The Rainbow (1988) s01e01 Episode Script
Ghosts
1 I've been rained on before.
Co'up, lass! There's a wetness in the night.
There'll be no volcanoes after this! Hey, Jack.
My beautiful, slender young fella.
Which one of us is Noah? Dashed if the jumping rain wouldn't make a body feel they was drunk.
Tom? Tom? There's no more rain on this earth than there was a thousand years ago.
And no less, either.
Can't wear water out.
It turns to clouds and falleth as rain on the just and the unjust.
The Brangwens have lived at Marsh Farm above 200 years.
This seems such a little space of time in the whole history.
Even now, I am 200 years Brangwen and only 16 years Ursula.
Birth and death seem so tiny before the vast horizon of the great past.
And even love seems as great a waste of human energy as my grandfather's drowning, or my grandmother's grief, calling to him across the rushing water.
Tom! I was eight when my grandfather died.
Ursula.
Why are you awake so early? Just funny.
They thought I was awake, but I wasn't.
Close the curtains, you'll awaken the others.
I wish you wouldn't touch my head when I'm sleeping, Gudrun.
- I don't touch your head.
- You do.
Sometimes, you stretch out and touch my head.
Gives me bad dreams.
I'm going back to sleep.
Hope it doesn't rain today.
# Is now, and ever shall be # World without end Amen Here beginneth the first verse of the sixth chapter of the book Genesis.
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, "and daughters were born unto them, "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, "and they took them wives of all which they chose.
" Who were the sons of God? - "My spirit shall not always" - Was Jesus the only son? - "that he also is flesh" - Couldn't have been.
- "yet his days shall be" - The first man was Adam.
There must have been others.
There must have been other men who were not descended from Adam, but who came from God himself.
Ah.
They wouldn't have been put out of the Garden of Paradise.
- "and they bare children" - They must have stayed.
The daughters must have come from Adam and Eve.
And "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, " - "God saw that the wickedness of man" - Must have looked over the fence at them.
- "and that every imagination of thought" - Wish I were fair.
Maybe I could dye my hair when I grow up.
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, "and it grieved him at his heart.
" Ow! - Sh! - Billy Pillins got my hair.
"whom I have created from the face of the earth, "both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, "for it repenteth me that I have made them.
" Well, see you soon.
- You won't pull my hair again, Billy.
- Why shan't I? - You won't, because you dursna.
- You come here, see if I dursn't.
- Stop it! - Sorry, broad arse.
You're Gypsies! You've got long hair.
Leave them alone! - Ignore them! - You're not everybody, Urtler Brangwen! - Broad arse! - Ugly mug! - Well, I'm better than you are, for all that! - Yeah, you think? Ursula! Come in here immediately! - Ugly toad! - Fraser! Katie! - Great big fatty! - Broad arse! I will not have it! Fighting right outside the church on Sunday! - Wait till your father hears about this! - We didn't start it.
Fighting and shouting at common lads! Why do we send you to grammar school? Why do we throw our money away for you and Gudrun to go to Nottingham, so you can come back and rake the roads of the village with the commonality? It's not my fault, Mother.
- You stop it and the rest will stop it.
- Why do I always get the blame? Don't answer me back.
I will not have it.
Do you hear me? I will not have it.
Don't you walk away from me when I'm speaking to you, madam! I thought you had finished.
You are the most selfish, lazy, careless, impudent girl! People who love me don't think that.
My grandmother doesn't think that.
Your grandmother doesn't have to live with you.
"Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat "High in her chamber up a tower to the east "Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot.
" Ursula! Our Ursula! Oh, God, I will go mad! - It's locked, it's locked! - Ursula! Our Ursula! Mother, she won't answer.
She's dead! I'm not dead! Go away! - Open the door, our Ursula! - What do you want? Ursula? What are you doing to the children? What are you doing? - Why did you lock the door? - Were you hiding from a giant? No! I was hiding from the midgets! I wanted peace! - What are you doing? - Looking for a quiet place.
Little noisy in here.
Ugh, I'm never going to find anywhere I can be alone.
Why don't you go to the parish room? Ursula! - Where's our Ursula? - She's gone out.
Go away.
"Leaving her household and good father "Leaving her household and good father, climbed "That eastern tower, and barred her door" "Stript off the case, and read "Stript off the case, and read the naked shield "Now guessed a hidden meaning in his arms "Now made a pretty history to herself "Of" It's Uncle Tom! I'm a soldier! You were a curly-headed little lad.
Was I? Yes, I know, they were very proud of my curls.
And you were a very well-mannered lad, I remember.
Oh, did I ask you to stay the night? I always used to ask people to stay the night.
I believe it was very trying for my mother.
Aha.
Hello, Uncle Tom.
And this is Anton Skrebensky.
Baron Skrebensky's son, your grandmother's friend from Poland.
We went to visit them in Yorkshire a long time ago.
When we were all much younger.
And no, you didn't ask us to stay the night.
Are you from Poland? No, no, I was brought up in England.
My mother was English.
Only my father was Polish.
- Was? - They're both dead.
Oh.
Are we taking you away from your studies? Oh, no, Uncle Tom.
She won't wait to be taken away.
I brought you something.
From Venice.
Oh, Uncle Tom! It's beautiful.
Don't you like study? I like some things.
I like Latin.
And French.
And grammar.
I don't.
They say all the brains of the army are in the engineers.
I think that's why I joined them.
To get the credit of other people's brains.
I don't think brains matter.
And what does matter, then? It matters whether you have courage or not.
Courage? For what? For everything.
Everything's nothing.
She doesn't practise what she preaches.
She has courage for mighty little.
Do you like being in the army? I like it well enough.
It reminds me of school.
- I was very happy at school.
- Oh, were you? How lucky.
I much preferred school to the vicarage.
- The vicarage? - My home.
Was your father a vicar? I thought he was a baron.
- I thought you were going to help me! - I'll help you tomorrow.
My workshop's in a terrible state.
You left the door open! I don't know why he gets angry with me.
I didn't wreck his parish room.
