The Professor and the Madman (2019) - full transcript
Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.
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Please identify the accused.
Dr. William Chester Minor,
Captain surgeon in the US army, retired.
Dr. Maynor has come to
our shores seeking sanctury.
In his home country
of the United States,
he was persued relentlessly by a man
pledged to torture and kill him.
On that fateful night of 17th of february,
the defendent woke with a start.
He knew right away that he'd
been hunted down and found.
That his pursuer, one Declan Reilly,
was, indeed, in his rooms.
Dr. Minor reached for his
service revolver and gave chase.
Fenian!
In the streets,
he found a man running.
Help! Help!
Help! He...
Help!
Eliza, open the door!
Eliza!
- Eliza!
- In the confusion of night,
...he failed to discern
the difference
between his assailant and
the innocent George Merrit.
Eliza.
- Stop there!
- This is not the Fenian!
No!
- This is not the Fenian?
- No!
I'm sorry!
I'm sorry!
No!
No!
My lord...
Dr. Minor shot the wrong man.
So..
He didn't mean it.
Then, My lord, perhaps the court should
simply release the good doctor
with an apology for the
misunderstanding that has occured.
Your honour!
Declan...
Declan Reilly is his name.
He has a brand on
the left side of his face!
He comes at night!
He comes with others!
They come in and... They haunt me.
The got into my rooms!
I do not believe you, sir
This court does not believe you.
Quiet, please!
Quiet in court!
Quiet, please.
Quiet! Quiet!
We, the members of her majesties jury,
finds doctor William Chester Minor...
...not guilty of the willful
murder of George Merrett.
Quiet!
Quiet!
On the grounds of insanity.
I am not insane, sir.
Quiet, please!
William Chester Maynor.
It's hereby this court's ruling
that you should be detained in safe
coustody at Broadmoor asylum
for the criminally insane,
until her majesty's
pleasure be known.
Quiet, please!
Move! Move!
You bloody bollocks hell!
Hey, anymore of that
and you're off!
Harold!
- I must get back in, father.
- I know. In a tick, boy.
Take a few breaths.
Mind the long run
down the flank,
If you see the brute
coming play down patch
don't let him pull you in, all right?
And try for the clean catch.
- Yes, sir. The game, sir.
- Oh!
Harold, about your use of words.
- Yes, sir.
- Good.
- Then go, boy! Come on!
- Yes, sir!
- I had a word with him.
- Yes, I saw.
Read in the paper, dreadful story.
A shooting in Lambeth.
By an American, an army officer.
And that poor woman
left behind with six children.
Yeah, I saw.
I don't know what I would do, James,
If you were taken like that.
Yes!
That's it!
That's it!
Yes! Yes!
How's that you
ensanguined mules!
- That's it. You're off!
- What's wrong with "ensanguined?"
- Get out!
- Harold! Harold.
I wish to state that I possess a general
lexical and structural knowledge
of the languages and literature
of the Aryan and
SyroArabic classes.
I have recently submitted my paper
on the declension of German verbs
- to the Philological society...
- Mr. Murray..
I understand that you do not
possess a university degree.
Uh, no, sir. Uh...
no degree. I am an autodidact,
self taught.
I am aware of the word.
Schooling?
Left at fourteen to earn a living.
Honestly Freddie, it's a bit much.
A bit much, yes.
Of course, we, the august Delegates of
the Oxford University Press,
have been attempting to make
this dictionary for last twenty years.
And despite the greatest efforts
of a whole army of academics,
myself included,
we are precisely nowhere.
Forgive me that is incorrect.
We are, in fact, going backwards.
The language is developing
faster than our progress.
This great tongue of ours,
which reaches out across the world
has drawn its guns, sharpened its bayonets
and declared that it will not be tamed.
And we, with our debates ad nauseam
about the scope, the mode,
the purpose of these words
have all but thrown ourselves
down in supplication before it,
bathed in abject defeat.
At this moment,
the endeavor is dead.
Is that too much, Max?
Gentlemen, I am afraid that nothing
short of a panacea is called for.
I submit that the extraordinary,
the unconventional,
Mr. Murray is the solution
and our salvation.
Your account, though a bit
dramatic, is true, Freddie.
But we need something more
than impassioned advocacy.
Qualifications come to mind.
Perhaps a Bachelor's Degree.
Qualifications, yes.
Well, Um...
I am fluent in Latin
and Greek, of course.
Beyond those, uh, I have an intimate
knowledge of the Romance tongues,
Italian, French, Spanish, Catalan
and to a lesser degree
Portugese, Vaudois, Provencal
and other dialects.
In the Teutonic branch,
I am familiar with German,
Dutch, Danish and Flemish.
I have specialized in
Anglo-Saxon and Moeso-Gothic
and have prepared works for publication
on both these languages.
I also have a useful
knowledge of Russian.
I have sufficient knowledge
of Hebrew and Syriac
to read at sight the Old
Testament and Peshito.
And to a lesser degree, uh,
Aramaic Arabic, Coptic and Phoenician
to the point where it
was left by Genesius...
Forgive me ...for rattling on.
I'm sure you have questions.
Mr. Murray, a word comes to mind -
"Clever."
Can you define it and
tell us its history?
I'll make a fist of it, uh,
on the hoof, as it were.
Clever: adjective.
Meaning - adroit, nimble, dextrous.
Uh, probably from
the Low German, Klover.
Or perhaps the Middle Dutch, Klever,
meaning sprightly or smart.
Uh..
Mr. Murray is also a master
of the Scottish clog dance.
Forgive me for
keeping it from you.
I scarcely believed
in the chance myself.
That's all mine, Ada,
the entire language.
I've never known how to resist it.
Your exuberance...
But it's so sudden.
And to abandon all this,
the school, the constancy.
Is this truly what you wish?
For all of us?
Ada, I'm an untutored linen draper's
boy from Teviotdale,
now, all of suddenly,
with a real crack at it.
My entire life, has been
in preparation for this.
Whatever I've done,
I've done with you.
I've never been able to,
without you.
Once again,
lend yourself to me.
If I am to fashion a book,
I will need a spine.
- Father?
- Elsie. Children.
Are we going somewhere?
To Oxford.
Your father is the editor of the New English
dictionary on Historical Principles.
What is that?
Oh, that's a very big book.
With lots of words in it.
All the words of the
English language.
Like Dr. Johnson's
dictionary?
Aye-aye, but... but...
his... his...
his book comprised of a only
a mere handful of words.
I am charged with
identifying and defining
every last word.
- Will “happy” be in there, Father?
- Aye, happy will be there, Elsie.
My dictionary will need as
many volumes as these...
to house the entire language.
- Will “sad”?
- “sad” will be there, yes.
What about “big”?
Will “big” be in there?
"Big"? Aye.
And "small", too.
There isn't a word you can think of
that will not be in this very big book.
- Father?
- Yes, Ozwyn?
Will Ozwyn be in there?
Probably... maybe.
Never play with books, all right?
That's... That's wrong.
Wednesday, April 17th, 1872.
Inmate Number 742.
7-4-2. Admittance.
Minor, William Chester.
An American, 48 years old.
Surgeon, a captain in
the united states army.
No known religion.
Classified a danger to others.
Assigned to Block Two.
The prisoner is in a rage,
spitting dozens of times,
by his own account trying not to swallow
poison coated
cold iron bars
that have been pressed
against his teeth.
Here you go.
March 17th, three days
now the prisoner
has gone without sleeping.
Constantly leaping
from his bed to
search underneath
it in sheer terror.
Repeatedly claiming to look for
those who come in
for him at night.
Doctor Richard Brayn.
Alienist superintendent,
Broadmoor Asylum.
There it was, staring me in the face.
The Home Secretary wouldn't
be bamboozled into accepting.
Can you believe it?
Like Orthrus,
a two-headed dog of a line.
Written! In the Athenaeum!
In a single sentence!
Your book, Mr. Murray,
will need to establish
strict rules banning
such offenses.
Beyond which it should
fix all spellings,
lay down proper pronunciations
and firm up correctness of speech.
We've been here before, Max.
What of all the
bamboozles and wouldn't,
shouldn't and couldn'ts
to come in the future?
The tongue is at
its purest peak.
Sufficiently refined that it can
henceforward only deteriorate.
It's up to us
To fix it once and for all.
Alterations to it can
then be permitted or not.
And who would you have do the
permitting?
You, Max?
Me? No.
All words are valid
parts of the Language.
Ancient or new,
obsolete or robust,
foreign born
or home-grown.
The book must inventory every
word, every nuance,
every twist of etymology and every
possible illustrative citation
from every English author.
All of it or nothing at all.
That would mean
reading everything.
Quoting everything that
showed anything
to do with history of the
words that are to be cited.
The task is gigantic,
monumental.
And impossible.
There is a way.
A task that might take one
man a hundred lifetimes,
could take a hundred
men just one.
Volunteers. We have tried it
before, James, and failed.
I'm afraid there're not enough
of academics in the land.
How many did you enlist?
Eighty, perhaps ninety.
With a thousand you could
accomplish it in just a few years.
Where do you propose
finding a thousand men?
Everywhere English is
celebrated and spoken.
In every book shop, school,
workplace or home.
Do you mean ordinary
people? Amateurs?
English speaking ones, aye.
We will ask them to read in
search of the words that we want.
And get them to write the word
on a slip of paper,
along with the quotation that
they've found illustrating the very word.
And then, post the slip to us.
An entire army covering the breadth
of the Empire and beyond,
drawing a sweep net over
the whole of English literature,
listing the entirety of
their own language.
A dictionary by democracy.
Still edited by us.
Learned men.
And with this system, Mr. Murray,
how long do you estimate
to finishing your task?
Five years, seven at most.
All words and their
complete histories?
Every last one.
Dear England.
We're about to embark on the greatest
adventure our language has ever known.
Let us begin at aardvark
and never stop until
we reach zymurgy.
"Zymurgy"?
Well, I'd wager that that's
the last word in the language.
Surely there is
nothing after z-y.
- Meaning?
- Huh.
You'll be able to look it up
in a few short years.
There's a cloying eagerness to him.
And that grating Scottish lilt.
Why do you suppose he
doesn't try to conceal it?
For the sake of our eardrums?
His ideas are quite radical.
Just what we need.
You don't think he's a follower of that
awful German-born pamphleteer, do you?
No, no, no, my dear.
The man is positively baying to be
a part of this little world of ours.
Already quite seduced,
I would say.
I'm sorry, Ada.
What for?
For this disruption.
For breaking up the home.
For dragging you here.
No doubts, James, no jitters.
I need this promise from you.
Now that it's started, let's see
it through, steadfast and resolved.
An Appeal to the English-Reading
Public of Great Britain,
America and the British Colonies
to read books and make
extracts
for a new Dictionary worthy
of the English Language.
We live today knowing
the origins of the earth,
of man and all the animals.
We know how hot boiling water is.
