Dangerous Liaisons (2022) s01e06 Episode Script

1
I hope we're not so late,
we've missed all the fun.
[JEAN] Aha!
[CAMILLE] There has to be a
letter from Christine here.
[HENRI] But I'm about to become
the most powerful surgeon in France.
[JACQUELINE] She tried
to take my husband.
And when that failed, she
cut her wrists before me.
[PASCAL] You asked me
to seduce this woman,
yet you give me no proof of her wrong.
[CAMILLE] She took everything
that mattered from me.
[CAMILLE] Valmont!
Break the engagement.
Then you will have your letter,
and you can pretend to
be a good wife and mother
while you fuck our queen.
Stop this, Camille.
[CAMILLE] It seems we cannot
trust one another after all.
- [GUNSHOT]
- [CAMILLE GRUNTS]
Musket makes a fool of you
and libels the very
heart of this monarchy
with her immorality.
[CAMILLE] You should marry your equal.
You should marry me.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[CAMILLE] Are you a spirit now, Valmont,
come to haunt me in this crypt?
I hope you're here to apologize.
[PASCAL] I received a
visit from the chevalier.
Told me Christine de Sevigny is ruined.
[CAMILLE] He is prone to drama.
I was there too. She's humbled.
It will soon pass.
[PASCAL] She is disowned
her head shaved
already for her sins.
She's to go to the convent.
She will never see her daughter again.
Emilie will also bear her shame.
Are you listening to me?
She's ruined!
Maurice too.
They're pariahs because of
accusations of infidelity
and a higher scandal too,
which apparently was
revealed in her letter.
Were these pawns not
captured in your game?
Prove to me you did not use my letter
to bring her destruction.
Bring it to me, or I
will walk away from you
and never come back.
Why does she matter to you?
[SCOFFS]
Jacqueline's right.
To get what you want,
you will destroy anyone.
♪
I cannot bear the sight of you.
♪
[DRAMATIC STRING MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER, BELL TOLLING]
[LÉONARD] Finally,
someone to tell us the truth
about Rambouillet.
- [ONDINE LAUGHS]
- [LÉONARD] What happened there?
[ONDINE] You know I'm not
one for gossip, Léonard.
- [LÉONARD] Scandal, then.
- [LAUGHS]
[SIGHS]
I heard there was a letter
full of the Comtesse's wicked secrets.
[ONDINE] Do you recall
a letter, Camille?
We witnessed the same
awful event, Vicomtesse,
a lesson to all who fall from the path.
[ONDINE] Christine didn't fall.
She was pushed.
She's ruined and,
through her, poor Maurice.
That is a fate akin to
stepping on a kitten.
[LÉONARD] Though dullness
might be considered a crime,
- might it not?
- [LÉONARD AND ONDINE CHUCKLE]
Perhaps the real crime
is that men do not suffer
for their own failings,
only the failings of their wives.
Mademoiselle, shall we?
[ONDINE] Yes, let us
not keep you, Camille.
And let us hope the Masked Ball
isn't similarly overshadowed.
It's the event of the year.
They say the king and queen
themselves will be there
[CHUCKLES]
which is why I cannot
fathom how you've been invited.
[SIGHS] I haven't.
I'm the Marquis' guest,
though I suppose he could hardly
leave his new fiancée
at home, could he?
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
It's a crime how such a face
leads one to presume
you are an innocent,
when I know how little
you can be trusted.
[CAMILLE CHUCKLES]
Someone should warn
your misguided fiancé,
even if only to prevent
his fortune dwindling.
[CAMILLE SCOFFS]
When do we choose our
masks, Madame Berthe?
Do you need another one?
Paris is a lonely place without friends
but a lethal one with enemies.
I'm sorry you are lonely.
[BERTHE] Come.
♪
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[PERSON] Your candle, madame.
[BERTHE] I see these
masks not as facades,
but as reflections.
Choosing them is my private pleasure.
[CAMILLE] What did you choose for me?
[BERTHE] The fox, of course.
It's like looking in the mirror, no?
Now, this mask must be kept secret.
The women arrive first
time to gossip, take in their rivals,
don their masks.
Then the men arrive.
That's when the game begins.
Tell me who will wear which mask.
I'm nervous I will offend the marquis
through some liaison
of mistaken identity.
One can get away with almost anything
when masked at the Maison de Rieux.
[CAMILLE] And it is
true that all of society
will be there, even
Madame de Montrachet?