He loves you.
He loves you more than any of us.
So he gets angry sometimes.
- Strange.
- What? Love.
If I fall in love, it'll be in the spring.
You know Grandfather proposed to Grandmother in a field of daffodils.
No, he didn't.
He proposed in the vicarage kitchen.
Well.
He brought her a bunch of daffodils he picked himself.
Tilly saw it.
She watched him pick them in the orchard.
Tilly says, when the wind's in the right direction, at a certain time of evening, she can still see him, walking through the orchard, picking daffodils.
- That's silly.
- No, it isn't.
It means that every season, he comes back.
People keep coming round again.
When the daffodils are in the orchard, Grandfather appears.
Granny says the same.
I don't believe in ghosts.
It's a trick of light.
Oh, I do.
Hello, Uncle Fred.
Go on! Go on! Go on.
Grandmother's expecting you.
- How is she? - Talking Polish again, so Tilly says.
- Where are you going? - Taking calves into t'byre.
- Can I help you? - If you like.
- Hello, Tilly.
- Sh.
Oh, what pretty flowers.
Such a darling little bunch! This is just how the peasants tied them at home.
Just such tight little bunches.
They weave the stalks and make wreaths for their hair.
When I was a little girl, I had golden hair.
And I had a wreath of little blue flowers.
Oh, so blue.
They came after the snow was gone.
Andrey, the coachman, used to bring me the very first.
Why do you have two wedding rings, Grandmother? Because I had two husbands.
Which was my grandfather's ring? This grandfather whom you knew? - Hm.
- This was his ring.
The red one.
The yellow one was your real grandfather's, whom you never knew.
Which grandfather did you like best? I liked them both.
Anna? Is that you? No, Grandmother.
It's me, Ursula.
Oh, Ursula! How nice to see you.
Oh, thank you! - Hope I didn't wake you.
- No, no.
I sleep too much.
And I don't like to.
- I have such dreams.
- Oh, I have dreams, too.
- What do you dream about? - The past.
My family.
Do you ever dream about Poland? Mm not about Poland, no.
About my mother and father, when I was a child.
And how my mother used to cry a lot because my father sold the woods and forests, to have money to jingle in his pocket.
So that he could go to Kiev, Warsaw, Paris.
I wish I had money.
Money won't make you happy.
No, but if I had money I could be free.
Is it so bad? Yes! I think you're very lucky, Grandmother.
- Lucky? - To have come from so far and to have had two husbands.
Oh, I see.
Well, you must be patient with life, Ursula, not rush through it.
Things will come to you.
Do you think that anyone will ever love me? Oh, we all love you, my dear.
But when I'm grown up.
Will somebody love me? Yes.
Some man will love you, because it is your nature, Ursula.
I hope it will be somebody who will love you for what you are and not for what he wants of you.
We have a right to what we want.
You must never be afraid of that.
Oh.
Oh, they're coming.
We're a little late.
I'm afraid it's my fault.
You're not late.
We weren't going anywhere.
Where have you been? - Just now? - Mm.
We went to Derby to see a friend of my father's.
- Oh, who? - Why, he's a clergyman.
He's my guardian.
One of them.
Mrs Lensky, my father always said you'd look like a girl when you were 60.
My dear child! I passed 60 some time ago.
And no one has called me Mrs Lensky for years.
But you look more like Mrs Lensky than Mrs Brangwen.
You have your father's charm.
Thank you.
How did you know Baron Skrebensky, Grandmother? Our estates were close by him.
I knew him when he was young.
Huh.
He was very dashing.
- And so generous.
- Was he? Why did he come to England? Was he a patriot too? He felt very strongly about being a Pole.
He never talked to me about that.
I think my father found it different.
He came here expecting to be treated like an aristocrat.
But he wasn't.
He was treated like a vicar and a foreigner.
It's very hard, when you have lost so heavily.
It's very hard to live again.
I think life is hard, if you make unreasonable demands on it.
What sort of demands? I think order is more important than liberty.
And duty is more important than rights.
- Do you? - The rights of man are a nonsense.
Hm.
You mustn't be angry with your father.
I'm not angry.
- Won't you have tea with us? - My teeth, I can't eat anything.
Have you ever been in Poland? No.
My father's estates were confiscated many years ago.
So I don't suppose there's anything to go back to.
- To see where your people come from? - No.
It belongs to the past.
- Where's your home now? - My home? I wonder.
I'm very fond of my colonel, Colonel Hepburn.
Then there's my aunt.
But my real home, I suppose, is the army.
Do you like being on your own? I suppose so.
I went away to school when I was nine, so the outside world was always more naturally a home to me.
I don't know why.
Do you feel like a bird blown out of its latitude? Oh, no.
I find everything very much as I like it.
Are you very rich? I have about 150 a year of my own, so I am rich or poor, as you like.
You're not poor, are you? You will earn money.
Well, I shall have my pay.
I have my pay now, I've got a commission that's another 150.
You will have more, though.
I shan't have more than £200 a year for ten years.
I shall always be poor if I have to live on my pay.
I should very much like to earn money.
- Do you mind it? - What? - Being poor.
- Not now.
Not much.
I may, later.
People, the officers, are good to me.
Colonel Hepburn has a sort of fancy for me.
- He is rich, I suppose.
- Is Colonel Hepburn married? Yes.
He has two daughters.
You look very lazy.
I am lazy.
- You look really floppy.
- I am floppy.
- Can't you stop it? - No.
It's perpetual motion.
You look as if you hadn't a bone in your body.
That's how I like to feel.
I don't admire your taste.
That is my misfortune.
Damn it, what is wrong with you? - Men don't rock themselves.
- Girls don't pull men's hair.
Gudrun! Um, we've got an absentee.
We were waiting for you.
- I'm going to Derby again on Thursday.
- Oh, I have school on Thursday.
- After school.
- That would be lovely.
Aha! Oh! Go! What shall we do now? I know.
What about the carousel? - Would you like one of those? - No, I don't mind a ride.
Oh, let's go on the carousel.
- Come on.