How long a yard.
Our ships' masters know the precise
measurements of latitude and longitude.
Yet we have neither
chart nor compass
to guide us through
the wide sea of words.
The time has come to accord
this great language of ours
the same dignity and respect
as the other standards
defined by science.
Fly your words to Oxford.
Let us be connected, all of us
in this great endeavour,
through the marvellous maze
of our inter-netted post.
What are you doing, Father?
Well, Mr. Bradley and
I put a big hole in the ground.
But, what for?
For scriptorium.
That's a room like
in medieval monasteries
where monastic scribes
used to copy manuscripts.
Oh, look. Look at that.
Look what I've found.
Treasure.
- Will you clean that for me?
- Yes, Father.
All right.
It is a long run but we can
bear the language aloft.
Mr. Bradley.
With you, our volunteers,
as rungs in the ladder,
we may elevate English even
unto the gates of heaven.
Come on!
Hey! Get off me!
Sorry, man.
- Hey, get off you, damn!
- Who did this to me?
Stay clear!
Get out of the way!
Get out of the way!
get back now! Move!
Look at me, look at me!
My son, my son!
listen to me, listen to me.
We're going to lift the
gate, just a bit,
let's see if you can
pull your leg through.
I... I don't know, sir.
We've got to do it, son.
We've got to do it.
Let's try? eh? eh?
Good boy.
Good boy.
After three...
One, two, three.
Out of my way!
Out of my way!
How far is nearest blacksmith?
Crowthorne.
The nearest surgeon?
Crowthorne Village.
At least half an hour there and back.
I want a sharp knife and a saw.
Lift it up.
In a half hour's time
this man will bleed to death.
- Coleman.
- Yes, sir?
Get a sharp knife and a saw.
Quickly!
Hey, you listen me, doctor.
I know who you are
and how you got in here.
And Believe me when I say that none
of your wealth will do you any good
if you try anything.
Your saw.
You wrap the wound in boiled rags.
Keep the belt tight and
get him to a surgeon.
Your ligation held,
hemorrhaging was low...
His condition is
delicate, but he is alive.
We are all very grateful
to you, Dr. Minor.
Was the wound swabbed
and dressed in phenol?
Luckily, our local surgeon is well
versed in Lister's latest asepsis
and antisepsis methods,
as I see you are.
Rush's Tranquilizer.
Dr. Rush, he was an american army
surgeon for a time as well, I believe.
Dr. Rush believed that if
the patient could be rendered
entierly immobile during
compulsions of mania..
That madness itself
could be countered.
Barbaric in its simplicity.
It's a relic, from the dark
days of my profession.
But, it still has its uses when
combined with modern techniques.
You think I'm insane?
Are we not all,
to some extent?
You do expirience yourself
is being under threat, do you not?
A man...
is coming for me.
From my confinement
I will not see him come.
So if you will permit me,
I would ask your vigilance
and that you have
your men alert me?
He is easily identifieble.
He has a brand mark on
the left side of his face.
Dr. Minor, rest assured
We will do everything in our power
to ensure your safety.
Is there anything else
I can help you with?
I have a pension
from the US Army.
I wish that a greater
portion of it would be given
to Mrs. Merrett for the
support of her children.
Well, I'm sure that can be arranged.
Sir?
I'd like to take care
of that person.
There you are, Dr. Minor.
You have our very
best man on the case.
Thank you, Mr. Muncie.
There are children
sleeping in here.
Only a letter to
deliver, ma'am.
Bit late for the post, ain't it?
You lot are terrible liars.
I'm not from the papers.
Or the police or naught.
I'm not here to
bother you at all.
I needed to make sure you
got it right personal.
I'll just slide it
under the door.
I'm not from the papers.
Who are you then?
I am Muncie, ma'am.
I'm Hoping to help.
Is this from you?
No, ma'am.
The letter will explain.
Who is it from?
She wouldn't consider it.
Thank you, Mr. Muncie.
Look again.
We must have it.
I have looked and we do not.
I have quotes for it in the 14th, the
15th, the 16th and the 19th.
But not in the 17th
and 18th centuries.
How is that possible?
How can Ruskin write
“The sculpture is approved and
set off by the colour” in 1849?
How can I, now,
use it everyday
if you are telling me that it
vanished in the 17th Century.
- No, I'm not...
- Where did it go for 200 years?
I am not saying that it
vanished, sir.
I'm simply saying that
we do not have proof.
Look again, Charles.
Where exactly would you
like me to look, sir?
In the birthday cards, perhaps?
Or the, uh, medicinal instructions?
Or the how-to manuals?
Or perhaps the Guy
Fawkes day messages?
And we're just
dealing with "A" here!
What about
B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K?
This is bloody hopeless, sir!
Mr. Hall!
Please..
Try to maintain a
semblance of decorum.
Henry, what exactly
is the problem here?
It's “Approve”, sir.
There is a missing link.
To say nothing of “Art”.
We're missing Approve in
the 17th and 18th centuries.
We can't find a
single trace of it.
Look at Paradise Lost.
Our language took a
crucial turn with Milton.
He was somewhat of a purist
wanting to re-affirm the
meaning of his English.
The key will be in there.
Perhaps we can skip
the 17th century, sir.
We have its birth in
1380 with John Wyclif.
“Christ confirmed his law and
by his death approved it.”
And we have Ruskin
here in this century.
Mr Bradley, we must
have every step.
This is not about the centuries.
This is about recording
the evolution of meaning.
Go to milton, its right here.
Yes, sir.
- Mr. Bradley?
- Charles.
Accepted.
Razor!
Bring me my razor!
Sir Richard!
Calm down!
- The razor! Bring me my razor!
- Lads, bloody hell, hurry up!
Bring it! Bring me the razor!
Bring me the razor!
- Hurry up!
- Okay!
Father! Father!
Father, Father!
Father!
Father!
This man Declan Reilly is a deserter.
Mark him for what he is.
Guard!
The zinc...
I'll need a sheet of zinc.
He must have come from below.
And water, in a bowl, at the threshold.
This.. the demon will not pass.
What's on the other
side, doctor?
It's the night.
He wants to take me there.
With his blind eyes,
he can only see me in the dark.
How would you feel if
we brightened the light?
- As treatment.
- I don't need treatment!
Not as treatment!
I need to see him coming!
- So that I can defend myself.
- It's an experiment!
And self-protection.
That we embark on together, doctor.
Yes?
Let me take a look at these.
Superficial lacerations
multiple to the face.
How would you feel, doctor,
if we were to introduce some
of the comforts of home.
Orthognathous jaw,
facial angle 80 degrees.
Maybe some clothing.
Amativeness, 8 incline.
Philoprogenitiveness, 4 decline.
- How would that be?
- My own wardrobe as protection.
- As protection, preciesly.
- Yes, yes.
Adhesiveness, 3 constant.
Combativeness, 6 incline.
Secretiveness, 8.
Hope, 4. constant.
Yes, simple things that we can
fit in to your surroundings.
It also happens that the adjoining
cell has become available.
You can stretch your legs.
This will get me space to paint...
Certainly.
Wonder, Ideality, Wit, Form.
All 8 decline.
Do you have any
other requests, doctor?
My books.
May I have my books?
By all means.
Anything else?
My gun.
Perhaps, we'll give
that one a miss.
Thank you, doctor.
- Please don't thank me.
- It has been a long time since anyone...
- this is different.
- My dear friend, no thanks.
No thanks.
A new beginning.
Yes.
New beginning, yes.
How can a man of
such high breeding
have regressed through disease
so far back to animality?
Doctor?
Mr.Muncie?
- The lads all chipped in.
- What have we here?
It's a book, sir.
We are all grateful to you.
Yes, it is.
Thank you, Mr. Muncie.
Because you saved
the young guard's life, sir.
I shall read it avidly
and treasure it forever.
You thank your
men on my behalf.
Merry christmas, sir.
Merry christmas, each of you.
Ham, Mr.Muncie!
Sir?
I find that a good warm ham is
often better for fighting the cold
than any number of blancket
and coals in the fire.
Specially, at this
time of a year.
- Did he liked the book, sir?
- The book?
- Yeah.
- I don't know.
- Why, has he read it?
- Well, he opened the wrapper.
- Yes, sir?
- And, then he opened the book.
- Yes?
- And then he threw it out of window.
- What?
- Yeah.
He said a demon vaporized off the
page and went up his nostrils.
- Nostrills?
- Now he's in there..
Trying to pull out
all of his nose hair.
To chart the life of each word,
we must start with
a record of its birth,
when it was first written down.
From there, words come down
to us through the ages,
twisting and turning,
weaving their way.
Their meanings,
slipping and slivering, fishlike,
adding and shedding subtleties of
nuance to and from themselves.
But they leaves tracks.
In the great expanse of the
literature of the English language.
We will chase them, hunt
them, and ferret them out.
All of them.
Every single word.
From all the centuries of writing.
And we will do so by
reading every single book.
Can it be done?
You crazy beautiful bastard.
Guard!
Guard!
- Ink, I need ink.
- Yes, I understand, sir.
And paper.
- Yes sir.
- Lots... lots and lots of it.
- I'll see what I can do, doctor.
- And Coleman..
Yes sir?
Would you be so kind
as to to dispose this for me?
- What is this, sir?
- Can't you see?
Yes.
Yes, of course I can, sir.
It's nasal hair.
Mind the demonic vapors.
Make sure to wash your hands.
And I'll make sure to
fish out some more later.
- Thank you, sir
- Thank you, Coleman.
I feel very cold and
I gotta get myself home.
We'll warm each other well.
Come on.
Oh, your smile.
Oh, come on.
It's too cold.
No!
No, no, you promised me.
You promised me!
Get off!
I don't owe you nothing.
What am I meant to feed
my little ones with, eh?
I don't know, do I?
Ask their father.
How are them matches
coming, eh?
Mum, you all right?
Yeah, yeah, I just
needed a moment.
- Sir, can I help you?
- Good evening.
I will be all right.
I was wondering if
your mother is home?
We'll get those matches
done by night's end.
It's a man. At the door.
Tell him it's Christmas
and he will go away.
- Would you come back tomorrow?
- Of course.
Could you just give
this her for me?
Tell your mother Mr. Muncie
wish her happy christmas.
Good night, girls.
Mum?
It is a ham in one.
The other, he didn't say.
He said "tell your mum
Happy Christmas".
Happy Christmas
from Mr. Muncie.
It's alright then,
isn't it, Mum?
Sir.
Sir, stop.
Sir, please!
Yes, dear?
- Is that supposed to be me?
- Ha-ha, yeah.
- Good night then, Mrs. Merrett.
- Good night.
And thank you.
Forgive me for
saying this, ma'am,
but it doesn't have
to be this way.
The children...
They don't need to go hungry.
There's one waiting
to feed them.
Take me to him.
Let me look him in the eye,
see if I can stomach him.
