirping]

Mrs. Darwin has told me

about the book you're writing.

Uh, no. Not anymore.

Thank goodness.

You mean, you've finished it.

Well, it's been finished for me, actually.

A Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace

has arrived independently

at exactly the same opinion

expressed in a [Laughing] ...in a mere 20 pages.

Oh, theres brevity for you.

I had covered 250 so far

and come to a dead end.

So, whilst having wasted 20 years on the project,

I am at least rid of it.

Well.

[Birds Chirping]

Well, the Lord moves in mysterious ways.

Mm, yes, he does. Doesnt he?

You know, I was remarking

only the other day, how he has endowed us

in all of his blessed generosity with not one but

900 species of intestinal worm, each with its own unique method

of infiltrating the mucosa and burrowing through

to the bloodstream.

And on the love that he shows for butterflies

by inventing a wasp that lays its eggs

inside the living flesh of caterpillars.

I have said on many previous occasions

it is not for us to speculate at His reason.

Oh no, we can leave that to Mr. Wallace.

Shall I advise him to stay abroad, do you think?

With his opinions, if he shows his face around here

he may be required to kneel on rock salt.

I always valued our friendship.

Until now, I regarded you as one of those

rare mortals with whom one could

disagree and yet feel no shade of animosity.

Sadly, that feeling is no longer reciprocated.

[Dramatic Music]

[Sighing]

What?

lm forestalled by Wallace.

DARWIN: What have I done? What?

What possible, what possible reason could you have

to be angry at me?

[Dramatic Music Continues]

Annie?

Annie? Annie!

Come here. Come back here!

[Papers Flying]

You come back here now!

I am your father.

You, you come back here.

What? What did I do?

What did I do to you? What?

Annie! Come, come here. [Chicken Clucking]

Come back.

What did I do to you? Please.

[Dramatic Music Swelling] Annie, please..

Come here, Annie. Annie! Annie!

Come here.

[Animal Noises Screeching] [Continues]

[Water Boiling]

Get rid of them.

Get rid of all of them.

[Door Opening] [Bird Wings Flapping]

Out. Get out.

Get out.

Go! Come on!

Get out!

Go! Go!

[Ripping Wood] [Grunting]

Mr. Darwin. Mister, Mr. Darwin!

-No! -Mr. Darwin, Sir.

[Grunting] -Mr. Darwin, I will have

Lewis dismantle it, sir.

Now Mr. Darwin, I'll send for Dr. Holland.

God, no.

[Dramatic Music Swells]

God damn it. Damn it all to hell.

Mister Darwin?

Help me here, help me here! Sir?

[Game Clacking]

HOLLAND: So increase the calomel I think, to twice daily.

EMMA: Yes, of course.

HOLLAND: Keep him warm, plenty of rest.

[Wooden Game Clacking]

EMMA: Thank you.

[Footsteps]

I think Papas going to die, too.

[Fly Buzzing]

[Footsteps]

[Door Opening]

[Footsteps] [Door Closing]

[Footsteps]

Oh, hello. [Grunting]

Hello.

Still talking. That's, that's good. Word had reached

London youd suffered an apoplectic stroke.

Your enemies are celebrating

at the Atheneum.

I have no enemies.

[Papers Rustling] This is the Wallace letter?

Yes.

Well, he has 20 pages.

[Papers Hitting Table] You have a whole book,

or at least half of one. I intend to extract the other,

even if it kills us both. [Drawing Curtains]

Youve been talking to Huxley again?

No. Had I been talking to Huxley he'd be here himself with

a cat a nine tails.

Now, up you come.

No, Joseph, I cannot.

Honestly, I know not what ails me.

But its more than I can endure.

Bosh! You have had this illness as long as I have

-known you. -[Grunting]

True, its worse in times of overwork.

But it has nothing to do whatsoever with your soul,

-wherever that resides now. -[Grunting]

Go and get yourself treated.

Oh, I cannot.

Believe me, you do have enemies. And I'll bet that half the

nation would cheerfully see you burned at the stake

if they knew what you were writing.

But you have friends, too.

And all of us are fighting the same battle.

And we can win this in our lifetimes.

We have to win this. I implore you.