- Hey! Oh, let's dance.
Do you know the difference between a Gothic arch and a round one? - No.
- Well.
A round arch is a bow.
It has its roots in the earth but reaches endlessly to heaven.
And it signifies eternity.
Whereas a Gothic arch is broken.
It never reaches eternity or the infinite.
And it signifies human aspirations.
Because we never quite reach heaven.
That's ingenious.
My father studies church architecture.
He says that Gothic arches are beautiful and sad.
I prefer the bow, because it's eternal and changeless.
Shall we go? I don't think human aspirations have anything to do with reaching heaven.
What have they to do with, then? As long as the average man can feed his little child, clothe his wife, live in his own house, and work for his own living, He's happy.
Yes, but what would make you happy? It's not my personal happiness that's important.
It's the happiness of the nation as a whole.
Oh.
We'll just look in and say good night, and I'll walk you home.
The moonlight does such strange things to the countryside.
When you come back, you won't be able to see at all.
Why not? The moon will be behind you.
I came to ask you if you'd marry me.
You are free, aren't you? Sh! Put that down! Come here.
Ohhh! I'm bathing in the sea, Mother.
Oh, aren't the children in bed yet, Mother? - They'll be in bed in half an hour.
- There's no peace.
The children have to live, Ursula.
Why should I fight you with your gown, Cassie? You killed all my soldiers! Haven't you any homework? Near the end of term, I don't get so much.
When are you off again, Anton? - Oh, Friday.
- Oh, let's go to the parish room.
Ah, I meant to show you my little wood carving.
I'm sure it's not worth showing that.
My father's done some carvings too.
His are better.
Come.
Coming? Do you want an apple or a glass of milk? - Apple and a glass of milk! - Oh! What is this place? It's my father's workshop.
He spends hours here.
Doing what? Everything.
Some of the village boys come in the evening and they teach us in handicrafts.
Before my father and mother were married, he was making a carving of Adam and Eve.
And then one day, after they were married for a time, he burnt it.
Why? I don't know.
I wish my father was more than he is.
If I had a father as he ought to be, he would be Earl William Brangwen and I should be Lady Ursula.
What right have I to be poor? If I had my rights I should be seated on horseback in a green riding habit.
And my groom would be behind me.
And I should stop at the gates of the cottages and enquire of the woman who comes out with a child in her arms - how did her husband - Stop talking nonsense.
Some women are made for talking.
And some for making love.
You are made for making love.
Am I not intelligent? Do you think Miss Inger's pretty? Maud doesn't think so.
- I'm not sure.
- No, I don't.
I think she's very handsome.
Come along, Urtler Brangwen.
I'll race you.
I won! I won.
I didn't see you come in.
- I enjoyed our race, did you? - Yes.
I won't be long.
Your hair is so beautiful.
Thank you.
My father was a classical scholar and a clergyman.
He was rather a progressive thinker, as far as women are concerned.
So I was allowed to study science at Newnham.
- I should love to go to college.
- Oh, you must.
- You make a very good student.
- Do you think so? Yes.
I do.
Education is the bridge for women to independence.
I believe that Jesus died for me.
He suffered for me.
But I don't believe in his humanity.
I don't believe he was just a man, living an ordinary life.
It's only vulgar people who insist on the humanity of Christ.
Jesus is of another world.
I don't be in a Jesus who'll thrust his bloody wounds into my face and say, "Look, Ursula Brangwen, I got these for you.
"Do as you're told!" No.
No, Jesus is Jesus is like the moon, shining in the distance.
Beautiful and remote.
You don't believe, do you? I just don't think it I just don't believe every hair of my head is numbered.
I think my own things belong to me and I can do as I like with them, as long as I leave other people's things alone.
Mm, I adore chocolate cake! Would you like some? Oh, taste it, please.
I do so love tea.
I hate dinner.
I could eat cakes all the time.
Aren't you hungry? Oh, have one.
- I don't like cheese.
- Don't you? I love it.
- I'm going back to my regiment.
- Oh, excuse me.
Could you bring some other kind of sandwiches? We don't like cheese.
And also, two glasses of that rather nice Rhône wine.
- You will have a glass, won't you? - I don't want any.
Oh, er Just just one glass.
You can have some of mine.
No, you can't apply the everyday world to the world of God.
It's not literal, how could it be? It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven.
Well, does that mean we have to go around, giving away our two cows, mother's jewellery, the capital at the bank, to the labourers of the district? Cos if it does, well I'll just forego Heaven.
What's the matter? - I've brought you something.
- Oh, what is it? A parting gift.
Anton.
How beautiful.
Oh, I'm so happy.
It's such a lovely day.
Thank you.
Now We each must drink till it's finished.
To us.
I'll wear it on a ribbon around my neck.
Next to my heart.
I wanted to kiss him.
To take him in my arms and hold him.
But I could only touch his hand.
Goodbye.
Everything happens so quickly.
And the moments pass.
Except my grandmother says that nothing that has been ever really goes away.
Summer, the leaves on the trees.
Love.
I could never die while there's a tree.
"Dear Anton, "The sunshine has come out especially for your birthday.
"I made the cake myself "and wish you many happy returns of the day.
"Don't eat it if it is not good.
" That looks nice.
I'd have helped you with the icing if you'd asked me.
Why, what's wrong with it? It's very nice.
"Mother hopes you will be able to get leave for Uncle Fred's wedding.
"I am your sincere friend, Ursula Brangwen.
" Shut up, Cinna.
Shut up! That's a fine scythe, Fred.
- Where you off to? - To the station.
Ursula's going to have tea with her teacher.
Her teacher? Didn't know you were so fond o' lessons.
It's not a lesson, it's a social invitation.
I hope some of it rubs off.
Oh, I nearly forgot.
Mother said to tell Auntie Laura - I know you're not married yet, but I think of her as me aunt already - tell Auntie Laura the bridesmaid dresses are ready for the fitting.
Aye, all right.
- Have a good day.
- Bye.
Bye-bye.
- What train back will you get? - I'll get the last one at ten o'clock.