I went to a banquet and I ate
apples, bananas, and cranberries.
I went to a banquet and I ate
apples, bananas, cranberries..
And... dog.
That can't be.
Can't eat dog.
- Yes, I can.
- No you can't. Mum!
Mother?
Mum?
Merry christmas, all!
Do you remember our first
christmas at the school?
Harold was no more than
eight or nine months old.
Such a fart little baby.
- Do you remember how he used to cry?
- No.
One night he was
screaming so hard
that I don't know how
his little body could do it.
Every ounce of him shrieking.
Nothing I tried would calm him.
I was frightened.
Then you came home.
You lifted him up into your
arms, held him to your chest.
And he stopped.
He was so exhausted he
fell asleep instantly.
It's always been that way.
With all of them.
You had something I didn't.
So I taught myself to be
what you were not.
Strict. Fixed.
Changeless.
A queen and a clown.
Together a perfect whole.
What if it changed? What if
you're not there to be the clown?
I know that I've been
less than present lately.
But change will come,
and for the better.
I wish I had your certainty.
Please put the fire out
when you come to bed.
I thought you
might be here, sir.
I have a few hours before my little
ones wake for Christmas morning.
I thought I might take
another look at Approve.
That'll make it two of us.
William?
Dr. Minor?
I have a proposal for you.
There's been a request for a meeting.
Tristram Shandy.
A gift from Mr. Muncie and his men.
But much more.
This is very delicate.
I'll need books, far more volumes
than I have within my own reach.
William, I think this could be
very important for us.
Oxford university has undertaken an
inventory of the entire English language.
They've asked for help.
Are you listening to me, William?
I'll be all right..with work.
With whis work..
I'll be all right.
But I need books.
I only need books.
Make me a list of all
the titles that you require.
If I have them,
I'll get them send to you.
Thank you, doctor.
William.
When does she
want to come?
Mrs. Merrett.
- Where is he?
- It should only be a moment.
I just wanted to make sure
that every one was breathing.
There is a real generosity in your
visit today, Mrs. Merrett.
A true courage.
Courage, Doctor,
is not why I came.
Is it...
Is it possible...
if they waited?
- The letter.
- Yes.
All right.
- How can...
- We will take care of everything, sir.
- Thank you, Doctor
- Thank you, Mrs. Merrett.
It doesn't make it right.
What would you
care to send her?
Everything.
Few of the earliest
books have been read...
It is in the 17th and
18th Centuries above all
that help is urgently needed,
for nearly the whole of those centuries
have still to be gone through.
You may concentrate on the rare, also
late, old-fashioned, new and peculiar
but avoid not the quotidian...
...for every word in
action becomes beautiful
in the light of its own meaning.
Mr. Muncie!
Mr.Muncie!
Sorry to wake you.
I need your help with the post.
Yes, well.
Is it night?
It's just that there's
rather a lot of it.
We'll need aots of envelopes, I'd say.
And a large bag.
Yes, sir.
And a carpenter.
Can you bring a carpenter by?
In the morning, of course.
Good morning, sir.
Not so good I'm afraid, Henry.
It's Art.
None of it is working.
Are you sure, sir?
I checked it myself last night.
The construct is off.
It has lost all sense of coherence.
And it's missing countless
variations of meaning.
We'll have to start anew.
But sir, it will take weeks
just to reset to definitions.
Mr. Gill has asked for me at
the Press offices this morning.
I would very much like to see Art torn
apart and restarted when I return.
- All right?
- Very well, sir.
Thank you, Henry.
Your book, Mr. Murray,
is going to be
an unassailable contribution
to English scholarship.
It will make you famous,
when it is finished.
Look around, Mr. Murray. Empire.
One quarter of the land
and peoples of this earth.
The largest trading
dominion ever known.
If one wishes to participate,
one bows down to Her Majesty and
one speaks her tongue.
English.
Forgive me, Mr. Gell,
remind me why I am being kept
from my work this morning.
The Bible, Mr. Murray.
I was brought onto the press to
modernize the commerce
of academia to sell.
And do you know where
the first hotcake I found was?
King James Bible.
It has sold. Everywhere.
In every backwater and morass
where an Englishman is
doing God's work in a frock.
We have operations
on every continent.
Depots in Edinburgh, Toronto,
Melbourne and Calcutta.
Printing, binding,
dispatching all advertising.
And all, now, ready for
the next good book.
All waiting... for you.
- What is this?
- Your work is taking too long.
Our expectations constantly revised,
not a single page to show for it.
The delegates have
unanimously agreed
that I take charge on
keeping the work to time.
To that effect, you
have in your hands
a set of suggestions on how
to curb the scope of the work.
What we need is more
rigorous selections,
survival only of the
fittest words.
I'm tired. My team,
we are all beyond tired.
For months now, my pleas for
help have fallen on deaf ears
You have refused to pay even for
a single additional assistant.
I began this intending to create
something unprecedented.
To order the world of words, making
them universally accessible and useful.
I swore that I would bend at
nothing to make it happen.
And as of now,
this very moment,
my resolve is
greater than ever.
You are on the verge of
all out cancellation.
These rules are designed
to help keep the work going.
You may not like them, Mr. Murray,
but what other ways there?
My way, Mr. Gell.
Mr. Murray...
we are watching with
a concerned eye.
Watch, then.
And be amazed.
God in heaven, help me.
I'm lost.
Sir!
Sir! Sir!
- What?
- It's a miracle.
- It's impossible.
- Calm down, man, spit it out.
Approve, sir, is complete.
- Complete?
- You're right, sir.
“Others who approve not to
transgress by thy example”
- Milton, Paradise Lost.
- You found it?
No. Not us, sir.
You'd better read this.
"It is with a great sense of privilege
that I offer myself up as a volunteer..."
Please, sir, read on.
Enclosed please find one-thousand word
slips with corresponding quotations
from the height and
depth of literature.
I have derived a key, a type of
dictionary within a dictionary,
that allows for the amassing of
words with addended quotations.
My request is simple.
To make your burden light.
Write to me.
Tell me what specific
words at present
shimmer and fade at your grasp.
Let useful others troll the
oceans with their nets cast wide.
I shall throw my line and pluck
the very quotes that evade you
when you call
upon me to do so.
Very truly yours, W.C. Minor,
Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Look, it's all there.
He's given us Approve in
the 17th and the 18th centuries.
- And Art?
- Not that one, but so much else.
All in the “A”s, all words
we're working on
and at first glance,
all of it usable.
God has sent us a savior.
Now all we have to do is
try to keep up with him.
Thank you, Mr. Hall.
Let's have a good look
at these slips.
You cannot fathom the impact of
both your offer and your timing.
I am your grateful recipient.
Let paper and ink be
our flesh and blood
until we are privileged to meet.
Enclosed are a list of words that,
at present, are eluding us.
The word Art is proving
particularly troublesome
Enclosed you will find the quotations
that you have requested.
In pondering “Art”
I amreminded of the words
of a great man of
our time who said:
All great and beautiful work
has come of first gazing
without shrinking
into the darkness.
May I, sir?
Aye.
"Art."
I have been much acquainted
with that darkness.
Thank you..
For letting me lend
my light to yours.
Together we shall shrink the
darkness until there is only light.
Yours, W.C. Minor.
Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Aha! Here it is.
We'll put your name
on it now too.
Mr Bradley, can I have
another fascicle please?
I know of one other who's joy in
seeing it would be immeasurable.
Yes, Ma'am.
- Is Mr. Muncie working?
- He is.
Could you please tell him
Mrs. Merrett is here to see him?
I will indeed, ma'am.
- Hello, Ma'am.
- Mr. Muncie.
So pleased you've returned,
Mrs.Merrett.
Come on in then, Ma'am.
It's..
...very interesting.
Come in, doctor.
Mrs. Merrett has
brought you a book.
It's from Maggs, the bookshop.
I was told you like to read.
Thank you.
Would you care to take a walk
in the grounds, Madam?
It's a beautiful spring day.
Did you read it?
The Great Expectations?
The book you brought me.
Is it a favorite?
No. No. The shop suggested it.
I came to say..
Thank you.
The children.
They're not going hungry no more.
They have warm clothes now.
Even for next year, but...
It's never too late, with children.
Their whole lives are made of tomorrows.
But I can't go on taking your money.
It's... it's not right.
- Please, Mrs. Merrett...
- No, it's blood money.
I know.
But, it's my blood too.
My life belongs to you.
I made it so that night.
I took a life and by dreadful
bargain placed another in your hands.
By right, all that
I have is yours.
I don't know what to think. I...
I don't know why I came.
Mrs. Merrett, please.
Well, let me know
if she comes back.
Let's have a look
at those chains.
Thank you.
Can I help you, sir?
Uh, yes. I'm here to
see the superintendent.
- Are you expected?
- Oh, no, I came on impulse.
I am James Murray.
I am a friend of Dr. Minor's.
Yet only through the post.
- Dr. Minor? The superintendent?
- Aye, aye. I came to bring him this.
Fruit of our labour.
I know who you are, sir.
I posted all the letters for him.
I Licked the stamps myself.
Well, Thank you,
for your mother tongue.
Yeah, I'll see what I can do.
- So this is the good doctor?
- Mr. Murray, sir.
Dr. Minor. I'm proud to make
your acquaintance, sir.
- I cannot believe my eyes.
- Nor I. Nor this... suprise.
How did you gain entrance?
I came on the off chance..
to bring you this.
Our gathering, so far.
Meek, but poised to inherit the earth.
I thank you.
You deserve to be proud.
- Dumbfounded.
- You've been a bulwark for us, Doctor.
I'm happy to have assisted, though
I am a merely worker to the queen.
The alveary is yours.
Ah, You sent the quote
for alveary? From ..
Baret. 1580.
Of course, the early dictionaries of
English, Latin, French and Greek,
but of course, you know that.
Of course I don't.
I do know the poets.
You in your letters,
you know the scribes.
Now, my task is to describe.
Alveary.
Such a lovely buzz to it.
How about cosh, or fettle?
Fine.
Louche.
I remember that from childhood.
It always seemed undressed.
Commotrix, I adore that one.
Sounds as though it wants trouble.
Troublesome indeed
indifficult to find.
Gyre.
- A revolution. A whirl.
- Decussated.
Formed with crossing lines, like an X.
An intersection.
Perhaps you should be writing the
definitions and I... well,
it'll be useless tending to your
patients, so let's leave it as it is.
We've only just started. Partners.
Word for word.
An American... and a Scot?
How does an American
come to eye these gates?
A story for another day.
Let's continue the comparison.
One Oxford,
one Yale.
- Both gray.
- One brilliant, one mad.
Aye, but which is which?
Where to from here?
Antagonism to bathe.
Then batheable to cholera.
Choleric to dysenteric.
Dysentery to eczema.
Eczematous to fungus.
- Why not jump strait to Leprosy?