I heard all she attends is church.
How she has anything left
to confess is beyond me.
I think we met long ago.
I'd love to be reacquainted.
All the pious
will be lambs.
And her husband?
He will be a lamb too?
Monsieur de Montrachet
is not a lamb.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
He's a wolf.
♪
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
[BOTH MOANING]
♪
[KNOCK AT DOOR]
[PASCAL GASPS]
Azolan!
[KNOCK AT DOOR]
Forgive my intrusion.
It's not an intrusion if you
were already in my thoughts.
My husband has informed me he is
to receive a great
advancement in his work.
[PASCAL] I'd congratulate
him, but I cannot.
This advancement will mean
we will be required at Versailles
indefinitely.
That being so, I
I came to ask if-if
if you
could come to the ball tonight.
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYS]
It might be the last time that
we see each other for some time.
♪
I don't want you to go.
♪
I have to stay beside my husband.
If you are beside him,
then where will I stand?
Behind me, before me.
I will always turn to face you.
♪
I'll pray on it.
♪
Monsieur Lucienne, should you come
I will be wearing the mask of a lamb.
♪
I hope you will come.
♪
[CAMILLE GASPS]
[CHUCKLES] Come.
It makes me happy to spoil you.
If it's happiness you want,
don't marry the Marquis.
I'm beginning to think you
don't want me to marry anyone.
[VICTOIRE] Valmont or Jean de Merteuil?
Valmont and I are finished.
Well, then forgive my lack of enthusiasm
for your remaining choice.
Should I forgive your naivety too?
Do you think becoming a Marquise
was the destiny for someone like me?
A woman with nothing
is a whore or a maid,
and I will no longer be either.
With him, you'll be both.
No, I will do as Madame did.
I will perfect a facade,
build walls around my heart
for a life completely mine.
And I will do it for
us so we will be safe.
[VICTOIRE] Stop making enemies.
Then perhaps we will be safe.
Ondine, Florence, the
entire Sevigny family.
And I hope you're not
going to the ball tonight
because of the de Montrachets.
Walk away and find peace, Camille
or you will lose me.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
Keep it
please.
It will suit you.
[CAMILLE CHUCKLES]
I do not want to lose you.
♪
[BOTH CHUCKLE]
♪
Shouldn't you be getting
ready for the ball?
[JEAN CHUCKLES]
Isn't it a chance to show me off?
Are you sure it's not
the other way around?
I have an ancient title. I'm very rich.
I understand the attraction.
[CAMILLE SCOFFS]
You think that of me?
[JEAN CHUCKLES]
That you're no different
to any of these women
Emilie, Christine, Ondine
my late wife, for that matter?
♪
Perhaps.
Is that why you've been avoiding me
since we returned from Rambouillet?
♪
Perhaps it's safer to remain a widower.
♪
[JACQUELINE] Monsieur Lucienne,
I do not know which is the greater sin:
lying to myself that I can
live without knowing you
[PERSON] Monsieur.
[JACQUELINE] or that of knowing you.
Tonight I do not care.
In the anonymity of our masks,
I want to exist without such questions,
beyond sin or purity, truth or lies.
A present?
[JACQUELINE] And if you want me
know that I am yours.
Jacqueline.
♪
You going to the Masked Ball?
[PASCAL] No.
[AZOLAN] But what about
Madame de Montrachet?
She's better off without me.
[CAMILLE] Jean thinks
he can push me away,
but I will win him back.
He has already turned you down.
No one turns me down.
[KNOCK AT DOOR]
I require your advice.
Don't you know everything already?
An opinion, then.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
How far should I cinch
the waist on this corset?
♪
I'm going to the ball.
♪
[JEAN] Not without my invitation.
[CHUCKLES] You won't deny me that.
Of course you could come with me.
And I could share some of those secrets
that are in my possession.
♪
Like a fox
tearing through hens.
[BOTH LAUGH]
♪
Aha.
♪
I don't need a trail of
destruction in your wake.
♪
Destruction
is power in the wrong hand.
♪
Control is power in the right one.
♪
It would be my gift to you
for all the kindness you've shown me.
[JEAN LAUGHS]
♪
I wasn't born to be alone, Jean.
♪
If your heart is truly closed to me
I will find another.
♪
You will not go without me.
♪
Good.
♪
Get ready, then.
♪
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
♪
Boo! Boo!
♪
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
♪
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
♪
[VICTOIRE] Feels like
I have you back again,
that it's like old times between us.