There's no point in me going if I have to come back early.
- Well, I'll meet your train.
- No, there's no need.
I'll still meet your train.
Human desire is the criterion for all truth and all good.
But how can we trust our desires? It's not as simple as it sounds.
If we say what we desire is good, what is good is what makes us happy, pain is the only evil.
Oh, but if I fall in love, that is good, that gives me pleasure.
Yes.
And absence from the person I love causes me pain.
Exactly, so we must educate our desires.
Oh, how can I do that? Yo must avoid pain.
The absence of pain is itself a pleasure.
Oh! There are two possible paths open to us, as I see it, which lead to personal happiness.
The first is through emotional relations with others, or another, and the second is through knowledge.
Now, both can lead to personal happiness, but the presence of pain is greater on the first path than on the second.
And the second path offers independence.
Are you saying that I should not love in order to avoid pain? Well, that seems such a cowardly way to live.
And so dull.
I don't want a quiet life, I want a passionate, vigorous life.
But an intellectual excitement isn't cowardly, especially when men offer so little.
A man doesn't come to know me, he comes to an idea of me.
Love is a dead idea.
They go to women to abuse themselves.
They do not come to discover themselves.
It is better to remain neutral than to be used in such a way.
Have you known many men? I do not think it is possible to find happiness with men.
Why are you so nervous? Anybody'd think you were getting married.
- I'm chief bridesmaid.
- Well, I hope it makes Uncle Fred happier.
He's cross all the time.
He's so cross, he even shouts at the dog.
You should hear him in the field sometimes.
"Woof! Woof!" "Oh, shut up, Cinna.
" - "Shut up, Cinna!" - That's enough, Gudrun.
Isn't it lovely, having a summer wedding? You got married at Christmas, didn't you, Mother? 23rd of December, day before Christmas Eve.
Your grandfather came and stood outside our window - and serenaded us with carols.
- On your wedding night? Shepherds with their flocks abiding.
He was drunk, of course.
I shall never forget it, he gave us the fright of our lives.
and a man and a woman make an angel.
Mm-hm.
There he is at last.
I'm so glad you could come.
- I have until tomorrow morning.
- Splendid.
The real celebration's this evening.
You look like a wood nymph.
Do you like to be a soldier? I'm not exactly a soldier.
They only do things for war.
- Yes.
- Would you like to go to war? Yes.
It'd be very exciting.
But what would you be doing if you went to war? I shall be making railways or bridges.
Would you only make them to be pulled down again when the armies are done with them? - It seems just as much a game.
- If you call war a game.
What is it, then? It's about the most serious business there is, fighting.
Why is fighting more serious than anything else? Because you either kill or get killed.
But but when you're dead, you don't matter any more.
But the result matters.
It matters whether we settle the Mahdi or not.
I don't care about Khartoum.
But you have to have room to live in.
Somebody has to make room.
But I don't want to live in the Sahara desert.
- Do you? - Well, I don't.
- But you have to back up those who do.
- Why? Where is the nation if we don't? I don't want to be the nation, I want to be myself.
- You couldn't be yourself without a nation.
- Why not? - You'd be a prey to everybody and anybody.
- How? - They'd take everything you've got.
- Good.
They can take what they like.
I'd rather have a robber who carried me off than a millionaire who'd give me all I asked for.
- That's because you're a romanticist.
- Yes, I am.
I want to be a romanticist.
I hate soldiers, they're all so stiff and wooden.
- What do you fight for, really? - I fight for the nation.
Ah, for all that, you aren't the nation.
What would you do for yourself? I belong to the nation and must do my duty by it.
No.
Seems to me as if you weren't anybody, as if there weren't anybody there.
Are you anybody, really? You seem like nothing to me.
Farewell, St George, tha's had thy fun! A doctor, a doctor! Or I am done! - Doctor, doctor! Do come.
- In comes I, the doctor.
To salve you of all pain.
I hate to see you riff-raff.
Down thy tiff-taff.
Rise up, St George, and fight again! - Hip, hip! - Hooray! # There's four on us here # Our night is gone # And we've come for to tell of a man # His name was St George # The champion of old And we've told you the best that we can Do you remember this cornfield, Will? I do.
You proposed to me here.
At harvest time.
When the sheaves were lying on the stubble.
I said, "We'll get married soon.
" And you said, "I want to go home.
" Did I say that? What is it? I was just thinking Father isn't here.
How it seems so unfair.
Show me the man in the moon, Grandpa! Where, Grandfather? Where? On, gentlemen! Let's go! Don't you like me, Ursula? Don't you like me any more? Would you like to dance? Theresa.
Coming, Mother.
Time for bed.
Go on, take them indoors now.
Go.
Where are we going, Ursula? # Come write me down, ye powers above # The man that first created love # For I've a diamond in my eye # Where all my joys and comforts lie# - Let me come with you.
- # Where all my joys and comforts lie # Let me come.
# I'll give you gold, I'll give you pearl # If you can fancy me, dear girl # Rich costly robes that you shall wear # If you can fancy me, my dear - # If you can fancy me, my dear # - Kiss me, Anton.
# So to church they went that very next day # And were married by asking, as I've heard say # And now that girl, she is his wife # She will prove his comfort - # Day and night # - How proud you are.
She will prove his comfort day and night "In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, "the 17th day of the month, "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up" "and the windows of heaven were opened.
"And the rain was upon the earth - "40 days and 40 nights.
" - Drop o' water, yeah? I wonder if I'm the just or the unjust.
Aaaah! Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom! "'I will establish my covenant with you.
"'Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood "'Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
' "And God said, 'This is the token of the covenant "'which I make between me and you "'and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.
"'I do set my bow in the cloud, "'and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
"'And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, "'that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.
"'And I will remember my covenant, "'which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh "'And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
"'And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it"' - Anton.
- What? "' I may remember the everlasting covenant"' - Where are you? - Here.
"' between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
"' Don't leave me.
Come back to me.
Yes.
"'This is the token of the covenant"' You will come back to me? - "' which I have established between"' - Yes.