- Oh, that'd drop a lot.
Who is this?
- Murray, sir.
- Who is Murray?
The man from the dictionary,
the one the doctor's been working with.
Good god.
Well, he's had a very busy day.
Let's keep it short, shall we?
Yes, sir.
Mr. Muncie..
Accord Dr. Murray full
visitation privileges.
Let me know when
they're gonna happen.
- Yes, sir.
- Thank you.
Let's document all the meetings.
Keep full details.
One could dare say
it's beautiful here.
Listen to the leaves
scratch at the air.
Sometimes it sounds like gunfire.
Sometimes it's like..
- Like applause?
- Yes, applause.
- Mr. Murray..
- Aye, I should be off then.
Check your posts.
I will garner my thoughts
and spark them off of yours.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man
sharpens a accountess of a friend.
Scripture. You're a man of God.
I should not be surprised.
It is by His grace alone.
I wish I had to experienced
that a more often.
You will, my friend.
Goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life.
Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death...
You are not alone, good doctor.
We are linked now.
Consanguineous.
Brothers.
I looked for you this morning.
I wanted to share some
good news with you.
- What news?
- New volunteer. A miracle.
He's pulling us out
of the darkness.
We have doubled our
pogress with him already.
Well, that's wonderful, James.
Who is he?
A friend.
- A letter from our superintendent, sir.
- Oh!
Thank you.
Henry, could you keep an eye for all
future letters from the good Doctor?
He is, rather, a private man,
and I would wish to honor that.
- I brought another book for you.
- I see that.
What is it?
One from the list
Mr. Muncie gave me.
I asked. It's one of the
ones you wanted.
You read?
I will guess which one it is.
Read a paragraph..
- Or a sentence.
- I'm sorry, Doctor.
Mrs. Merrett.
Mrs. Merrett.
Mrs. Merrett, wait.
What did I do?
You cannot read.
Forgive me. I should
not have presumed.
I don't need you to bring books,
Mrs. Merrett. It's your visits...
Please, doctor, let me be.
I can teach you.
- I am who I am.
- You can teach your children.
It's freedom, Mrs. Merritt.
I can fly out of this place
on the backs of books.
I've gone to the ends of the
world on the wings of words.
- I cannot.
- When I read...
...no one is after me.
When I read,
I am the one who's chasing.
Chasing after god.
Please, I beg you.
Join the chase.
Kumquat.
Oblong.
Pert.
Prunes.
Coconuts.
Chitty.
My win, Murray.
- What on earth is chitty?
- Long form of chit.
Oh, of course, chit. letter or
note. Indian origin, no?
That's right.
- Who's she?
- The impossible.
The more impossible,
the greater the love.
Do you truly believe that?
My heart is so sick.
Well..
What I know of love is that the
sickness often becomes the cure.
She is my friend.
She is my dear friend.
She has suffered a
terrible loss.
Perhaps God's grace will come to
her through your love, William.
"Eat"? So don't
really say the "I".
"W-a-s-h"
- Ah, Brush and fish.
- Yes.
- "Wash".
- You're learning very very fast.
"The brain is wider than the sky,
for put them side by side."
"The one the other will include,
with ease and you beside."
"The brain is just
the weight of God,
for, heft them,
pound for pound,"
"And they will differ if they do
as syllable from sound."
Did they cut the rest
of the hair of that girl?
- Mrs. merrett.
- He's making most tremendous progress.
Mrs. Merrett.
I'm begining to believe that the more he's
exposed to the world beyond these walls
the speedier would be his cure.
You think he can be cured, doctor?
I have to. I...
There must be
hope for all of us.
Even the most
broken of souls.
I, uh, think on it.
My Dear Friend.
I have recommended to the Delegates
that your name be acknowledged
in the First Volume of the “New English
Dictionary on Historical Principles”,
to which your vibrant mind has so
critically given the breath of life.
The last fascicle is already complete.
Expectantly, James.
Congratulations, Doctor Murray.
For giving us A to byzen.
And for the rest to come,
beginning with cab.
Thank you sir.
It's not selling.
Only 4,000 orders the Empire through,
and it won't go any quicker.
We're the laughing
stock of all academia.
I wonder if it's time
to ease our gentle Scotsman
off his little perch.
It'll be alright.
They're good kids.
We don't have to do it,
if you don't want to.
Look at me.
William..
It'll be alright.
Children, I would like you to meet
a friend. His name is William.
You must be Olive,
is that right?
Yes.
- Iris?
- M-hm.
- Jack?
- Hm.
- And peggy.
- M-hm.
You must be Peter.
It's good to meet you, Peter.
And are you Claire, then?
Claire.
It's a true honor to
meet you, Clare.
Claire!
Claire!
Mr. Muncie..
- Watch 'em for me. Just for a moment.
- M-hm.
Doctor!
Wait, wait!
I'm sorry. I never wanted that to
happen. I'm so sorry... I...
I remember being safe and still.
I remember knowing who I was.
Then I woke up and
it had all gone away.
And I hated you so
much, for so long.
But now I know you.
I know who you are.
And I know the same
has been done to you.
I wrote you something.
- "I can.."
- I can...
...because of you.
I miss my husband.
I came here that
first day to hate you.
To take your money and watch
you locked way, see you done.
You should still hate me.
Not anymore.
Look, what you have done!
Look, what have done!
Not that many this time, sir.
I wrote you something.
No, read it when I've gone.
I'm sorry, Eliza.
But what if I'm not...
I killed him again.
It's all your fault.
I killed him again.
In your heart!
Mr. Coleman!
You might have
let the clinic know.
I've injured myself.
My Friend. I no longer find
I have the place for this.
I thought you might accept it.
Remember me by it.
As a testament to our friendship and
to that which we created together,
in the brief and fleeting time
when thanks to you, I could
trust my mind. William.
Mr. Murray.
I'm Richard Bryan. Superintendent.
Pleased to meet you, sir.
I'm very proud of the contribution
that Dr. Minor's made, of course.
His illness has entered a new phase.
And you maybe shocked.
I should warn you, too,
that he may display hostility.
You came.
Of course, I came
I knew that you would.
Your God is very demanding.
A sacrifice was required.
- I received your letter.
- His love!
His wife.
I stole her from the dead.
Have you gotten to
the “I's” by now?
I had some to
add to your words,
but I can't, uh, seem to
I can't seem to
find my pens.
Our words, William.
Our words.
Perhaps that is true.
Perhaps ..
...the madness
gave us the words.
But you have made them yours.
They bear your secret signature.
Why did you come here?
- Did you bring others?
- I'm alone, William.
I have reason to believe
that they are hiding
between the spaces of the
floors, biding their times.
I am sorry, James.
I'm sorry.
I... for a moment I...
I dared to hope.
Your words,
her... forgiveness.
It's more than forgiveness.
She...
She gave me this.
Read it, later, if you
truly want to know why.
Know what?
Assythment.
Assythment.
A quote from Austin, 1832.
I sent it in, only hoping,
but I wasn't
sure, not until now.
No... I... I can't
remember the quote.
Look it up!
Look it up!
You've seen me now,
and we're done.
You can leave
the lunatic to his illusions.
I came here to...
to see my friend.
I'm no man's friend.
I am a murderer.
Everything else is make believe.
So leave. Leave.
Leave, leave, leave.
And do not come back!
I do not want to see you!
Please, Dr..
If your claim that
you're my friend is true..
You will respect
that one simple wish!
Yeah.
I think no more visitors
for Dr. Minor.
Bondmade.
Missing from volume one.
A perfectly solid, everyday English
word, and we don't have it.
I don't know how it
could have happened.
I checked the proof
for it myself.
The University of
Vienna picked up on it.
The bloody Austrians!
It's a disgrace.
Calm down, Phillip.
We'll catch it.
We'll form an addendum.
I've been meaning to discuss
that with all of you...
Are you intending
to drop others?
“The makers of this grand folly
also deign it beneath them to include the
nouns and adjectives denoting countries.
Hence no mention of African,
Arabian, American and so on.”
In the blasted Figaro!
In the same breath expounding the
virtues of their competing dictionaries.
In France, Germany,
the Netherlands.
This is a war about the
spread of colonial language.
Not won with bullets and bayonets
- but with influence and appearance.
- This is utterly absurd.
No, what is absurd is your dogged,
bullheaded approach.
A superabundance
of redundancy, Dr. Murray.
We need focus. The language is
escaping you. You are losing.
What preciesly are
you saying, Mr. Gell?
This is Oxford.
We do not lose.
Clearly the only course
remaining to...
- Bondmade...
- What was that? Speak up, Freddie.
Bondmade. Um..
I borrowed the proof
from the scriptorium,
to use it in one of my lectures.
I forgot to replace it.
- I am responsible for its exclusion.
- It doesn't change a thing.
Also the absence of African,
Arabian and American.
I convinced James
not to include them.
So you see gentlemen, you are
inculpating the wrong man.
- Freddie..
- You're right, Philip,
there is only one course of action.
I will resign my post on
the board of the delegates.
We shall make an announcement on it.
And the project will go on.
With James.
- I really don't see how this..
- Phillip, please!
Have it in writing, to the Press
offices in the morning.
- He's lying through his teeth.
- Of course, he is.
- Then why let them get away with it?
- Well, didn't you see?
Dr. Murray is a breath
away from shattering.
And without Furnivall's meddling
all we need do is wait.
Have a quiet word with Bradley.
I suspect he is just the ticket
for a more malleable pair
of hands at the helm.
James, what's the matter?
I'm adrift, Ada.
The day has been one of loss.
I need to tell you
some things.
There is nothing you can
tell me to make this right.
All the wisdom, all the diligence, and
you simply seek to...
How long have you known
about his madness?
How much time have you
spent with this man?
Why are you so angry?
What difference can it possibly make?
His work on the Dictionary
proves he is sane.
He fooled that jury,
and he fooled you.
What about repentance?
Ada, what about redemption?
The delegates,
your team, your family.
We all deserve more than to
have it all sullied by some...
Stop!
I couldn't call into question the
morality of every invisible volunteer
we've ever leaned on.
This one hits his children,
that one's on the whiskey,
this one, didn't you hear,
he cheats on the Times crossword.
Remove the blackguard
from the list.
He is a murderer.
He lied to you.
Have not you never lied?
Have you not?
What do you so affraid of?
That a bad man can be redeemed?
Isn't that what we believe, what we
whisper to our children every night?
What we pray for?
Forgiveness.
I don't know who
you're preaching to.
Neither do I.
Thus they in lowliest plight
repentant stood
Praying from the mercyseat above
prevenient grace descending had removed the
stony from their hearts and made new flesh.
Milton. Paradise Lost.
Prevenient grace, Ada.
From before the fall.
Salvation for all,
if we choose to engage it.
"If love... then what"?
What is that?
A note. From the widow.
Asking the question ..of the killer.
“Assythment - satisfaction
for an injury done.