♪
Come on, let's go in.
[CAMILLE] No, wait.
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[VICTOIRE] Camille, what's wrong?
[PERSON] Good evening,
Madame de Montrachet.
♪
[VICTOIRE] She is why we're here.
[CAMILLE SIGHS]
I have to take this chance.
I'm going to be the Marquise, Victoire.
This marriage will make me
someone of higher rank than her,
someone people will listen to.
The Montrachets betrayed
me in the worst of ways.
But they cannot dismiss me now.
My revenge.
♪
Come.
♪
[DOOR CLICKS SHUT]
[KNOCKING]
Victoire.
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER]
♪
[GUARD] Good evening.
Mademoiselle, your name, please.
Camille.
[ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYS]
[BERTHE] Ah, Camille, beautiful.
♪
[PERSON] I need a name.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪
[ONDINE] Ladies, welcome,
welcome, welcome, welcome.
♪
[BERTHE] What else but
the most ornate of birds?
I've always been fond
of you, Madame Berthe.
[PERSON] Let me help you tie your lace.
♪
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪
[BANGING ON DOOR]
- [AZOLAN] Victoire.
- No, no, no.
[AZOLAN] What are you doing here?
[PASCAL] Close the door, Azolan.
Where she is, so too is Camille,
and I want neither of them in here.
[VICTOIRE] Please, Valmont.
I don't know what to
do, how to help her.
Camille is no longer my concern.
Camille's going to marry Jean.
[DARK MUSIC PLAYS]
She has chosen her equal.
- Congratulate her.
- I cannot live with him.
I cannot live with her.
She's not in her right mind.
That's the first smart
thing you've said.
[VICTOIRE] I mean
because of her obsession
with Jacqueline de Montrachet.
It's made her unwell,
and it's scaring me.
- Jealousy has made her unwell.
- Jacqueline wronged her.
Oh, really? How?
I do not know all the details.
All the details, some of the details,
any of the details
that is who this woman is.
She is incapable of honesty.
Do you want to know what Jacqueline did?
Nothing.
Her only wrongdoing was
being married to a man
that Camille wanted for herself.
- No.
- Yes.
- No.
- Yes!
Yes.
She's going to destroy
Jacqueline at the ball tonight.
Please, help me.
[GRAND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
The men are here! The men are here!
Come!
[INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER]
♪
[PERSON] Mademoiselle, lovely to
[PERSON] Mademoiselle.
♪
[BATON TAPS]
[SPRIGHTLY MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
[JEAN] Did you tear through
the henhouse already?
[CAMILLE] And have you miss
all the delicious details?
♪
Do you see the ship?
That is Eloise de Chalon.
Her husband is impotent.
As, I'm sure, are half
the men in this room.
[CAMILLE] Doesn't it make you wonder
where her son came from,
the son that will inherit
all the Chalon fortune?
She also has uncommonly
sensitive lips
not the ones you speak with.
You see the woman in the butterfly mask?
[JEAN] The Chancellor's wife?
There's no secrets on him.
I should know; I've tried
hard enough to find one.
She has two lovers.
I know the first, a louche Parisienne.
The other is from the English court.
You may thank me with
an engagement ring.
If it were anything but gossip.
I have written proof
of all these secrets,
private letters I have intercepted.
All these letters will
be yours when we marry.
Consider them my wedding gift to you.
♪
[BOTH LAUGH]
[THEO] Honored guests,
good evening to you all,
you, the most beautiful people
in all of France.
This evening, I take this opportunity
to perform an excerpt of my new opera
[APPLAUSE]
dedicated to our queen,
wherever she may be.
[LAUGHTER]
[BRIGHT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
[DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[DRIVER SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
Hyah! Hyah! Hyah!
♪
Your name, monsieur?
Monsieur Lucienne.
♪
I'm a guest of Monsieur de Montrachet.
♪
- [GUARD GRUNTS]
- Get your hands off me.
- We're with the dog.
- Off you go.
[VICTOIRE] Come. Let's find another way.
[GUARD] Monsieur.
♪
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
[LIGHT MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
Theo.
[THEO] Pascal.
[PASCAL] Not tonight, my friend.
I'm in disguise in name as well as mask.
I heard your music.
What are you worried about?
It's magnificent. Your
opera will be a success.
[THEO] I have every note
written and rehearsed.
Even I am transfixed.
But the-the story,
the queen has torn
through every version
not modern enough, not female enough,
not surprising enough.
