Transatlantic (2023) s01e06 Episode Script

1
[pen scribbling on paper]
[in French] Now
we are entering a collective dream.
You sound like a magician.
I am a magician!
[in English] Now fold the paper like me.
And
pass it again.
That's it.
Open them.
[Mary Jayne] All right!
"A wanton son sighs her sneezes."
"The ancient ocean eats her young."
"My drunken terrier hates the moon."
"Every forgotten slug loves a crayon."
[all laugh]
- "A tired villain dances the waves."
- [all] Oh!
"The silly tree longs for justice."
"The exquisite corpse needs more wine."
Yes!
[Aube in French] Papa!
Get out of there!
And there is something strange
under the table.
- What?
- [in English] What? What?
[mysterious music plays]
So we have a spy.
- Well, we have a microphone.
- How does it work?
Radio signal, battery.
- Someone's recording us remotely.
- [man] But who?
Anyone could buy a microphone.
Surely the question isn't who's listening,
but what did they hear?
We planned that break-in
at Camp des Milles at that table.
In detail.
My God.
[Varian]
I have to get everyone out of here.
I can take up to 300.
Tomorrow?
With paperwork, yes.
Okay. Then I need to get to work.
- [whimpers]
- A little bit more. A little bit more.
Stop. That's too far.
To the right. Okay, stop, uh
Uh, stop!
Right there. Perfect.
Now the basket should go over there.
[Patterson sighs]
Stay. Stay. Stay.
[sighs]
What are we gonna do about these fools?
Emergency Rescue Committee, my foot.
I wouldn't assume
Varian Fry was involved in any of this.
- Mary Jayne Gold is one thing
- Mary Jayne Gold is ridiculous.
Well, even ridiculous Americans
who make trouble for the French police
make trouble for me.
Ah. Damn it.
[sighs]
There must've been someone else
involved in that prison break.
Where's Reese?
You sent him over to the ERC office.
Well, I'm gonna have to count on you,
then, Bingham.
Uh, just find me
some other brand of foreigner
we can pin this on
before Frot circles back to Miss Gold.
- Me?
- Just do it, will you?
Look through the files. Anyone
who applied for a visa in the last year,
pick someone we can track down.
Someone who isn't American.
- You can't possibly be asking
- That'll be all.
[Letoret] Do you want me to take the dog?
[Patterson] No.
[door closes]
Good morning.
- [Reese] Fry
- [Varian] Easy. Just here to see Lena.
- Where is everybody?
- Word's got around that, um
- Let's speak outside.
- Yes.
How many people have you managed
to corral for Dubois's boat?
Maybe 50?
He says he can take up to 300,
but he sails tomorrow morning.
What? You said we have two weeks.
I know. Vichy is opening
and closing the port at random,
so we have to grab the chance now.
Have you heard from Bingham?
The Bretons' visa
came through from the MoMA.
He's done one for Mehring,
one for Hannah Arendt.
He can only do a few at a time
without getting caught.
Excellent. And what about the letter
from the Chinese consulate?
Bill's working on it. See what he says.
In the meantime, go to the beaches,
the bars, the small hotels,
round up everyone you can find,
and bring them to the villa by night.
Can you do that?
Yes.
And tell Bingham to meet me there too.
I will be damned if we don't fill
every single spot on that boat.
[suspenseful music plays]
[door opens]
[Varian] How's it going there, Bill?
What is all this?
I ran out of commercial ink,
so I've been mixing my own.
This Chinese calligraphy,
it's something else.
Do you know what it says?
Not exactly. Just that it's an entry visa
to the Republic of China.
How many do we have?
[Bill] Um
I've got about 30
you can take with you right now.
And another six on the line.
[Varian] Incredible. Thank you.
- [Bill] Happy to help.
- Keep up the good work, Bill.
[Paul] Every train between Marseille
and Dijon has to cross that bridge.
We blow the legs, the tracks collapse.
If they start deporting prisoners
to the Reich,
they'll have to send them through Dijon.
- Unless we make it impossible first.
- Right.
Are you listening to me?
Hm?
- Keep your eyes on the prize, my friend.
- My eyes are firmly on the prize.
- Hm. You are lovesick.
- I'm not sick. I am calm.