"' me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
"'
Co'up, lass! There's a wetness in the night.
There'll be no volcanoes after this! Hey, Jack.
My beautiful, slender young fella.
Which one of us is Noah? Dashed if the jumping rain wouldn't make a body feel they was drunk.
Tom? Tom? There's no more rain on this earth than there was a thousand years ago.
And no less, either.
Can't wear water out.
It turns to clouds and falleth as rain on the just and the unjust.
The Brangwens have lived at Marsh Farm above 200 years.
This seems such a little space of time in the whole history.
Even now, I am 200 years Brangwen and only 16 years Ursula.
Birth and death seem so tiny before the vast horizon of the great past.
And even love seems as great a waste of human energy as my grandfather's drowning, or my grandmother's grief, calling to him across the rushing water.
Tom! I was eight when my grandfather died.
Ursula.
Why are you awake so early? Just funny.
They thought I was awake, but I wasn't.
Close the curtains, you'll awaken the others.
I wish you wouldn't touch my head when I'm sleeping, Gudrun.
- I don't touch your head.
- You do.
Sometimes, you stretch out and touch my head.
Gives me bad dreams.
I'm going back to sleep.
Hope it doesn't rain today.
# Is now, and ever shall be # World without end Amen Here beginneth the first verse of the sixth chapter of the book Genesis.
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, "and daughters were born unto them, "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, "and they took them wives of all which they chose.
" Who were the sons of God? - "My spirit shall not always" - Was Jesus the only son? - "that he also is flesh" - Couldn't have been.
- "yet his days shall be" - The first man was Adam.
There must have been others.
There must have been other men who were not descended from Adam, but who came from God himself.
Ah.
They wouldn't have been put out of the Garden of Paradise.
- "and they bare children" - They must have stayed.
The daughters must have come from Adam and Eve.
And "the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, " - "God saw that the wickedness of man" - Must have looked over the fence at them.
- "and that every imagination of thought" - Wish I were fair.
Maybe I could dye my hair when I grow up.
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, "and it grieved him at his heart.
" Ow! - Sh! - Billy Pillins got my hair.
"whom I have created from the face of the earth, "both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, "for it repenteth me that I have made them.
" Well, see you soon.
- You won't pull my hair again, Billy.
- Why shan't I? - You won't, because you dursna.
- You come here, see if I dursn't.
- Stop it! - Sorry, broad arse.
You're Gypsies! You've got long hair.
Leave them alone! - Ignore them! - You're not everybody, Urtler Brangwen! - Broad arse! - Ugly mug! - Well, I'm better than you are, for all that! - Yeah, you think? Ursula! Come in here immediately! - Ugly toad! - Fraser! Katie! - Great big fatty! - Broad arse! I will not have it! Fighting right outside the church on Sunday! - Wait till your father hears about this! - We didn't start it.
Fighting and shouting at common lads! Why do we send you to grammar school? Why do we throw our money away for you and Gudrun to go to Nottingham, so you can come back and rake the roads of the village with the commonality? It's not my fault, Mother.
- You stop it and the rest will stop it.
- Why do I always get the blame? Don't answer me back.
I will not have it.
Do you hear me? I will not have it.
Don't you walk away from me when I'm speaking to you, madam! I thought you had finished.
You are the most selfish, lazy, careless, impudent girl! People who love me don't think that.
My grandmother doesn't think that.
Your grandmother doesn't have to live with you.
"Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat "High in her chamber up a tower to the east "Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot.
" Ursula! Our Ursula! Oh, God, I will go mad! - It's locked, it's locked! - Ursula! Our Ursula! Mother, she won't answer.
She's dead! I'm not dead! Go away! - Open the door, our Ursula! - What do you want? Ursula? What are you doing to the children? What are you doing? - Why did you lock the door? - Were you hiding from a giant? No! I was hiding from the midgets! I wanted peace! - What are you doing? - Looking for a quiet place.
Little noisy in here.
Ugh, I'm never going to find anywhere I can be alone.
Why don't you go to the parish room? Ursula! - Where's our Ursula? - She's gone out.
Go away.
"Leaving her household and good father "Leaving her household and good father, climbed "That eastern tower, and barred her door" "Stript off the case, and read "Stript off the case, and read the naked shield "Now guessed a hidden meaning in his arms "Now made a pretty history to herself "Of" It's Uncle Tom! I'm a soldier! You were a curly-headed little lad.
Was I? Yes, I know, they were very proud of my curls.
And you were a very well-mannered lad, I remember.
Oh, did I ask you to stay the night? I always used to ask people to stay the night.
I believe it was very trying for my mother.
Aha.
Hello, Uncle Tom.
And this is Anton Skrebensky.
Baron Skrebensky's son, your grandmother's friend from Poland.
We went to visit them in Yorkshire a long time ago.
When we were all much younger.
And no, you didn't ask us to stay the night.
Are you from Poland? No, no, I was brought up in England.
My mother was English.
Only my father was Polish.
- Was? - They're both dead.
Oh.
Are we taking you away from your studies? Oh, no, Uncle Tom.
She won't wait to be taken away.
I brought you something.
From Venice.
Oh, Uncle Tom! It's beautiful.
Don't you like study? I like some things.
I like Latin.
And French.
And grammar.
I don't.
They say all the brains of the army are in the engineers.
I think that's why I joined them.
To get the credit of other people's brains.
I don't think brains matter.
And what does matter, then? It matters whether you have courage or not.
Courage? For what? For everything.
Everything's nothing.
She doesn't practise what she preaches.
She has courage for mighty little.
Do you like being in the army? I like it well enough.
It reminds me of school.
- I was very happy at school.
- Oh, were you? How lucky.
I much preferred school to the vicarage.
- The vicarage? - My home.
Was your father a vicar? I thought he was a baron.
- I thought you were going to help me! - I'll help you tomorrow.
My workshop's in a terrible state.
You left the door open! I don't know why he gets angry with me.
I didn't wreck his parish room.
He loves you.
He loves you more than any of us.