Go to Malvern, take your blessed water cure.

Come back and win it for us.

[Upbeat Music]

[Horses Trotting]

[Music Continues]

-[Sighing] She's nearly ready. -Thank God.

Thank you, Christopher move those quickly, please?

-I want to come with you. -No, Emma.

Malverns not so far.

-Parslow, please! -PARSLOW: Yes, sir. Coming!

Its two days by coach and train.

If the baby comes early, who will look after you?

They have doctors up there.

Your job is here with the children.

-They also need their father. -Brodie!

Sorry, Sir.

I can't care about the other children now.

I can only care about Annie.

BRODIE: Mind her shawl. Make sure its tucked in.

DARWIN: Good. Alright.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, little frog. -I made these for

-All right. - the journey, maam.

-Thank you. -Its Annies favourite.

Thank you.

You will see your Mama when youre well again.

-No! -Brodie? Get aboard.

-No! -Say goodbye now.

-I love you. -Brodie, get aboard.

-No! I cant! -I love you.

-I dont wanna say goodbye. -Say goodbye, now.

-All right. -No.

I'm going with you.

-I'm going with you. -Emma!

Wait there. Wait for me.

[Music Swells] [Footsteps]

-CHILDREN: [Crying] -DAVIES: [Indistinct]

CHILDREN: [Wimpering]

DARWIN: Go! Go now!

DRIVER: Walk on.

-[Carriage Moving] -DRIVER: [Indistinct]

[Crying]

[Children Crying]

[Crying]

[Sobbing] [Dramatic Music Continues]

[Footsteps] [Indistinct Chatter]

Mr. Darwin, old friend.

Mr. Darwin. How long has it been?

I haven't clapped eyes on you since...

Well....

So, what have we now?

What have we now, mm-hmm? Tongue?

Mm-hmm. Shirt up.

Let me feel your liver.

[Panting]

Right, up. Pulse hectic,

tongue furred, liver tender and enlarged.

And obviously, you've been exercising your brain every

hour that God gave you.

I have been writing a book.

Madness.

There are far too many of those already

You sleeping?

-Poorly. -Mm.

And I suppose never taking

the 50-C dilution of Chelidonium.

I had my carpenter build a water tower.

It no longer has any effect.

Well, of course not.

Your carpenter isn't a hydro therapist.

What on earth possessed you?

I feared I was dying.

Oh, come, come, come.

We shall not have that talk here. No.

Sharp spinal scrub,

cold douche daily at seven A.M.

And sweating by the lamp.

[Papers Rustling]

No red meat,

no reading, no mental

agitation of any kind.

We shall soon have you right, Mr. Darwin.

We shall soon have you right.

[Classical]

[Skin Scrubbing]

[Skin Scrubbing]

[Classical Music Swells]

[Body Thudding On Table]

Papa? I think Im feeling better now.

Honestly.

[Kissing]

[Water Falling]

[Heavy Water Falling]

[Water Falling Continues] [Continues]

[Water Falling Continues] [Continues]

[Continues]

Papa!

[Footsteps] [Water Falling Continues]

[Continues]

[Horses Trotting] [Footsteps]

Sir, I kneel before you In all humility.

If it is in your power God, to save her.

Then I will believe in you for the rest of my days.

Take me.

If you must take someone, but not her. She...

She's such a good little girl, you see. She...

I ask this in the name of your child and mine,

and then in the name of all children.

Thank you. Amen.

GULLY: With what do you most associate these symptoms?

Eating?

Strong emotion?

Physical exertion?

Any particular action?

Is... is memory an action?

Memory of what?

My daughter.

Of course.

You must accept there was nothing more to be done.

[Birds Chirping]

My dear fellow,

she is in heaven.

Yes. Thats what my wife believes.

It is a great consolation to her.

But not you?

She and I are divided on it.

Were you always?

No. Only since Annie died.

[Sorrowful Music]

[Horse Hooves Clomping]

DRIVER: Whoa!

[Continues]

INNES: Charles, Im... Im so

-Thank you. -very sorry about Annie.

Where is she?

In the Lady Chapel.

Thank you, thank you.

[Footsteps] [Continues]

EMMA: Allow her what she needs, I release her to you,

EMMA: to care for and protect. And I commit myself to pray,

EMMA: for everything.