Which in itself is no surprise,
given my librettist is so old,
he served our last king.
- [PASCAL LAUGHS]
- [THEO SIGHS]
I need a story for our times.
Come to my place tomorrow night.
I'll give you a story.
But now I need to find a lamb.
Have you seen one?
[HENRI] There you are, my dear.
[THEO] She moves as if
being led to the slaughter.
♪
[PASCAL] She may well be.
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Dance with me, mademoiselle.
[PERSON SIGHS] Very well.
[BRIGHT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
[HENRI] Thank you, Jacqueline.
It is so important you
are by my side tonight,
that we appear in good spirits.
♪
I know all of this offends you.
I know my ambition offends you also.
But I hope my gratitude does not.
I'm not offended. I'm bored.
♪
[PASCAL] Your hand is
cold, Madame de Montrachet.
♪
Let me warm it.
[JACQUELINE GASPS SOFTLY]
♪
You prayed on it.
[PASCAL] Yes.
♪
[CAMILLE] Excuse me.
[PERSON 1] One more dance, ma'am.
[PERSON 2] Monsieur, please.
♪
[ONDINE] Monsieur de Montrachet.
[HENRI] Do we know one another?
[ONDINE] No, but we should.
I know you by reputation:
the most talented surgeon in Paris.
♪
Your hands, in fact,
have a reputation all of their own.
[HENRI] And you are?
[ONDINE CHUCKLES]
An admirer.
The Vicomtesse de Valmont.
The Widow de Valmont.
♪
Call on me.
♪
[MUSIC MUFFLES]
♪
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[BRIGHT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC LOUDENS]
♪
[PASCAL] We must find somewhere to talk.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[PASCAL] Jacqueline.
[JACQUELINE] Lucienne.
I'm, uh I'm trembling.
[PERSON MOANS]
[PASCAL] There is someone here.
[PEOPLE MOANING]
Oh, no.
I did not mean to bring
you here. I am so sorry.
Forgive me for what I want.
I have prayed God
intercede, but He has not.
Stop.
Jacqueline, please.
You are too good a woman
to fall to a man like me.
[JACQUELINE] Wait.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[PASCAL] Jacqueline, please.
I care for you too much.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
It is a mortal sin.
♪
[JACQUELINE SIGHS]
[PASCAL] Jacqueline
come.
Let me take you from
this debauched place.
Come.
♪
[HORSE NEIGHS]
♪
[JACQUELINE SIGHS]
[WHIP CRACKS, HOOVES CLOP]
♪
[LÉONARD] Little fox,
your fur is getting matted.
[ELOISE GIGGLES]
Do you remember Christine last year
when she fell while dancing
and got up laughing?
She was completely shameless,
certainly in her ambition
and in other things too, so I hear.
[LAUGHTER]
I wonder how Jean discovered her affair.
Where is your new fiancé, Camille?
- Who are you marrying?
- The Marquis de Merteuil.
[ELOISE] The ward becomes the wife.
How does that happen, I wonder?
True love.
Perhaps some air, Mademoiselle Camille?
[ONDINE] How convenient
that anyone in the way
of your advantageous marriage
dies or goes to ruin.
Does Jean know his bride is so lethal?
Let's warn him.
In fact, let's warn everyone.
[BERTHE] Has anybody
here seen the queen?
I hear whispers she's here already.
I have something delicious to tell.
The Montrachets are leaving
for Versailles this week.
Henri is to be appointed
royal physician to the king.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
- [ONDINE GASPS]
- [LÉONARD CHUCKLES]
[ONDINE] He will have so much sway.
When Monsieur de Montrachet
has the king's ear,
he will be able to
have whatever he wants.
♪
- [LAUGHTER]
- [ECHOING] Whatever he wants.
[LAUGHS]
♪
[DISTORTED LAUGHTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[HEARTBEAT THUMPING]
♪
[LIGHT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING]
♪
Camille, Camille, please, stop this.
- Come away.
- Victoire, go home.
- I need to finish this.
- Valmont says there's something
between you and Jacqueline
de Montrachet's husband.
And you believe him?
What am I supposed to believe
if you won't tell me the truth?
You're scaring me, Camille.
If you are scared, go.
I have no further need of you tonight.
Don't treat me like a servant.
I'm your friend.
Every day, I've watched over you.
I have done everything to keep you safe.
I have sold myself so
you did not have to.
I was never for sale.
But you sell yourself
over and over again!