Compensation, reparation,
indemnification.
By law, the wife and family of the slain
have still the right for assythment.”
I don't understand.
It means to pay everything back.
The guilty make recompense to the victim.
I thought he has
already given her money.
No, Ada. His life.
With his life.
“If love... then what?”
Is what she wrote to him.
And his response...
“...then no chance redemption.”
What are you going to do?
What can I do?
Sometimes when we push away,
that is when we most
need to be resisted.
Please, let me in!
Let me in!
I need to see him!
Let me in!
Mr. Muncie, please!
I know you can hear me.
Let me in!
I need to see him.
Let me in!
- Mrs. Merrett?
- I need to see him. Please.
It's best you you went away now.
And you not come back.
- Please, I need to see him.
- Mrs. Merrett, I'm sorry.
No, I need to see him.
Please, no.
I need to see him!
Please!
It is time to commence a course of more
invasive and experimental treatments.
All procedures will be
fully documented.
William?
Are we ready?
Thank you, Doctor.
Secure his arms.
All right.
Here we go.
That's it.
Steady, boy.
Come on, let's get moving.
All right.
- Doctor, bear with me.
- M-hm. Yes.
All right!
That's it. That's it.
Sit. Sit.
Steady yourself.
- Again.
- Same again, sir.
- Again.
- Leave him there.
- Come on, sir.
- I asked first.
Up, now.
Up, now.
- You got it?
- Yes.
Mrs. Murray.
My name is Church.
I'm with the South London Chronicle.
May I speak with your
husband, ma'am?
The story runs tomorrow, sir.
Everything, you, the big book,
the widow Merrett.
There's nothing I can
do about it now.
I just wanted to give
you a fair warning.
But, these...
I havn't given 'em to the paper.
I thought, maybe, you
should hold on to them.
It looks like he's in a bad way, sir.
Mummy!
Why don't you go upstairs to
Mummy's bedroom and play for bit?
James...
If I may say, sir,
between you and me.
We... had to take precautions.
William?
It's James, William.
- William.
- It's no use, I'm affraid.
He's not here.
I don't know where he is,
but he's not here.
Wait for me outside.
Dr. Murray, I must ask that
you inform me before you pay a visit.
I came as soon as I knew.
Yes, but it's not a club, sir.
This is a medical facility.
- Dr. Minor is a patient.
- He's my friend and my brother.
Yes, he's my friend as well.
And he's one of the bravest
men I've ever known.
However, this is
evere catalepsy.
It's a fair question whether or not
the soul has already left the vessel.
“Divided from himself
and his fair judgment;
Without which we are pictures
or mere beasts.”
How could this have happened?
I must ask you to leave immediately.
No, he dosen't belong
here, not like this.
On the contrary,
he doesn't belong anywhere else.
Please allow us to get on with our work.
We have a great deal to do.
It's alright, William.
Please.
It's all right, William.
It's all right. William.
It's all right.
The last 400 years have been
defined by his quotes alone.
We were at our darkest moment.
He gave us life.
I am asking for your help here, Ben.
To tell the truth
about what he has done.
Let this be known, and not this.
My only regret
is that you did not come forward
with this much sooner.
What there is to be known has
already been said... right here.
Written. Didn't you see?
But this is the life of man.
All that he is will end
with him in that place.
And he is where he should be.
What use an act of
pointless charity?
Then I resign.
There will be no need
for such theatrics.
William Minor will be struck
from all acknowledgments.
You are to be welcomed, for as long as you
like, as a contributor to the dictionary.
The editorship will pass
immediately to Bradley.
I will be proposing this to an emergency
meeting of the delegates this afternoon.
I do not expect any dissention.
- I won't thieve any more of your time.
- Nor I yours.
- Yes sir?
- Is the master of the house in?
James.
Is everything all right?
I'm sorry, Freddie.
I didn't know where else to go.
I've lost everything.
Everything has broken.
I wanted to document the
history of each and every thing.
To offer the world a book that gives the
meaning of everything in God's creation.
Or at least the
English part of it.
But it has defeated me.
And now, I have paid for it with every
thing that ever meant anything to me.
You know, there is another
book purports to do just that.
But it has already beaten
you to the punch...
Come with me. Come,
I want to show you something.
I told'im if he was to take
me out I'd need new dunnage.
What? With a sprat?
How'd you do that?
I told'im t'was a quid and I
blagged the rest for myself.
Dunnage? Sprat? Blag?
How many new words
replacing the old?
How many new words for
things that yet to be imagined?
How many of them in your
all encompassing book?
No language can ever be
permanently the same, James.
Not if it springs forth from life.
But how can the work be
ended if not ever completed?
You've given us is its heart
along with a great jolt
to begin the first few beats.
Generations after you
will continue this work
because you has
showed them the way.
But it will never be completed.
Let it go. Attend to yourself.
Leave the project to me.
I have a few tricks for
Jowett and his lackey Gells
that they haven't considered
in their maneuvering.
Ada.
With Bradley in charge and the university
press firmly driving the endeavour.
We believe we can keep
to our desired target
of 704 pages for a year,
doubling current sales aspects.
Thank you, Mr. Gell.
Well, gentlemen, I believe we are
all now sufficiently informed
to put the motion to a vote.
Sorry, my husband's
unable to attend.
I would like ask permission
to say a few words in his stead.
Mrs. Murray, this is a closed meeting.
I'm affraid you'll have to leave.
My family and I have given much for
the glory of the delegates, Mr. Gell.
I am certain they can give a few
moments of their time in return.
Of course, Mrs. Murray.
We are here to listen.
Please, go ahead.
My husband has this silly
little leather parchment,
on that, he's engraved a creed:
"Only a most diligent life".
Diligence.
I looked it up in your dictionary.
Constant and earnest effort to
accomplish what is undertaken.
Persistence. Application.
But also, toil..and pain.
Some of you think my husband a fool.
Obstinate. Naive.
Driven to what he is by a fear of
what awaits us all on the other side.
But he isn't.
He sees the world, all of
it, with its myriad choices.
And he chooses
to be what he is.
Yet, two such men found
each other in our time.
My husband and his friend,
the murderous madman.
Together they have given
us something extraordinary.
I am here to ask you to take
exception to our prevailing natures.
I'm here to ask you not
to punish them for it.
Bradley told me you quit.
I did what I could in there,
but they're a tough lot.
We're leaving this place.
We're going back to London.
And the book. It is not just yours to quit.
It is ours, remember?
Mine, the children's,
countless others'.
And they can, James,
if there is love.
I know the answer now.
I know the answer
to the widow's question.
I want you to do
something for me.
I will.
I want you to go to her
and look her in the eye.
And if you see forgiveness,
if you see love..
Then I want you to
help your friend.
Aye.
- Here my man.
- Thank you, sir.
He gave me that the
last time I saw him.
The last time he was lucid.
They won't let me see him.
Can you make them let me in?
It's no use. He's not the same
as you remember.
If I've forgiven him, why should
they go on punishing him?
Thank you for seeing me at
such short notice, Sir Charles.
Freddy is an old friend.
I have to warn you though Mr. Murray,
the American murder is a scar.
- Perhaps one that is still too fresh.
- Perhaps this will heal it.
Hardly so.
Any politician espousing his cause
is certain to face public outrage.
Chances of a pardon, or a reprieve,
are virtually non-existent.
What price justice?
What price mercy?
Expensive to your first.
Cheap but unpopular
to your second.
Look here, levers can be pulled.
Get you a hearing.
But if I were you, I
would do all I can to
find out who will be called to it.
And I would stack the deck.
William?
William, can you hear me?
- Everybody out.
- It's James.
- Everybody out.
- William, you need to hear us.
Can you hear me?
I've brought Mrs. Merrett to see you.
- Leave him be!
- She needs to talk...
Leave him be!
With all due respect, sir.
Leave them be!
William?
William?
William, I'm here.
It's Eliza.
Do you remember, William?
If love... then what?
If love... then what, William?
If love...
then Love.
If love then love.
Please, stand.
Do you know why you are
here, Dr. Minor?
I do.
And in your opinion, Sergeant,
have the circumstances changed?
No, sir.
Under what conditions
did he enter catalepsy?
- Documented procedures of treatment.
- With the patient's agreement?
Of course.
Gentlemen, with respect, the matter
here begs a different question.
Where and into which hands would
misguided compassion release him?
There is nowhere else.
This is his home.
Thank you, Mrs Merrett.
Is there anything
further you'd like to say?
Yes, I would.
My husband didn't deserve
what happened to him.
He worked hard.
Kept his family together.
Then one day he was gone.
And nothing could bring him back.
What happened to him isn't fair.
For a long time after he was gone,
I didn't want to remember him.
Not even what he looked like.
I want to say
I'm sorry about that.
He deserved more than that.
My husband was a sweet man.
But he could get angry too.
Once he got so cross, he kicked the
heater cause it weren't working,
put his foot right through. Burnt it on the
hot coals. He was limping for weeks after.
One day he caught
Jack behind him,
hopping along, all hobbled and
all, like him. Do you remember?
He looked at Jack,
and he started to laugh.
He laughed so hard hobbling,
he nearly fell over.
I think that's why he
was often so cross.
It's cause he wanted his babies,
you were all his babies,
he wanted them to
make him laugh.
I think if George was here now
he would think all this is unfair.
I think this would make him angry.
He wouldn't have a lot of
fancy words to say about it.
But I think he would
want it to stop.
Sir, please, I want
a moment of your time.
I will deliver my report in two days.
You will know then.
We're not asking for
your full deliberation.
Just a hint at
which way you lean.
Release will be denied.
The particulars of his treatment that
have come to light are troubling...
Well, that's not enough...
...but they are an indictment of the
entire criminally insane system
of which this board is
not a competent judge.
Dr. Minor is a severely
disturbed man.
For his own safety,
the recommendation
cannot be given to
release him into the open.
Sir, is there no other way?
Whatever you intend to do Dr. Murray,
you have one day.
Then I have to
submit my report.
We can try one last measure, James.
But you'd better be
prepared to lay it all on.
Your timing couldn't be worse.
An armed gang of Latvians have hauled
up in a building on Sidney Street.
The Scots Guards
have it surrounded
and the whole thing has
escalated into a siege.
A bloody disaster.
It's put him in a foul mood.
Wait here.
I'm sorry, chaps.
No go. Bad timing.
Sir?
Sir?
Forgive me,
that was insolent.
I don't know you, sir.
I don't know
the sort of man you are.
But the office you occupy
permits me to have desires
as to the kind of man
I would want you to be.
Your decisions affect
all of the lives in this land.
I am here, standing before
you, for a single one.
A complicated, pained and soured one.
But a life nonetheless.
And therefore deserving
and worthy and precious.
If you believe,
like I would want you to believe,
that every individual life
deserves its own chance,
Then please,
hear what I have come to say.
- Please, sir.
- All right.