[Continues] EMMA: [Indistinct Praying]

DARWIN: Since that time, she has sought refuge in

religion and, I ,in science.

GULLY: Has this division affected your marital relations?

We have none anymore

to speak of.

Perhaps thats for the best.

Meaning?

Our last baby

Baby, baby Charlie.

He barely survived beyond infancy and... [Crying]

Are you familiar with the writings of de Quincy?

Yes. I, Ive read him.

I have no time for the man.

He maintains that certain thoughts

can reside in our mind

without us being aware of them.

They then may manifest as boils,

and fainting spells,

and ghosts.

[Sentimental Music]

Thats, thats possible.

Annie is buried here

in Malvern, is she not?

Yes.

And have you yet visited the grave?

I really do not wish to discuss this.

-Of course. -I dont see what possible

bearing it has on my case.

Oh, I think it has every bearing.

Well, that is your opinion, Doctor.

Now, your treatments have been most effective.

I feel cured. [Door Opening]

I think not, sir. [Door Slamming]

I think you are not yet cured.

Do you have faith, Mr. Darwin?

What?

You say you take no comfort from religion.

But do you have faith?

Until you do,

all the waters in the world

will not be the cure of you.

[Door Opening]

[Footsteps]

[Continues] [Door Closing]

[Continues]

[Carriage Door Closing]

[Footsteps] [Indistinct Chatter]

[Horse Hooves Trotting] [Footsteps]

[Indistinct Mumbling]

[Footsteps]

[Horse Galloping Away]

Annie?

Annie?

Annie! [Footsteps Running]

Annie!

Annie!

Annie!

[Grunting]

[Footsteps Running]

[Carriage Driving Away]

[Continues]

[Footsteps]

[Door Opening] Hello?

[Footsteps]

Hello! [Door Closing]

[Footsteps] [Clock Ticking]

Hello.

Hello.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Im Mr. Darwin.

I lodged here some time ago.

Room number 12, wasn't it?

Yes, it was.

[Mournful Music Playing]

I would only be 10 minutes or so.

[Footsteps] [Key Jingling]

First floor.

Last room on the right.

Yes, I remember.

Thank you.

[Footsteps]

[Hurried Footsteps]

[Slower Footsteps]

[Hurried Footsteps]

[Key Opening Door]

[Door Closing]

I have the embrocation.

Does she want for anything else?

Oh, no, no. I'm sure that'll do admirably.

All right.

All right, little one.

Here we go.

Now, then. Just rub this on.

Hows that? Better?

Yes.

[Piano]

DARWIN: Dearest Emma,

I think it best for you to know

how each day passes.

Dr. Gulleys treatments are having some effects, at last

I will write again tomorrow,

-but in the meantime send you -DARWIN: Mr. Coates, the surgeon

-fondest love. -came today

to draw off Annie's water.

-Whisht, now. - DARWIN: This did not hurt her

-Now, so. [Indistinct Mumbling] -and seemed to give much relief.

-There. - DARWIN: I asked if there was

any immediate threat to her life

but he believes she has turned

the corner.

DARWIN: My Emma, Annie rallied yesterday.

For a moment.

I was foolish with delight.

But now, suddenly,

our dear child has taken

a turn for the worse.

This last attack was first

thought to be of the smallest importance,

but rapidly assumed the form

of a low and dreadful fever.

She talks a great deal,

but we can seldom

make out anything.

ETTY: Oh, no!

FRANKY: Look, Mama. Im a general.

[Children Playing]

Much of what she says we cannot make out

from the roughness of her poormouth.

We sponged her with water and vinegar.

There we are.

DARWIN: Made her sweet with chloride of lime.

Right?

DARWIN: Gully thinks our poor, sweet child

is in imminent danger.

That better, my darling?

Is that better?

Beautifully good.

Im making custard.

[Continues]

Darwin: My darling Emma, I miss you terribly.

More now than ever.

[Door Opening]

I often think of the precious looks Annie gives you.

[Footsteps]

You are always

the tenderest of human beings to her

and comfort her so on all occasions.

DARWIN: This dreadful alternation of hope

and no hope sickens the soul.