Just because
Lisa's husband came back, I'm
Uh-uh. Mary Jayne is different
from the rest of us.
Because of what? Because she's American?
Maybe.
- Look at all the risks she's taking.
- [scoffs] Mm.
Albert, you and I are
fighting for our own survival.
Miss Mary Jayne Gold can
just leave here at any time.
[vehicle approaching]
Merde, a police escort. Come.
[suspenseful music plays]
- What do you think's inside?
- [Paul] Those are big trucks for cargo.
[Albert] And why would they cover cargo
with tarpaulins?
Prisoners.
They started deporting prisoners.
[Breton in French] "Then the Egyptians
reduced the children of Israel
to a hard servitude."
"And they made their lives dull and bitter
with hard bondage, in mortar,
and in brick,
and by all the works of the fields,
and it was with cruelty."
- [Varian in English] André, you in here?
- [Breton] Sh.
I am reading the Book of Exodus
to our new friends.
[instrumental music plays on radio]
Your American visas came through.
You, Jacqueline, and Aube.
We're putting all of you
on a boat to Martinique tomorrow morning.
[in French] Such good news!
[in English] You can
travel to New York from there.
And what about me?
[sighs]
The US will never take you, Victor,
and you know that your proud record
as a revolutionary precedes you.
Your Chinese visa will get you
as far as Martinique with them.
Wait. The Chinese gave Serge a visa?
Bill Freier has made 30 copies,
so we can use it for other people,
including Victor Brauner.
What exactly does this Chinese visa say?
Truthfully, I don't know
'cause I don't read Chinese.
And I am counting on the fact
that the French officials don't either.
I read Chinese.
This isn't a visa.
This says, "The bearer of this document
can never and will never
be admitted into the Republic of China."
[Varian sighs] Damn it.
Oh!
[sighs]
[indistinct chatter]
Who knew you were such a romantic?
I'm not.
I have terrible news.
They've started deporting prisoners
from Marseille.
- To Germany?
- At least as far as Dijon.
What about you?
- What about me?
- What if they deport you?
I'm not a prisoner.
They'll have to catch me first.
No, but they just found
a recording device in the dining room.
That means whoever was listening
heard us plan the break-in
at Camp des Milles.
[Varian] Albert!
The boat to Martinique
sets sail in 18 hours.
Tomorrow morning?
Yes. Lena's already rounding up
as many passengers as possible,
so I need your help.
Can you and Albert take Serge downtown
and do the rounds again?
Again?
They've all rejected him. He told
the Brazilian consulate he's a Communist.
Then we go to the Belgian Congo,
and he said that he's an anarchist.
We go to the Cubans, and he says
he's an unapologetic revolutionary.
Please. The offices are only open
a few more hours.
Let's start with Mexico.
I think that consul took a shine to us.
- To you.
- We will do it.
- Thank you.
- [Mary Jayne] Yes. Okay.
[somber music plays]
Welcome to the Villa Air-Bel. Hi.
- Welcome.
- Welcome.
What's all this?
Every foreigner who has
applied for an American visa
at this office in the last year.
Any of them could have
helped Mademoiselle Gold.
- These are innocent people.
- Well, that's a matter of opinion.
[typewriter clacking]
- [Varian] Hi.
- Mr. Fry.
[Varian] Very happy you're here safely.
Let me know if you need anything.
[indistinct chatter]
Bingham!
- [Bingham] I came as soon as Lena called.
- [Varian] Are these the Bretons' visas?
But what are
all these other people doing here?
Dubois said he could take
up to 300 people.
How will you pay for so many boat tickets?
Peggy Guggenheim donated the funds.
But that's the least of my concerns.
The house has been bugged.
I can't keep people here anymore.
It's always been a risk.
But now they're rounding people up.
All the local prisons are nearly full.
- Who knows where they would take them.
- Like deport them to Germany?
I mean, if we were raided again,
these people are doomed. Listen.
With the boat,
we can work around the French exit stamps
'cause the captain is a friend.
But each passenger still needs
some kind of off-continent entry visa,
and I'm running out of time here.
We've been everywhere.
Bingham, please.
Please. We need help.
Do you have a list of names?