I suppose I did say lay it all on.
Charles.
I will not release Dr. Minor.
The prime minister won't countenance it.
The public won't stand for it.
Fortunately your lexicon provides us with
the means to conceal the unpalatable.
What I will do is
deport Dr. Minor.
- I gather he has family in Connecticut.
- He does, sir.
I shall let the board know that should
he be released, he is to be sent home.
Undesirable alien.
Let America manage her errant son.
Settle this matter Dr. Murray.
Go back to work.
The nation has need of you.
- And allow me to get back to mine.
- Tha-Thank you, sir.
- Congratulations, Doctor.
- Thank you! Thank you.
May I introduce you
to Freddie Furnivall.
- It's an honor, doctor.
- No. It is impossible.
They're ready, sir.
- Wait a moment, please.
- Yes, sir.
I'll be right here, William.
Right over there.
Alright?
That's good.
And if you can held on till three.
One, two, three.
This is ours.
Something to read on the ship.
Does she know?
She does.
Tell her I..
- You'll tell her then.
- I will.
Have you seen the latest
proof for the front cover?
You see the fortunate thing
about these awful people,
is that they believe in the divine
right of rule of the monarch.
Their system falls to pieces if they
don't abide by its silly intricacies.
So, we use it against them.
Your book is safe, James.
And you are safe at its
helm for as long as you wish
or until you shuffle
off this mortal coil.
- Yes?
- What now?
Now and forever
beyond, my dear Gell,
Dr. Murray is the dictionary.
Perhaps you should
consider taking a rest.
I hear the South of France
is quite the place for, um..
Recharging
one's spirits.
Subtitled by NILNUWAN
---
(With the help of movie screenplay)
subtitled by NILNUWAN
All thanks to the person who
uploaded it to the internet
Please identify the accused.
Dr. William Chester Minor,
Captain surgeon in the US army, retired.
Dr. Maynor has come to
our shores seeking sanctury.
In his home country
of the United States,
he was persued relentlessly by a man
pledged to torture and kill him.
On that fateful night of 17th of february,
the defendent woke with a start.
He knew right away that he'd
been hunted down and found.
That his pursuer, one Declan Reilly,
was, indeed, in his rooms.
Dr. Minor reached for his
service revolver and gave chase.
Fenian!
In the streets,
he found a man running.
Help! Help!
Help! He...
Help!
Eliza, open the door!
Eliza!
- Eliza!
- In the confusion of night,
...he failed to discern
the difference
between his assailant and
the innocent George Merrit.
Eliza.
- Stop there!
- This is not the Fenian!
No!
- This is not the Fenian?
- No!
I'm sorry!
I'm sorry!
No!
No!
My lord...
Dr. Minor shot the wrong man.
So..
He didn't mean it.
Then, My lord, perhaps the court should
simply release the good doctor
with an apology for the
misunderstanding that has occured.
Your honour!
Declan...
Declan Reilly is his name.
He has a brand on
the left side of his face!
He comes at night!
He comes with others!
They come in and... They haunt me.
The got into my rooms!
I do not believe you, sir
This court does not believe you.
Quiet, please!
Quiet in court!
Quiet, please.
Quiet! Quiet!
We, the members of her majesties jury,
finds doctor William Chester Minor...
...not guilty of the willful
murder of George Merrett.
Quiet!
Quiet!
On the grounds of insanity.
I am not insane, sir.
Quiet, please!
William Chester Maynor.
It's hereby this court's ruling
that you should be detained in safe
coustody at Broadmoor asylum
for the criminally insane,
until her majesty's
pleasure be known.
Quiet, please!
Move! Move!
You bloody bollocks hell!
Hey, anymore of that
and you're off!
Harold!
- I must get back in, father.
- I know. In a tick, boy.
Take a few breaths.
Mind the long run
down the flank,
If you see the brute
coming play down patch
don't let him pull you in, all right?
And try for the clean catch.
- Yes, sir. The game, sir.
- Oh!
Harold, about your use of words.
- Yes, sir.
- Good.
- Then go, boy! Come on!
- Yes, sir!
- I had a word with him.
- Yes, I saw.
Read in the paper, dreadful story.
A shooting in Lambeth.
By an American, an army officer.
And that poor woman
left behind with six children.
Yeah, I saw.
I don't know what I would do, James,
If you were taken like that.
Yes!
That's it!
That's it!
Yes! Yes!
How's that you
ensanguined mules!
- That's it. You're off!
- What's wrong with "ensanguined?"
- Get out!
- Harold! Harold.
I wish to state that I possess a general
lexical and structural knowledge
of the languages and literature
of the Aryan and
SyroArabic classes.
I have recently submitted my paper
on the declension of German verbs
- to the Philological society...
- Mr. Murray..
I understand that you do not
possess a university degree.
Uh, no, sir. Uh...
no degree. I am an autodidact,
self taught.
I am aware of the word.
Schooling?
Left at fourteen to earn a living.
Honestly Freddie, it's a bit much.
A bit much, yes.
Of course, we, the august Delegates of
the Oxford University Press,
have been attempting to make
this dictionary for last twenty years.
And despite the greatest efforts
of a whole army of academics,
myself included,
we are precisely nowhere.
Forgive me that is incorrect.
We are, in fact, going backwards.
The language is developing
faster than our progress.
This great tongue of ours,
which reaches out across the world
has drawn its guns, sharpened its bayonets
and declared that it will not be tamed.
And we, with our debates ad nauseam
about the scope, the mode,
the purpose of these words
have all but thrown ourselves
down in supplication before it,
bathed in abject defeat.
At this moment,
the endeavor is dead.
Is that too much, Max?
Gentlemen, I am afraid that nothing
short of a panacea is called for.
I submit that the extraordinary,
the unconventional,
Mr. Murray is the solution
and our salvation.
Your account, though a bit
dramatic, is true, Freddie.
But we need something more
than impassioned advocacy.
Qualifications come to mind.
Perhaps a Bachelor's Degree.
Qualifications, yes.
Well, Um...
I am fluent in Latin
and Greek, of course.
Beyond those, uh, I have an intimate
knowledge of the Romance tongues,
Italian, French, Spanish, Catalan
and to a lesser degree
Portugese, Vaudois, Provencal
and other dialects.
In the Teutonic branch,
I am familiar with German,
Dutch, Danish and Flemish.
I have specialized in
Anglo-Saxon and Moeso-Gothic
and have prepared works for publication
on both these languages.
I also have a useful
knowledge of Russian.
I have sufficient knowledge
of Hebrew and Syriac
to read at sight the Old
Testament and Peshito.
And to a lesser degree, uh,
Aramaic Arabic, Coptic and Phoenician
to the point where it
was left by Genesius...
Forgive me ...for rattling on.
I'm sure you have questions.
Mr. Murray, a word comes to mind -
"Clever."
Can you define it and
tell us its history?
I'll make a fist of it, uh,
on the hoof, as it were.
Clever: adjective.
Meaning - adroit, nimble, dextrous.
Uh, probably from
the Low German, Klover.
Or perhaps the Middle Dutch, Klever,
meaning sprightly or smart.
Uh..
Mr. Murray is also a master
of the Scottish clog dance.
Forgive me for
keeping it from you.
I scarcely believed
in the chance myself.
That's all mine, Ada,
the entire language.
I've never known how to resist it.
Your exuberance...
But it's so sudden.
And to abandon all this,
the school, the constancy.
Is this truly what you wish?
For all of us?
Ada, I'm an untutored linen draper's
boy from Teviotdale,
now, all of suddenly,
with a real crack at it.
My entire life, has been
in preparation for this.
Whatever I've done,
I've done with you.
I've never been able to,
without you.
Once again,
lend yourself to me.
If I am to fashion a book,
I will need a spine.
- Father?
- Elsie. Children.
Are we going somewhere?
To Oxford.
Your father is the editor of the New English
dictionary on Historical Principles.
What is that?
Oh, that's a very big book.
With lots of words in it.
All the words of the
English language.
Like Dr. Johnson's
dictionary?
Aye-aye, but... but...
his... his...
his book comprised of a only
a mere handful of words.
I am charged with
identifying and defining
every last word.
- Will “happy” be in there, Father?
- Aye, happy will be there, Elsie.
My dictionary will need as
many volumes as these...
to house the entire language.
- Will “sad”?
- “sad” will be there, yes.
What about “big”?
Will “big” be in there?
"Big"? Aye.
And "small", too.
There isn't a word you can think of
that will not be in this very big book.
- Father?
- Yes, Ozwyn?
Will Ozwyn be in there?
Probably... maybe.
Never play with books, all right?
That's... That's wrong.
Wednesday, April 17th, 1872.
Inmate Number 742.
7-4-2. Admittance.
Minor, William Chester.
An American, 48 years old.
Surgeon, a captain in
the united states army.
No known religion.
Classified a danger to others.
Assigned to Block Two.
The prisoner is in a rage,
spitting dozens of times,
by his own account trying not to swallow
poison coated
cold iron bars
that have been pressed
against his teeth.
Here you go.
March 17th, three days
now the prisoner
has gone without sleeping.
Constantly leaping
from his bed to
search underneath
it in sheer terror.
Repeatedly claiming to look for
those who come in
for him at night.
Doctor Richard Brayn.
Alienist superintendent,
Broadmoor Asylum.
There it was, staring me in the face.
The Home Secretary wouldn't
be bamboozled into accepting.
Can you believe it?
Like Orthrus,
a two-headed dog of a line.
Written! In the Athenaeum!
In a single sentence!
Your book, Mr. Murray,
will need to establish
strict rules banning
such offenses.
Beyond which it should
fix all spellings,
lay down proper pronunciations
and firm up correctness of speech.
We've been here before, Max.
What of all the
bamboozles and wouldn't,
shouldn't and couldn'ts
to come in the future?
The tongue is at
its purest peak.
Sufficiently refined that it can
henceforward only deteriorate.
It's up to us
To fix it once and for all.
Alterations to it can
then be permitted or not.
And who would you have do the
permitting?
You, Max?
Me? No.
All words are valid
parts of the Language.
Ancient or new,
obsolete or robust,
foreign born
or home-grown.
The book must inventory every
word, every nuance,
every twist of etymology and every
possible illustrative citation
from every English author.
All of it or nothing at all.
That would mean
reading everything.
Quoting everything that
showed anything
to do with history of the
words that are to be cited.
The task is gigantic,
monumental.
And impossible.
There is a way.
A task that might take one
man a hundred lifetimes,
could take a hundred
men just one.
Volunteers. We have tried it
before, James, and failed.
I'm afraid there're not enough
of academics in the land.
How many did you enlist?
Eighty, perhaps ninety.
With a thousand you could
accomplish it in just a few years.
Where do you propose
finding a thousand men?
Everywhere English is
celebrated and spoken.
In every book shop, school,
workplace or home.
Do you mean ordinary
people? Amateurs?