I fear we must prepare ourselves

for the worst.

[Wheezing]

Tell me about Jenny.

[Bed Creaking]

What about Jenny?

About,,, about how she died.

Please, Papa. I like it.

[Sighing]

Well, what the keeper told me was this.

When she was very sick

with pneumonia,

lying very still,

he tried to feed her with a spoon,

[Spoon Clinking]

DARWIN: but she shook her head and she

looked at him as if to say,

“That's very sweet of you, really. ”

“Were beyond that now. ”

And the keeper was much moved by

the gentleness of the little ape.

DARWIN: And as he bent down to comfort her,,

she brought her arms up around his neck,

[Kissing]

looked into his eyes

in the most human fashion,

and then she laid her

head against him

and died.

[Sorrowful Music]

DARWIN: Oh! [Sobbing]

[Chair Moving]

[Footsteps]

DARWIN: Oh!

[Sobbing]

[Crying] Oh, oh, oh. [Sobbing]

[Wailing]

[Crying] My darling girl, My darling girl!

Oh! [Music Swells]

Oh! [Crying]

[Continues]

[Carriage Rumbling]

[Horse Galloping]

[Heavy Rainfall] [Carriage Parking]

-PARSLOW: Sir?

[Piano Playing]

[Door Closing]

[Piano Playing Continues]

[Piano Playing Stops] Sorry.

So sorry I startled you.

Goodness, Charles.

Take off your coat, youre

-Emma? - dripping wet.

We need to talk.

I went back to Worcester Road.

I saw Annie.

[Footsteps]

[Gasping] You're hurting my arm.

I need to make you understand what happened to me.

I do not want to hear it.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

I really am.

Youre not listening, Emma.

And I need you to listen.

If you don't, you will never understand.

I understand perfectly.

Do you think that I'm deaf and blind?

You've lived with her

and you have spoken with her

every day since she died.

She's more real to you than we are.

She's dead, Charles.

-I know she's dead. -Shes dead!

What in God's name is wrong with you?

Why can you not leave our poor girl

in her grave?

Youre the one who wants to keep

her alive.

But on a cloud, dancing with little fairies,

I will not listen to this!

in a night-shift and snowy white wings.

Is that how her death was for you, Emma?

Something gutted of darkness?

Get away from me.

Away from you? Emma, there is a ghost

between us.

We're like some... some survivors of some shipwreck.

Yes, yes because of you!

Youve torn everything apart!

-How? How? -With your cruel

-How? -theories!

-[Door Slamming] -With the truth, Emma!

Just with the truth!

[Door Slamming] Open the door.

-Open the, open the door! [Banging On Door]

[Banging On Door] Open this door!

Open it! [Hitting Door]

-[Panting] -[Door Opening]

What do you want from me?

I want us to be honest with each other.

About what?

About this nagging belief

that you have nurtured.

That what?

That I killed her.

I never said that.

No, but you think it.

So you must say it.

And say everything else that follows,

that I should have kept her warm that day on the beach,

I should never have taken her to Malvern without you.

I should have waited for you, right?

I should have.

These are your thoughts, Charles.

They are not mine.

I was on the beach.

And I let you go.

I knew when you left for Malvern

that I would never see her again.

And I hated you.

I hated you for taking her, Charles.

But I was her mother.

And what was I thinking?

I could have insisted.

I should have followed you up there.

[Gasping]

I let her go.

[Sighing]

That's the truth.

And more than anything,

I have hated myself.

[Crying]

Perhaps...

EMMA: [Crying]

Perhaps we should never have married.

[Sobbing]

Our blood was too close.

[Sighing]

You see, Emma?

I thought that we were making the perfect child.

[Sighing]

But perhaps instead we endowed her with the

weakness that killed her.

I just...

wanted to be with you so very much.

[Rainfall Continues]

The fact of it is,

knowing everything I now know,

I would marry you again tomorrow, my love.

[Soft Music]

[Sniffing]

[Sniffing]

[Violin]

[Crying]

[Continues]

[Continues]

[Continues]

[Piano]

[Continues]

[Continues] [Birds Singing]

[Hopeful Music]

[Keys Jingling]

[Unlocking Box]

[Opening Box]

[Music Swells]

DARWIN: The affinities of all beings at the same class have

sometimes been represented by a great tree.