This is everyone that we could find
who is ready to go tomorrow.
And I need to talk to Albert Hirschman.
I think it's time to get him out.
- Hirschman? First name's Otto Albert?
- Mm-hmm.
A visa came in for him already.
He just hasn't picked it up yet.
I'll speak to him.
The same is true
for the Chagalls, as you know.
That visa's been there for months.
Why don't they use it?
I keep trying and trying.
They just They won't leave.
- Not Victor Serge. He's a Communist.
- I know.
Victor Brauner is impossible. I told you
the US isn't taking Romanians yet.
I'll see what I can do
about all the others.
Meet you tomorrow morning at the boat?
- Okay.
- Good.
- Thank you.
- Mm-hmm.
Where's Bingham?
Lunch?
- He's gone native.
- [Letoret] Sorry?
The French treat lunch like a vacation.
He leave that for me?
Uh, actually, yes.
He doesn't look very threatening.
How should he look?
Well, I said foreign.
This guy's not even Jewish.
- He's a socialist.
- You can see that from the photo?
Miss Gold broke Hans Fittko out
of Des Milles!
How do you know that?
- I called the camp.
- And they told you that?
It helps to speak French.
He was the mastermind on the inside.
So, how do I find this Hans Fittko?
With the rest of them, of course.
[Patterson] La Villa Air-Bel.
[sighs]
[in German] I'm waiting for you
to tell me what you want.
Lisa.
I want to join Paul.
Paul?
Yes.
You should get to know him.
He's going to change the world.
I'm going to his meeting tonight.
Come with me.
Or maybe we just go to America
with the rest of them.
We'll start over.
We applied for visas a year ago.
Maybe Varian can do something
and then we'll get on that boat.
Lisa
Why not?
We can't go to America now.
[Victor in English] America. I can't wait.
What is surrealism
if not a Romanian painter
on a cowboy horse in Texas?
[chuckles]
- Okay, Victor.
- Hm?
When we get in there,
just please try
to keep your mouth shut, yeah?
- Just for your own sake.
- [Victor sighs]
The petite bourgeoisie who control
the visas don't care about civilization.
No politics.
[scoffs] Politics are my life.
The petite bourgeoisie
who control the visas
don't have to know that. Do they?
Do you want to end up on a train
to a Nazi prison camp?
Albert!
It's not about submission.
It's about survival.
- [scoffs]
- He understands that.
- Who cares about my survival?
- I care.
Right. We care.
We care.
Thank you.
- Do you know what?
- Hm?
You could marry him.
Victor?
If this doesn't work out.
Seriously.
You always say that you're prepared to use
all the tools at your disposal.
Well,
a US visa,
that's just about the most powerful thing
an unmarried American woman
has to offer a refugee in Europe.
[door opens]
[in Spanish]
The consul will see you now.
[in English]
I do make an excellent husband.
[Mary Jayne] Señor Bosques.
Señorita Gold.
[in English] We're back to implore you
to reconsider the plight
of our friend Victor Serge.
He concerns himself
with the rights of man.
Now, not every foreign consulate
has the political sensitivity
to understand that as an advantage,
but we think your revolutionary mind
will see his enormous value.
Harassment, detention, starvation,
exile, internment.
It drove his first wife mad.
- Are you his second wife?
- No.
You are our last hope.
- Okay, I will take care of it.
- Thank you.
[Bosques] Oui, Señor Serge.
- [in Spanish] Long live the revolution!
- [repeats in French]
- [Patterson in English] How was lunch?
- Sir.
There's an article in the paper
about a writer named Golo Mann.
Ring a bell?
No.
Just another Jewish writer
on the Nazi reject list.
Here's the thing.
In the article, it says
diplomats in Marseille helped get him out.
How does that work?
If you had to play Good Samaritan
to some goddamn intellectual,
couldn't you have had the good sense
to pick someone
who would keep his mouth shut?
Meanwhile, Reese says there's
a young lady in the office,
someone mixed up
in that racket Fry is running,
who's always talking to you on the phone.
- I don't know about that.
- [Patterson] No?
- No.
- I'm watching you, Bingham.
Get it together.
[church bell ringing]
[acoustic guitar music plays]
[indistinct chatter]
Proud of yourself?