So he gets angry sometimes.
- Strange.
- What? Love.
If I fall in love, it'll be in the spring.
You know Grandfather proposed to Grandmother in a field of daffodils.
No, he didn't.
He proposed in the vicarage kitchen.
Well.
He brought her a bunch of daffodils he picked himself.
Tilly saw it.
She watched him pick them in the orchard.
Tilly says, when the wind's in the right direction, at a certain time of evening, she can still see him, walking through the orchard, picking daffodils.
- That's silly.
- No, it isn't.
It means that every season, he comes back.
People keep coming round again.
When the daffodils are in the orchard, Grandfather appears.
Granny says the same.
I don't believe in ghosts.
It's a trick of light.
Oh, I do.
Hello, Uncle Fred.
Go on! Go on! Go on.
Grandmother's expecting you.
- How is she? - Talking Polish again, so Tilly says.
- Where are you going? - Taking calves into t'byre.
- Can I help you? - If you like.
- Hello, Tilly.
- Sh.
Oh, what pretty flowers.
Such a darling little bunch! This is just how the peasants tied them at home.
Just such tight little bunches.
They weave the stalks and make wreaths for their hair.
When I was a little girl, I had golden hair.
And I had a wreath of little blue flowers.
Oh, so blue.
They came after the snow was gone.
Andrey, the coachman, used to bring me the very first.
Why do you have two wedding rings, Grandmother? Because I had two husbands.
Which was my grandfather's ring? This grandfather whom you knew? - Hm.
- This was his ring.
The red one.
The yellow one was your real grandfather's, whom you never knew.
Which grandfather did you like best? I liked them both.
Anna? Is that you? No, Grandmother.
It's me, Ursula.
Oh, Ursula! How nice to see you.
Oh, thank you! - Hope I didn't wake you.
- No, no.
I sleep too much.
And I don't like to.
- I have such dreams.
- Oh, I have dreams, too.
- What do you dream about? - The past.
My family.
Do you ever dream about Poland? Mm not about Poland, no.
About my mother and father, when I was a child.
And how my mother used to cry a lot because my father sold the woods and forests, to have money to jingle in his pocket.
So that he could go to Kiev, Warsaw, Paris.
I wish I had money.
Money won't make you happy.
No, but if I had money I could be free.
Is it so bad? Yes! I think you're very lucky, Grandmother.
- Lucky? - To have come from so far and to have had two husbands.
Oh, I see.
Well, you must be patient with life, Ursula, not rush through it.
Things will come to you.
Do you think that anyone will ever love me? Oh, we all love you, my dear.
But when I'm grown up.
Will somebody love me? Yes.
Some man will love you, because it is your nature, Ursula.
I hope it will be somebody who will love you for what you are and not for what he wants of you.
We have a right to what we want.
You must never be afraid of that.
Oh.
Oh, they're coming.
We're a little late.
I'm afraid it's my fault.
You're not late.
We weren't going anywhere.
Where have you been? - Just now? - Mm.
We went to Derby to see a friend of my father's.
- Oh, who? - Why, he's a clergyman.
He's my guardian.
One of them.
Mrs Lensky, my father always said you'd look like a girl when you were 60.
My dear child! I passed 60 some time ago.
And no one has called me Mrs Lensky for years.
But you look more like Mrs Lensky than Mrs Brangwen.
You have your father's charm.
Thank you.
How did you know Baron Skrebensky, Grandmother? Our estates were close by him.
I knew him when he was young.
Huh.
He was very dashing.
- And so generous.
- Was he? Why did he come to England? Was he a patriot too? He felt very strongly about being a Pole.
He never talked to me about that.
I think my father found it different.
He came here expecting to be treated like an aristocrat.
But he wasn't.
He was treated like a vicar and a foreigner.
It's very hard, when you have lost so heavily.
It's very hard to live again.
I think life is hard, if you make unreasonable demands on it.
What sort of demands? I think order is more important than liberty.
And duty is more important than rights.
- Do you? - The rights of man are a nonsense.
Hm.
You mustn't be angry with your father.
I'm not angry.
- Won't you have tea with us? - My teeth, I can't eat anything.
Have you ever been in Poland? No.
My father's estates were confiscated many years ago.
So I don't suppose there's anything to go back to.
- To see where your people come from? - No.
It belongs to the past.
- Where's your home now? - My home? I wonder.
I'm very fond of my colonel, Colonel Hepburn.
Then there's my aunt.
But my real home, I suppose, is the army.
Do you like being on your own? I suppose so.
I went away to school when I was nine, so the outside world was always more naturally a home to me.
I don't know why.
Do you feel like a bird blown out of its latitude? Oh, no.
I find everything very much as I like it.
Are you very rich? I have about 150 a year of my own, so I am rich or poor, as you like.
You're not poor, are you? You will earn money.
Well, I shall have my pay.
I have my pay now, I've got a commission that's another 150.
You will have more, though.
I shan't have more than £200 a year for ten years.
I shall always be poor if I have to live on my pay.
I should very much like to earn money.
- Do you mind it? - What? - Being poor.
- Not now.
Not much.
I may, later.
People, the officers, are good to me.
Colonel Hepburn has a sort of fancy for me.
- He is rich, I suppose.
- Is Colonel Hepburn married? Yes.
He has two daughters.
You look very lazy.
I am lazy.
- You look really floppy.
- I am floppy.
- Can't you stop it? - No.
It's perpetual motion.
You look as if you hadn't a bone in your body.
That's how I like to feel.
I don't admire your taste.
That is my misfortune.
Damn it, what is wrong with you? - Men don't rock themselves.
- Girls don't pull men's hair.
Gudrun! Um, we've got an absentee.
We were waiting for you.
- I'm going to Derby again on Thursday.
- Oh, I have school on Thursday.
- After school.
- That would be lovely.
Aha! Oh! Go! What shall we do now? I know.
What about the carousel? - Would you like one of those? - No, I don't mind a ride.
Oh, let's go on the carousel.
- Come on.
- Hey! Oh, let's dance.