No servant speaks to me that way.
Go home, Victoire!
♪
[LAUGHTER]
♪
[LÉONARD] The Montrachets
are leaving for Versailles.
[ONDINE] Does Jean know
his bride is so lethal?
[LÉONARD LAUGHS]
[ONDINE] When Monsieur de
Montrachet has the king's ear,
he will be able to
have whatever he wants.
♪
[CAMILLE] Henri de Montrachet!
♪
I'm the girl you raped
and threw in the gutter
like I was nothing.
I'm not nothing now.
Pascal.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
I almost cut you.
Why didn't you stop me?
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- [CAMILLE SOBBING]
I'm sorry.
Come.
♪
Tell me.
♪
Tell me what happened, please.
♪
They took me in
the good, fine Montrachets.
♪
I was so innocent.
And he was so kind at first,
but it was a lie.
♪
He came into my room.
[DOOR CLICKS OPEN]
[DOOR CREAKING]
♪
[CAMILLE GASPING AND GRUNTING]
[HENRI MOANS]
♪
[HENRI GRUNTING]
♪
He made me swear I would not tell.
♪
She could see I was with child.
And she dismissed the stable hand,
even though I told her the truth
that it was her husband's,
and that he forced me.
And they kept me out of sight
with this thing
growing inside of me.
♪
And I wanted it to die
♪
as I wanted to die
for what he'd done.
♪
But then I felt her
[BABY WHIMPERING]
her skin on mine.
[CAMILLE HUMMING]
Then I saw her eyes.
[CAMILLE HUMMING]
♪
And I knew she was innocent
[BABY WHIMPERING]
and that I wanted
her to be mine forever.
♪
But I was tired, and I
[BABY WHIMPERING]
I fell asleep.
♪
I shouldn't have fallen asleep.
[HEARTBEAT THUMPING]
She wasn't strong,
but she was mine.
♪
They didn't let me bury her.
♪
[BOTH] Even God does not forgive.
[GATE SLAMS]
[WIND WHISTLING]
♪
[CAMILLE] I had nowhere to go.
[BLADE SHINGS, BLOOD DRIPPING]
♪
[MOANS]
[BABY WHIMPERING]
And they left me for dead.
♪
[PASCAL] I will cut his throat.
No.
I want to ruin them the
way they've ruined me.
Tonight I thought I was powerful enough
to vanquish him.
♪
And then he became the king's man.
And I will not fail you.
I'll destroy her
destroy them both.
Don't go back inside.
Don't go near those people.
♪
Go back to Saint-Honoré.
Then come to me tomorrow.
I'll make a good life for us.
I promise you.
♪
I love you.
[CAMILLE] I'm yours.
I'm yours.
[PASCAL] Camille.
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[JEAN] Camille, where are you?
Camille!
♪
Are you unwell?
[PERSON SIGHS] Do you
ever have this feeling
as if you cannot seem to
draw quite enough breath?
[CAMILLE] Often.
I believe it is called a corset.
Do you need help loosening yours?
It is not the corset. [CHUCKLES]
I think it is
when there is too much feeling.
I lost a friend quite recently.
She broke my heart
with her betrayal
but the pain of
her absence is worse.
I keep imagining I see
her, but it's not her.
I must, of course, act as
if I am not at all affected.
That is my great challenge.
If you are in pain, it is
because you have loved fully.
I have loved fully.
[CHUCKLES]
I know this much to be true.
You will love and be loved again.
[BOTH CHUCKLE]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[PEOPLE] Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four,
- three, two, one!
- [PEOPLE] Your Magesty.
[FIREWORKS BOOMING]
[PEOPLE CHEERING]
♪
[APPLAUSE]
♪
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪
[FIREWORKS POPPING AND WHISTLING]
♪
[CAMILLE] Victoire!
♪
Victoire.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
♪
[VICTOIRE] My dear Camille,
I never dreamed I would
miss our old world,
our old lives.
But I knew who you were then:
my friend, as I was yours.
Now I see that I must find my own way
and that we're on different paths.
So know that I will always love you.
But do not come looking for me
or the letters I have taken.
I will destroy them
before they destroy you.
Yours, Victoire.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
♪
[JEAN] I couldn't find you.
♪
You're not my equal.
♪
I'm relieved to hear you say it.
[SIGHS]
I wanted to talk to you too.
You're more than my equal.
The feeling when I couldn't
find you, Camille
I don't want to be without you.
♪
Marry me.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
♪