Once everyone's on a boat
and halfway to Martinique, maybe.
I'm proud of you.
Hey.
- Can I have a word?
- Yeah, of course.
Just a second.
[cheering and applause]
I believe they've started
deporting prisoners.
They're using
convoys of trucks on backcountry roads.
Oh my God.
And I've been talking with Paul.
I want to prepare for violent resistance.
Or you could just leave Europe altogether.
Why would you even say that?
Bingham said there's a US visa
with your name on it at the US consulate.
- My sister Ursula arranged it.
- You should be on that boat tomorrow.
Before you're the one
getting deported back to the Reich.
I don't know how long
the port's gonna be open.
This might be your last chance.
Have you thought about that?
I'm not going anywhere.
Not now.
God.
[sighs]
How are you doing?
Does Mary Jayne know about your visa?
What are you doing, Sebastian?
My camera is broken.
And anyway, I have no film,
so I'm making a film in my head.
That's a wonderful idea.
Pay attention, everybody!
Sebastian here is making a film
about our last night in paradise.
- [cheering and applause]
- [man] Yes!
[suspenseful music plays]
[mysterious music plays]
[Albert] Paul's already recruited
more than 20 people.
[Hans] I'm so sorry
that I couldn't get Lisa to come.
That's so unlike her.
[Paul speaks French]
[engine starts]
[in English] Follow that truck.
Wait, stop!
[barking]
[gasps] Dagobert?
Dagobert!
[gasps] Oh my goodn
[gasps] How did you find me?
[gasps] Look at you.
[gasps] Oh, you're such a good boy.
[gasps] Oh, you're so smart.
[suspenseful music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" plays]
- [in French] Who can tell me what that is?
- The opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth?
What else?
Listen carefully.
[Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" plays]
[Paul] Ba, ba, ba, bam ♪
Do any of you know Morse code?
Short, short, short, long.
That's the letter V.
V for victory.
From now on,
we will use this music as a signal
to communicate with our comrades
over public radio channels.
Listen for these opening bars as a signal.
The poems and music
that follow Beethoven's Fifth
will be secret messages.
Long live the Resistance!
Long live the Resistance!
- Long live the Resistance!
- Long live the Resistance!
- Long live the Resistance!
- Long live the Resistance!
[suspenseful music plays]
[woman in French] Who are you?
It's the middle of the night.
What do you want?
[Frot] Mother!
What's wrong?
Who is here?
- Go back to bed, Mother.
- Who is this guy?
To bed!
Good night, Madame.
- [sighs]
- [in English] Had news that couldn't wait.
It turns out the real masterminds
behind the break-in at Camp des Milles
were a socialist named Hans Fittko
and the concierge at the Hotel Splendide.
- Who?
- The African fella at the front desk.
Mind you, he's running
a whole Resistance operation
out of some church downtown.
- You sure about this?
- Saw it with my own eyes.
But by all means,
feel free to look into it for yourself.
Yeah.
I will do exactly that.
You're welcome.
[sighs]
[rooster crows]
[in German] Thank you for everything.
[foreboding music plays]
[whistle blows]
- [in English] Where is everyone?
- Waiting at the ticket office.
[Bingham] Well,
200 visas for entry to the United States.
Stamped at the US consulate in Marseille
and signed, officially,
with Graham Patterson's pen.
[officer in French] Go, go, hurry up!
- Don't stop moving!
- Go, go, go!
[Victor] Monsieur Fry.
[in English]
Will you hand these out? Thank you.
- [woman] Sara
- Here.
- [man] Staus Arabar?
- Here.
- Alexander Levine?
- Bruno Levkowitz?
Here you go.
[overlapping chatter]
[in Spanish] Long live Mexico.
[overlapping chatter]
[in German] Come here.
[foreboding music plays]
- [in Fon] Get in back.
- What?
Get in back! Get in back! Now!
[in French] Mr. Paul
Kandjo?
At your service.
- [officer] Stop! Stop!
- [overlapping yelling]
- [officer] On your knees.
- [officer 2] You're under arrest!
[grunts]
[officer] Stand up.
That's fine.
Move.
I said move.
Move.
[indistinct chatter]
[sighs]
Letoret!