Do you know the difference between a Gothic arch and a round one? - No.
- Well.
A round arch is a bow.
It has its roots in the earth but reaches endlessly to heaven.
And it signifies eternity.
Whereas a Gothic arch is broken.
It never reaches eternity or the infinite.
And it signifies human aspirations.
Because we never quite reach heaven.
That's ingenious.
My father studies church architecture.
He says that Gothic arches are beautiful and sad.
I prefer the bow, because it's eternal and changeless.
Shall we go? I don't think human aspirations have anything to do with reaching heaven.
What have they to do with, then? As long as the average man can feed his little child, clothe his wife, live in his own house, and work for his own living, He's happy.
Yes, but what would make you happy? It's not my personal happiness that's important.
It's the happiness of the nation as a whole.
Oh.
We'll just look in and say good night, and I'll walk you home.
The moonlight does such strange things to the countryside.
When you come back, you won't be able to see at all.
Why not? The moon will be behind you.
I came to ask you if you'd marry me.
You are free, aren't you? Sh! Put that down! Come here.
Ohhh! I'm bathing in the sea, Mother.
Oh, aren't the children in bed yet, Mother? - They'll be in bed in half an hour.
- There's no peace.
The children have to live, Ursula.
Why should I fight you with your gown, Cassie? You killed all my soldiers! Haven't you any homework? Near the end of term, I don't get so much.
When are you off again, Anton? - Oh, Friday.
- Oh, let's go to the parish room.
Ah, I meant to show you my little wood carving.
I'm sure it's not worth showing that.
My father's done some carvings too.
His are better.
Come.
Coming? Do you want an apple or a glass of milk? - Apple and a glass of milk! - Oh! What is this place? It's my father's workshop.
He spends hours here.
Doing what? Everything.
Some of the village boys come in the evening and they teach us in handicrafts.
Before my father and mother were married, he was making a carving of Adam and Eve.
And then one day, after they were married for a time, he burnt it.
Why? I don't know.
I wish my father was more than he is.
If I had a father as he ought to be, he would be Earl William Brangwen and I should be Lady Ursula.
What right have I to be poor? If I had my rights I should be seated on horseback in a green riding habit.
And my groom would be behind me.
And I should stop at the gates of the cottages and enquire of the woman who comes out with a child in her arms - how did her husband - Stop talking nonsense.
Some women are made for talking.
And some for making love.
You are made for making love.
Am I not intelligent? Do you think Miss Inger's pretty? Maud doesn't think so.
- I'm not sure.
- No, I don't.
I think she's very handsome.
Come along, Urtler Brangwen.
I'll race you.
I won! I won.
I didn't see you come in.
- I enjoyed our race, did you? - Yes.
I won't be long.
Your hair is so beautiful.
Thank you.
My father was a classical scholar and a clergyman.
He was rather a progressive thinker, as far as women are concerned.
So I was allowed to study science at Newnham.
- I should love to go to college.
- Oh, you must.
- You make a very good student.
- Do you think so? Yes.
I do.
Education is the bridge for women to independence.
I believe that Jesus died for me.
He suffered for me.
But I don't believe in his humanity.
I don't believe he was just a man, living an ordinary life.
It's only vulgar people who insist on the humanity of Christ.
Jesus is of another world.
I don't be in a Jesus who'll thrust his bloody wounds into my face and say, "Look, Ursula Brangwen, I got these for you.
"Do as you're told!" No.
No, Jesus is Jesus is like the moon, shining in the distance.
Beautiful and remote.
You don't believe, do you? I just don't think it I just don't believe every hair of my head is numbered.
I think my own things belong to me and I can do as I like with them, as long as I leave other people's things alone.
Mm, I adore chocolate cake! Would you like some? Oh, taste it, please.
I do so love tea.
I hate dinner.
I could eat cakes all the time.
Aren't you hungry? Oh, have one.
- I don't like cheese.
- Don't you? I love it.
- I'm going back to my regiment.
- Oh, excuse me.
Could you bring some other kind of sandwiches? We don't like cheese.
And also, two glasses of that rather nice Rhône wine.
- You will have a glass, won't you? - I don't want any.
Oh, er Just just one glass.
You can have some of mine.
No, you can't apply the everyday world to the world of God.
It's not literal, how could it be? It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven.
Well, does that mean we have to go around, giving away our two cows, mother's jewellery, the capital at the bank, to the labourers of the district? Cos if it does, well I'll just forego Heaven.
What's the matter? - I've brought you something.
- Oh, what is it? A parting gift.
Anton.
How beautiful.
Oh, I'm so happy.
It's such a lovely day.
Thank you.
Now We each must drink till it's finished.
To us.
I'll wear it on a ribbon around my neck.
Next to my heart.
I wanted to kiss him.
To take him in my arms and hold him.
But I could only touch his hand.
Goodbye.
Everything happens so quickly.
And the moments pass.
Except my grandmother says that nothing that has been ever really goes away.
Summer, the leaves on the trees.
Love.
I could never die while there's a tree.
"Dear Anton, "The sunshine has come out especially for your birthday.
"I made the cake myself "and wish you many happy returns of the day.
"Don't eat it if it is not good.
" That looks nice.
I'd have helped you with the icing if you'd asked me.
Why, what's wrong with it? It's very nice.
"Mother hopes you will be able to get leave for Uncle Fred's wedding.
"I am your sincere friend, Ursula Brangwen.
" Shut up, Cinna.
Shut up! That's a fine scythe, Fred.
- Where you off to? - To the station.
Ursula's going to have tea with her teacher.
Her teacher? Didn't know you were so fond o' lessons.
It's not a lesson, it's a social invitation.
I hope some of it rubs off.
Oh, I nearly forgot.
Mother said to tell Auntie Laura - I know you're not married yet, but I think of her as me aunt already - tell Auntie Laura the bridesmaid dresses are ready for the fitting.
Aye, all right.
- Have a good day.
- Bye.
Bye-bye.
- What train back will you get? - I'll get the last one at ten o'clock.