The green and budding twigs may represent existing species,

and those produced during each former year,

may represent the long succession of extinct species.

So I believe it has been with the great tree of life

which fills with its dead and broken branches,

the crust of the earth while covering the surface

with its ever branching... DARWIN: The frameworks of bones,

being the same in the hand of a man,

wing of a bat, fin of a porpoise,

and leg of a horse,

at once explain themselves on the theory of descent with

slow and slight successive modifications.

DARWIN: It is interesting to contemplate

an entangled bank clothed with many plants,

of many kinds with birds singing on the bushes,

with various insects flitting about and with worms

crawling through the damp earth,

and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms so

different from each other and dependent

upon each other in so complex a manner,

have all been produced by laws acting around us.

[Chair Creaking]

EMMA: “I felt something alive, moving on my left leg... ”

“which advancing gently forward of my breast, ”

“came almost up to my chin and bending my eyes downwards ”

“as much as I could, I quivered. ”

Hello.

Hello.

I was wondering if I might...

might take over?

[Book Closing]

[Kissing]

[Footsteps]

All right. [Sighing] Where were you?

[Opening Book]

“I perceived it to be a human creature. ”

“Not six inches high. ”

ETTY: Not the book.

Please.

A true story.

Like you did with Annie.

[Sentimental]

[Book Closing]

All right. Let me think.

Did I ever tell you about my riding with gauchos?

Yes.

-Yes. -Yes. Yes.

Or the time our ship was struck by St. Elmo's Fire?

-Yes. -Yes.

My attempt to climb the Andes?

CHILDREN: Yes, yes.

Earthquakes?

Yes.

BOYS: Yes.

Tidal waves?

Really?

I did?

CHILDREN: Yes. Yes.

Goodness gracious.

I think I've told you everything.

And yet I fancy I have never told you

about the giant sloth of Punta Alta.

-No. -BOYS: No.

All right, then.

Millions and millions of years ago in a rich and verdant land

that we now call Argentina,

there lived a mammal,

there lived a mammal

as large as an elephant, as gentle as a lima,

and as slow as an incredibly slow snail.

[Kissing]

And he lived a happy life,

watching the slow, green march of the passing seasons.

[Birds Calling]

[Clock Ticking]

[Piano Playing]

[Sighing]

Ive finished.

Ive finished.

[Piano Playing Stops]

[Sighing]

You decide.

About what?

Well, about what should be done with it.

Someone needs to take God's side in all of this.

And much rather it was you than Innes.

Supposing I think it should be destroyed?

Well,

then you must do what you think is right.

Read it first.

[Footsteps]

[Orchestra]

[Page Turning]

[Continues]

[Pocket Watch Rattling]

[Door Opening]

[Continues]

[Continues]

[Teacup Placed on Table]

[Continues]

[Birds Singing]

[Pocket Watch Rattling]

[Bonfire Crackling]

Emma?

[Ducks Quacking]

Well, you said it was my decision.

[Bonfire Crackling]

[Leaves Rustling]

Emma.

Where, where are you going?

[Sighing]

To John Murray Publishers.

Do I have it right?

Yes.

[Gentle Music]

And so, you have finally made an accomplice of me.

[Music Swells]

May God forgive us both.

[Footsteps]

[Chickens Clucking]

[Horse Hooves Clomping]

Good morning, Jim.

Morning, Mr. Darwin, Sir.

That parcel for me?

Yes. Yes, it is.

[Placing Parcel in Basket] [Smacking Parcel]

DARWIN: Thus from the war of nature,

from famine and death,

the most exalted object we are capable of conceiving,

namely the production of higher animals,

directly follows.

There is grandeur in this view of life,

that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according

to the fixed law of gravity,

from so simple a beginning endless forms,

most beautiful and most wonderful have been

and are being evolved.

[Children Playing] [Dog Barking]

ETTY: George. George! George!

[Dog Barking] [Birds Chirping]

[Children Playing]

FRANKY: Etty! [Indistinct]

GEORGE: Etty!

ETTY: Mama?

[Continues]

[Continues]

[Orchestra]

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