[in English] Mr. Nugent has arrived.
He's setting up in the conference room.
- Someone's been sitting at my desk.
- Someone
Bingham's been issuing visas
without my approval.
It has to be Bingham. Damn it!
- Are boats leaving the harbor?
- Vichy opened the port this morning.
Then anyone using
an American visa to get on a ship
is using a forgery. Damn it!
Uh, I need to alert the docks, the police.
I should call Frot.
But Doug Nugent is waiting for you.
You're right. Uh
You do it, then.
Uh, call the police, the docks.
- Call everyone!
- Of course.
[Patterson] Everyone leaving with
an American visa is traveling on a fake!
[horn blares]
[Hans chuckles]
[Patterson]
What have we here? Punch cards.
What you're holding is data
from last year's US census,
but we can customize it
to any client's needs.
Data
Um
Age, race, income, marital status.
ACM provides the technology.
We don't tell them how to use it.
The data serves
to organize people into groups.
Track migration.
Predict behavior.
- [footsteps approaching]
- Bingham?
Patterson. Mr. Nugent.
- Excuse me for a moment.
- Sure.
[Patterson] You're fired, Bingham.
What?
What are you waiting for? Pack your bags.
Oh, Bingham?
Shut the door.
Have you sold
any of this stuff to the French?
The French, the Swedish
but the real untapped market,
as we see it,
are the Germans.
Look, American culture is
a stronger weapon than any bomb.
Even our enemies
wanna drive to the movies in a Ford,
drink a Coke,
and watch Scarlett O'Hara save the South.
We're out here in the world
selling ACM products, sure,
but what we're really selling them
is America.
[chuckles]
[typewriter clacking]
[Mary Jayne] It comes down
to getting the British soldiers
to the right place at the right time.
[Paul] You distract the guards
at the front. I will find the men.
Then we meet you around here
at the barbed wire.
What's going on?
[Albert] There's a man named Hans Fittko
with the British
[rewind whirs]
[Albert] There's a man named Hans Fittko
with the British prisoners.
[Lisa] My husband. I thought he was dead.
[phone rings]
[in French] Yes?
Of course, I am coming.
Mademoiselle.
[Letoret] Gruppenführer.
[in English] The German Reich
appreciates your faithful service.
[in German] Good job.
[in English] I'm happy to help.
We got rid of quite a few degenerates
this morning.
Never mind.
Two hundred and fifty-seven people.
I mean,
that is really something.
[Albert] It was a good day.
[Mary Jayne] No. It was a great day.
And tomorrow?
There are what?
Nine million Jews in Europe,
let alone everyone else
who needs to get out?
Two hundred and fifty-seven, yeah.
What are we gonna do about the others?
You mean like you?
No, Albert, you should
have been on that boat.
- Do you want me to leave you here?
- No, that's not what I mean.
That's
Hey.
What?
You
you could come with me to America.
I could marry you.
Marry me?
Well, Victor Serge,
he's already on his way to Mexico,
and Bellmer,
he just took his dolls and left.
I think Brauner said that
he's gonna go to the hills
and become a shepherd, so
- Uh
- [Albert] Yup.
- Brauner herding sheep, huh?
- You could see it, couldn't you?
[sighs]
I'm an unmarried American woman,
as you so delicately put it,
and you are a Jewish man
who needs to get the hell out of Europe.
Think about all the good
we could do for people here
from the United States.
We're already running out
of resources here.
In the States, we would have access
to funding and political influence.
Let's do it.
Run away with me.
You don't want me.
I
No. Hey, of course I do.
Mary Jayne, when I look at you,
I see the future.
It's just when I close my eyes,
I see the past.
The things that go through my mind, it's
it's dark in there. I
I scare myself sometimes.
It's
But you don't scare me.
[Albert] Hm.
Okay.
Let's do it.
Let's go to America.
- [clattering]
- [footsteps approaching]
[Petit] Albert!
Whoa. Whoa. Hey. Hey. What is it?
[panting]
[Albert] Sit down. Sit down.
Paul's been arrested by the police.
[Albert] Where did they take him?
[Petit] I don't know yet,
but we have to get to him
before they come for the rest of us.
[crying]
[mysterious music plays]
[theme music plays]