There's no point in me going if I have to come back early.
- Well, I'll meet your train.
- No, there's no need.
I'll still meet your train.
Human desire is the criterion for all truth and all good.
But how can we trust our desires? It's not as simple as it sounds.
If we say what we desire is good, what is good is what makes us happy, pain is the only evil.
Oh, but if I fall in love, that is good, that gives me pleasure.
Yes.
And absence from the person I love causes me pain.
Exactly, so we must educate our desires.
Oh, how can I do that? Yo must avoid pain.
The absence of pain is itself a pleasure.
Oh! There are two possible paths open to us, as I see it, which lead to personal happiness.
The first is through emotional relations with others, or another, and the second is through knowledge.
Now, both can lead to personal happiness, but the presence of pain is greater on the first path than on the second.
And the second path offers independence.
Are you saying that I should not love in order to avoid pain? Well, that seems such a cowardly way to live.
And so dull.
I don't want a quiet life, I want a passionate, vigorous life.
But an intellectual excitement isn't cowardly, especially when men offer so little.
A man doesn't come to know me, he comes to an idea of me.
Love is a dead idea.
They go to women to abuse themselves.
They do not come to discover themselves.
It is better to remain neutral than to be used in such a way.
Have you known many men? I do not think it is possible to find happiness with men.
Why are you so nervous? Anybody'd think you were getting married.
- I'm chief bridesmaid.
- Well, I hope it makes Uncle Fred happier.
He's cross all the time.
He's so cross, he even shouts at the dog.
You should hear him in the field sometimes.
"Woof! Woof!" "Oh, shut up, Cinna.
" - "Shut up, Cinna!" - That's enough, Gudrun.
Isn't it lovely, having a summer wedding? You got married at Christmas, didn't you, Mother? 23rd of December, day before Christmas Eve.
Your grandfather came and stood outside our window - and serenaded us with carols.
- On your wedding night? Shepherds with their flocks abiding.
He was drunk, of course.
I shall never forget it, he gave us the fright of our lives.
and a man and a woman make an angel.
Mm-hm.
There he is at last.
I'm so glad you could come.
- I have until tomorrow morning.
- Splendid.
The real celebration's this evening.
You look like a wood nymph.
Do you like to be a soldier? I'm not exactly a soldier.
They only do things for war.
- Yes.
- Would you like to go to war? Yes.
It'd be very exciting.
But what would you be doing if you went to war? I shall be making railways or bridges.
Would you only make them to be pulled down again when the armies are done with them? - It seems just as much a game.
- If you call war a game.
What is it, then? It's about the most serious business there is, fighting.
Why is fighting more serious than anything else? Because you either kill or get killed.
But but when you're dead, you don't matter any more.
But the result matters.
It matters whether we settle the Mahdi or not.
I don't care about Khartoum.
But you have to have room to live in.
Somebody has to make room.
But I don't want to live in the Sahara desert.
- Do you? - Well, I don't.
- But you have to back up those who do.
- Why? Where is the nation if we don't? I don't want to be the nation, I want to be myself.
- You couldn't be yourself without a nation.
- Why not? - You'd be a prey to everybody and anybody.
- How? - They'd take everything you've got.
- Good.
They can take what they like.
I'd rather have a robber who carried me off than a millionaire who'd give me all I asked for.
- That's because you're a romanticist.
- Yes, I am.
I want to be a romanticist.
I hate soldiers, they're all so stiff and wooden.
- What do you fight for, really? - I fight for the nation.
Ah, for all that, you aren't the nation.
What would you do for yourself? I belong to the nation and must do my duty by it.
No.
Seems to me as if you weren't anybody, as if there weren't anybody there.
Are you anybody, really? You seem like nothing to me.
Farewell, St George, tha's had thy fun! A doctor, a doctor! Or I am done! - Doctor, doctor! Do come.
- In comes I, the doctor.
To salve you of all pain.
I hate to see you riff-raff.
Down thy tiff-taff.
Rise up, St George, and fight again! - Hip, hip! - Hooray! # There's four on us here # Our night is gone # And we've come for to tell of a man # His name was St George # The champion of old And we've told you the best that we can Do you remember this cornfield, Will? I do.
You proposed to me here.
At harvest time.
When the sheaves were lying on the stubble.
I said, "We'll get married soon.
" And you said, "I want to go home.
" Did I say that? What is it? I was just thinking Father isn't here.
How it seems so unfair.
Show me the man in the moon, Grandpa! Where, Grandfather? Where? On, gentlemen! Let's go! Don't you like me, Ursula? Don't you like me any more? Would you like to dance? Theresa.
Coming, Mother.
Time for bed.
Go on, take them indoors now.
Go.
Where are we going, Ursula? # Come write me down, ye powers above # The man that first created love # For I've a diamond in my eye # Where all my joys and comforts lie# - Let me come with you.
- # Where all my joys and comforts lie # Let me come.
# I'll give you gold, I'll give you pearl # If you can fancy me, dear girl # Rich costly robes that you shall wear # If you can fancy me, my dear - # If you can fancy me, my dear # - Kiss me, Anton.
# So to church they went that very next day # And were married by asking, as I've heard say # And now that girl, she is his wife # She will prove his comfort - # Day and night # - How proud you are.
She will prove his comfort day and night "In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, "the 17th day of the month, "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up" "and the windows of heaven were opened.
"And the rain was upon the earth - "40 days and 40 nights.
" - Drop o' water, yeah? I wonder if I'm the just or the unjust.
Aaaah! Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom! "'I will establish my covenant with you.
"'Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood "'Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
' "And God said, 'This is the token of the covenant "'which I make between me and you "'and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.
"'I do set my bow in the cloud, "'and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
"'And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, "'that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.
"'And I will remember my covenant, "'which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh "'And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
"'And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it"' - Anton.
- What? "' I may remember the everlasting covenant"' - Where are you? - Here.
"' between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
"' Don't leave me.
Come back to me.
Yes.
"'This is the token of the covenant"' You will come back to me? - "' which I have established between"' - Yes.
"' me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
"'