English speaking ones, aye.
We will ask them to read in
search of the words that we want.
And get them to write the word
on a slip of paper,
along with the quotation that
they've found illustrating the very word.
And then, post the slip to us.
An entire army covering the breadth
of the Empire and beyond,
drawing a sweep net over
the whole of English literature,
listing the entirety of
their own language.
A dictionary by democracy.
Still edited by us.
Learned men.
And with this system, Mr. Murray,
how long do you estimate
to finishing your task?
Five years, seven at most.
All words and their
complete histories?
Every last one.
Dear England.
We're about to embark on the greatest
adventure our language has ever known.
Let us begin at aardvark
and never stop until
we reach zymurgy.
"Zymurgy"?
Well, I'd wager that that's
the last word in the language.
Surely there is
nothing after z-y.
- Meaning?
- Huh.
You'll be able to look it up
in a few short years.
There's a cloying eagerness to him.
And that grating Scottish lilt.
Why do you suppose he
doesn't try to conceal it?
For the sake of our eardrums?
His ideas are quite radical.
Just what we need.
You don't think he's a follower of that
awful German-born pamphleteer, do you?
No, no, no, my dear.
The man is positively baying to be
a part of this little world of ours.
Already quite seduced,
I would say.
I'm sorry, Ada.
What for?
For this disruption.
For breaking up the home.
For dragging you here.
No doubts, James, no jitters.
I need this promise from you.
Now that it's started, let's see
it through, steadfast and resolved.
An Appeal to the English-Reading
Public of Great Britain,
America and the British Colonies
to read books and make
extracts
for a new Dictionary worthy
of the English Language.
We live today knowing
the origins of the earth,
of man and all the animals.
We know how hot boiling water is.
How long a yard.
Our ships' masters know the precise
measurements of latitude and longitude.
Yet we have neither
chart nor compass
to guide us through
the wide sea of words.
The time has come to accord
this great language of ours
the same dignity and respect
as the other standards
defined by science.
Fly your words to Oxford.
Let us be connected, all of us
in this great endeavour,
through the marvellous maze
of our inter-netted post.
What are you doing, Father?
Well, Mr. Bradley and
I put a big hole in the ground.
But, what for?
For scriptorium.
That's a room like
in medieval monasteries
where monastic scribes
used to copy manuscripts.
Oh, look. Look at that.
Look what I've found.
Treasure.
- Will you clean that for me?
- Yes, Father.
All right.
It is a long run but we can
bear the language aloft.
Mr. Bradley.
With you, our volunteers,
as rungs in the ladder,
we may elevate English even
unto the gates of heaven.
Come on!
Hey! Get off me!
Sorry, man.
- Hey, get off you, damn!
- Who did this to me?
Stay clear!
Get out of the way!
Get out of the way!
get back now! Move!
Look at me, look at me!
My son, my son!
listen to me, listen to me.
We're going to lift the
gate, just a bit,
let's see if you can
pull your leg through.
I... I don't know, sir.
We've got to do it, son.
We've got to do it.
Let's try? eh? eh?
Good boy.
Good boy.
After three...
One, two, three.
Out of my way!
Out of my way!
How far is nearest blacksmith?
Crowthorne.
The nearest surgeon?
Crowthorne Village.
At least half an hour there and back.
I want a sharp knife and a saw.
Lift it up.
In a half hour's time
this man will bleed to death.
- Coleman.
- Yes, sir?
Get a sharp knife and a saw.
Quickly!
Hey, you listen me, doctor.
I know who you are
and how you got in here.
And Believe me when I say that none
of your wealth will do you any good
if you try anything.
Your saw.
You wrap the wound in boiled rags.
Keep the belt tight and
get him to a surgeon.
Your ligation held,
hemorrhaging was low...
His condition is
delicate, but he is alive.
We are all very grateful
to you, Dr. Minor.
Was the wound swabbed
and dressed in phenol?
Luckily, our local surgeon is well
versed in Lister's latest asepsis
and antisepsis methods,
as I see you are.
Rush's Tranquilizer.
Dr. Rush, he was an american army
surgeon for a time as well, I believe.
Dr. Rush believed that if
the patient could be rendered
entierly immobile during
compulsions of mania..
That madness itself
could be countered.
Barbaric in its simplicity.
It's a relic, from the dark
days of my profession.
But, it still has its uses when
combined with modern techniques.
You think I'm insane?
Are we not all,
to some extent?
You do expirience yourself
is being under threat, do you not?
A man...
is coming for me.
From my confinement
I will not see him come.
So if you will permit me,
I would ask your vigilance
and that you have
your men alert me?
He is easily identifieble.
He has a brand mark on
the left side of his face.
Dr. Minor, rest assured
We will do everything in our power
to ensure your safety.
Is there anything else
I can help you with?
I have a pension
from the US Army.
I wish that a greater
portion of it would be given
to Mrs. Merrett for the
support of her children.
Well, I'm sure that can be arranged.
Sir?
I'd like to take care
of that person.
There you are, Dr. Minor.
You have our very
best man on the case.
Thank you, Mr. Muncie.
There are children
sleeping in here.
Only a letter to
deliver, ma'am.
Bit late for the post, ain't it?
You lot are terrible liars.
I'm not from the papers.
Or the police or naught.
I'm not here to
bother you at all.
I needed to make sure you
got it right personal.
I'll just slide it
under the door.
I'm not from the papers.
Who are you then?
I am Muncie, ma'am.
I'm Hoping to help.
Is this from you?
No, ma'am.
The letter will explain.
Who is it from?
She wouldn't consider it.
Thank you, Mr. Muncie.
Look again.
We must have it.
I have looked and we do not.
I have quotes for it in the 14th, the
15th, the 16th and the 19th.
But not in the 17th
and 18th centuries.
How is that possible?
How can Ruskin write
“The sculpture is approved and
set off by the colour” in 1849?
How can I, now,
use it everyday
if you are telling me that it
vanished in the 17th Century.
- No, I'm not...
- Where did it go for 200 years?
I am not saying that it
vanished, sir.
I'm simply saying that
we do not have proof.
Look again, Charles.
Where exactly would you
like me to look, sir?
In the birthday cards, perhaps?
Or the, uh, medicinal instructions?
Or the how-to manuals?
Or perhaps the Guy
Fawkes day messages?
And we're just
dealing with "A" here!
What about
B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K?
This is bloody hopeless, sir!
Mr. Hall!
Please..
Try to maintain a
semblance of decorum.
Henry, what exactly
is the problem here?
It's “Approve”, sir.
There is a missing link.
To say nothing of “Art”.
We're missing Approve in
the 17th and 18th centuries.
We can't find a
single trace of it.
Look at Paradise Lost.
Our language took a
crucial turn with Milton.
He was somewhat of a purist
wanting to re-affirm the
meaning of his English.
The key will be in there.
Perhaps we can skip
the 17th century, sir.
We have its birth in
1380 with John Wyclif.
“Christ confirmed his law and
by his death approved it.”
And we have Ruskin
here in this century.
Mr Bradley, we must
have every step.
This is not about the centuries.
This is about recording
the evolution of meaning.
Go to milton, its right here.
Yes, sir.
- Mr. Bradley?
- Charles.
Accepted.
Razor!
Bring me my razor!
Sir Richard!
Calm down!
- The razor! Bring me my razor!
- Lads, bloody hell, hurry up!
Bring it! Bring me the razor!
Bring me the razor!
- Hurry up!
- Okay!
Father! Father!
Father, Father!
Father!
Father!
This man Declan Reilly is a deserter.
Mark him for what he is.
Guard!
The zinc...
I'll need a sheet of zinc.
He must have come from below.
And water, in a bowl, at the threshold.
This.. the demon will not pass.
What's on the other
side, doctor?
It's the night.
He wants to take me there.
With his blind eyes,
he can only see me in the dark.
How would you feel if
we brightened the light?
- As treatment.
- I don't need treatment!
Not as treatment!
I need to see him coming!
- So that I can defend myself.
- It's an experiment!
And self-protection.
That we embark on together, doctor.
Yes?
Let me take a look at these.
Superficial lacerations
multiple to the face.
How would you feel, doctor,
if we were to introduce some
of the comforts of home.
Orthognathous jaw,
facial angle 80 degrees.
Maybe some clothing.
Amativeness, 8 incline.
Philoprogenitiveness, 4 decline.
- How would that be?
- My own wardrobe as protection.
- As protection, preciesly.
- Yes, yes.
Adhesiveness, 3 constant.
Combativeness, 6 incline.
Secretiveness, 8.
Hope, 4. constant.
Yes, simple things that we can
fit in to your surroundings.
It also happens that the adjoining
cell has become available.
You can stretch your legs.
This will get me space to paint...
Certainly.
Wonder, Ideality, Wit, Form.
All 8 decline.
Do you have any
other requests, doctor?
My books.
May I have my books?
By all means.
Anything else?
My gun.
Perhaps, we'll give
that one a miss.
Thank you, doctor.
- Please don't thank me.
- It has been a long time since anyone...
- this is different.
- My dear friend, no thanks.
No thanks.
A new beginning.
Yes.
New beginning, yes.
How can a man of
such high breeding
have regressed through disease
so far back to animality?
Doctor?
Mr.Muncie?
- The lads all chipped in.
- What have we here?
It's a book, sir.
We are all grateful to you.
Yes, it is.
Thank you, Mr. Muncie.
Because you saved
the young guard's life, sir.
I shall read it avidly
and treasure it forever.
You thank your
men on my behalf.
Merry christmas, sir.
Merry christmas, each of you.
Ham, Mr.Muncie!
Sir?
I find that a good warm ham is
often better for fighting the cold
than any number of blancket
and coals in the fire.
Specially, at this
time of a year.
- Did he liked the book, sir?
- The book?
- Yeah.
- I don't know.
- Why, has he read it?
- Well, he opened the wrapper.
- Yes, sir?
- And, then he opened the book.
- Yes?
- And then he threw it out of window.
- What?
- Yeah.
He said a demon vaporized off the
page and went up his nostrils.
- Nostrills?
- Now he's in there..
Trying to pull out
all of his nose hair.
To chart the life of each word,
we must start with
a record of its birth,
when it was first written down.
From there, words come down
to us through the ages,
twisting and turning,
weaving their way.
Their meanings,
slipping and slivering, fishlike,
adding and shedding subtleties of
nuance to and from themselves.
But they leaves tracks.
In the great expanse of the
literature of the English language.
We will chase them, hunt
them, and ferret them out.
All of them.
Every single word.
From all the centuries of writing.
And we will do so by
reading every single book.
Can it be done?
You crazy beautiful bastard.
Guard!
Guard!
- Ink, I need ink.
- Yes, I understand, sir.
And paper.
- Yes sir.
- Lots... lots and lots of it.
- I'll see what I can do, doctor.
- And Coleman..
Yes sir?
Would you be so kind
as to to dispose this for me?
- What is this, sir?
- Can't you see?
Yes.
Yes, of course I can, sir.
It's nasal hair.
Mind the demonic vapors.
Make sure to wash your hands.
And I'll make sure to
fish out some more later.
- Thank you, sir
- Thank you, Coleman.
I feel very cold and
I gotta get myself home.
We'll warm each other well.
Come on.
Oh, your smile.
Oh, come on.
It's too cold.
No!
No, no, you promised me.
You promised me!
Get off!
I don't owe you nothing.
What am I meant to feed
my little ones with, eh?
I don't know, do I?
Ask their father.
How are them matches
coming, eh?
Mum, you all right?
Yeah, yeah, I just
needed a moment.
- Sir, can I help you?
- Good evening.
I will be all right.
I was wondering if
your mother is home?
We'll get those matches
done by night's end.
It's a man. At the door.
Tell him it's Christmas
and he will go away.
- Would you come back tomorrow?
- Of course.
Could you just give
this her for me?
Tell your mother Mr. Muncie
wish her happy christmas.
Good night, girls.
Mum?
It is a ham in one.
The other, he didn't say.
He said "tell your mum
Happy Christmas".
Happy Christmas
from Mr. Muncie.
It's alright then,
isn't it, Mum?
Sir.
Sir, stop.
Sir, please!
Yes, dear?
- Is that supposed to be me?
- Ha-ha, yeah.
- Good night then, Mrs. Merrett.
- Good night.
And thank you.
Forgive me for
saying this, ma'am,
but it doesn't have
to be this way.
The children...
They don't need to go hungry.
There's one waiting
to feed them.
Take me to him.
Let me look him in the eye,
see if I can stomach him.
I went to a banquet and I ate
apples, bananas, and cranberries.
I went to a banquet and I ate
apples, bananas, cranberries..
And... dog.
That can't be.
Can't eat dog.
- Yes, I can.
- No you can't. Mum!
Mother?
Mum?
Merry christmas, all!
Do you remember our first
christmas at the school?
Harold was no more than
eight or nine months old.
Such a fart little baby.
- Do you remember how he used to cry?
- No.
One night he was
screaming so hard
that I don't know how
his little body could do it.
Every ounce of him shrieking.
Nothing I tried would calm him.
I was frightened.
Then you came home.
You lifted him up into your
arms, held him to your chest.
And he stopped.
He was so exhausted he
fell asleep instantly.
It's always been that way.
With all of them.
You had something I didn't.
So I taught myself to be
what you were not.
Strict. Fixed.
Changeless.
A queen and a clown.
Together a perfect whole.
What if it changed? What if
you're not there to be the clown?
I know that I've been
less than present lately.
But change will come,
and for the better.
I wish I had your certainty.
Please put the fire out
when you come to bed.
I thought you
might be here, sir.
I have a few hours before my little
ones wake for Christmas morning.
I thought I might take
another look at Approve.
That'll make it two of us.
William?
Dr. Minor?
I have a proposal for you.
There's been a request for a meeting.
Tristram Shandy.
A gift from Mr. Muncie and his men.
But much more.
This is very delicate.
I'll need books, far more volumes
than I have within my own reach.
William, I think this could be
very important for us.
Oxford university has undertaken an
inventory of the entire English language.
They've asked for help.
Are you listening to me, William?
I'll be all right..with work.
With whis work..
I'll be all right.
But I need books.
I only need books.
Make me a list of all
the titles that you require.
If I have them,
I'll get them send to you.
Thank you, doctor.
William.
When does she
want to come?
Mrs. Merrett.
- Where is he?
- It should only be a moment.
I just wanted to make sure
that every one was breathing.
There is a real generosity in your
visit today, Mrs. Merrett.
A true courage.
Courage, Doctor,
is not why I came.
Is it...
Is it possible...
if they waited?
- The letter.
- Yes.
All right.
- How can...
- We will take care of everything, sir.
- Thank you, Doctor
- Thank you, Mrs. Merrett.
It doesn't make it right.
What would you
care to send her?
Everything.
Few of the earliest
books have been read...
It is in the 17th and
18th Centuries above all
that help is urgently needed,
for nearly the whole of those centuries
have still to be gone through.
You may concentrate on the rare, also
late, old-fashioned, new and peculiar
but avoid not the quotidian...
...for every word in
action becomes beautiful
in the light of its own meaning.
Mr. Muncie!
Mr.Muncie!
Sorry to wake you.
I need your help with the post.
Yes, well.
Is it night?
It's just that there's
rather a lot of it.
We'll need aots of envelopes, I'd say.
And a large bag.
Yes, sir.
And a carpenter.
Can you bring a carpenter by?
In the morning, of course.
Good morning, sir.
Not so good I'm afraid, Henry.
It's Art.
None of it is working.
Are you sure, sir?
I checked it myself last night.
The construct is off.
It has lost all sense of coherence.
And it's missing countless
variations of meaning.
We'll have to start anew.
But sir, it will take weeks
just to reset to definitions.
Mr. Gill has asked for me at
the Press offices this morning.
I would very much like to see Art torn
apart and restarted when I return.
- All right?
- Very well, sir.
Thank you, Henry.
Your book, Mr. Murray,
is going to be
an unassailable contribution
to English scholarship.
It will make you famous,
when it is finished.
Look around, Mr. Murray. Empire.
One quarter of the land
and peoples of this earth.
The largest trading
dominion ever known.
If one wishes to participate,
one bows down to Her Majesty and
one speaks her tongue.
English.
Forgive me, Mr. Gell,
remind me why I am being kept
from my work this morning.
The Bible, Mr. Murray.
I was brought onto the press to
modernize the commerce
of academia to sell.
And do you know where
the first hotcake I found was?
King James Bible.
It has sold. Everywhere.
In every backwater and morass
where an Englishman is
doing God's work in a frock.
We have operations
on every continent.
Depots in Edinburgh, Toronto,
Melbourne and Calcutta.
Printing, binding,
dispatching all advertising.
And all, now, ready for
the next good book.
All waiting... for you.
- What is this?
- Your work is taking too long.
Our expectations constantly revised,
not a single page to show for it.
The delegates have
unanimously agreed
that I take charge on
keeping the work to time.
To that effect, you
have in your hands
a set of suggestions on how
to curb the scope of the work.
What we need is more
rigorous selections,
survival only of the
fittest words.
I'm tired. My team,
we are all beyond tired.
For months now, my pleas for
help have fallen on deaf ears
You have refused to pay even for
a single additional assistant.
I began this intending to create
something unprecedented.
To order the world of words, making
them universally accessible and useful.
I swore that I would bend at
nothing to make it happen.
And as of now,
this very moment,
my resolve is
greater than ever.
You are on the verge of
all out cancellation.
These rules are designed
to help keep the work going.
You may not like them, Mr. Murray,
but what other ways there?
My way, Mr. Gell.
Mr. Murray...
we are watching with
a concerned eye.
Watch, then.
And be amazed.
God in heaven, help me.
I'm lost.
Sir!
Sir! Sir!
- What?
- It's a miracle.
- It's impossible.
- Calm down, man, spit it out.
Approve, sir, is complete.
- Complete?
- You're right, sir.
“Others who approve not to
transgress by thy example”
- Milton, Paradise Lost.
- You found it?
No. Not us, sir.
You'd better read this.
"It is with a great sense of privilege
that I offer myself up as a volunteer..."
Please, sir, read on.
Enclosed please find one-thousand word
slips with corresponding quotations
from the height and
depth of literature.
I have derived a key, a type of
dictionary within a dictionary,
that allows for the amassing of
words with addended quotations.
My request is simple.
To make your burden light.
Write to me.
Tell me what specific
words at present
shimmer and fade at your grasp.
Let useful others troll the
oceans with their nets cast wide.
I shall throw my line and pluck
the very quotes that evade you
when you call
upon me to do so.
Very truly yours, W.C. Minor,
Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Look, it's all there.
He's given us Approve in
the 17th and the 18th centuries.
- And Art?
- Not that one, but so much else.
All in the “A”s, all words
we're working on
and at first glance,
all of it usable.
God has sent us a savior.
Now all we have to do is
try to keep up with him.
Thank you, Mr. Hall.
Let's have a good look
at these slips.
You cannot fathom the impact of
both your offer and your timing.
I am your grateful recipient.
Let paper and ink be
our flesh and blood
until we are privileged to meet.
Enclosed are a list of words that,
at present, are eluding us.
The word Art is proving
particularly troublesome
Enclosed you will find the quotations
that you have requested.
In pondering “Art”
I amreminded of the words
of a great man of
our time who said:
All great and beautiful work
has come of first gazing
without shrinking
into the darkness.
May I, sir?
Aye.
"Art."
I have been much acquainted
with that darkness.
Thank you..
For letting me lend
my light to yours.
Together we shall shrink the
darkness until there is only light.
Yours, W.C. Minor.
Crowthorne, Berkshire.
Aha! Here it is.
We'll put your name
on it now too.
Mr Bradley, can I have
another fascicle please?
I know of one other who's joy in
seeing it would be immeasurable.
Yes, Ma'am.
- Is Mr. Muncie working?
- He is.
Could you please tell him
Mrs. Merrett is here to see him?
I will indeed, ma'am.
- Hello, Ma'am.
- Mr. Muncie.
So pleased you've returned,
Mrs.Merrett.
Come on in then, Ma'am.
It's..
...very interesting.
Come in, doctor.
Mrs. Merrett has
brought you a book.
It's from Maggs, the bookshop.
I was told you like to read.
Thank you.
Would you care to take a walk
in the grounds, Madam?
It's a beautiful spring day.
Did you read it?
The Great Expectations?
The book you brought me.
Is it a favorite?
No. No. The shop suggested it.
I came to say..
Thank you.
The children.
They're not going hungry no more.
They have warm clothes now.
Even for next year, but...
It's never too late, with children.
Their whole lives are made of tomorrows.
But I can't go on taking your money.
It's... it's not right.
- Please, Mrs. Merrett...
- No, it's blood money.
I know.
But, it's my blood too.
My life belongs to you.
I made it so that night.
I took a life and by dreadful
bargain placed another in your hands.
By right, all that
I have is yours.
I don't know what to think. I...
I don't know why I came.
Mrs. Merrett, please.
Well, let me know
if she comes back.
Let's have a look
at those chains.
Thank you.
Can I help you, sir?
Uh, yes. I'm here to
see the superintendent.
- Are you expected?
- Oh, no, I came on impulse.
I am James Murray.
I am a friend of Dr. Minor's.
Yet only through the post.
- Dr. Minor? The superintendent?
- Aye, aye. I came to bring him this.
Fruit of our labour.
I know who you are, sir.
I posted all the letters for him.
I Licked the stamps myself.
Well, Thank you,
for your mother tongue.
Yeah, I'll see what I can do.
- So this is the good doctor?
- Mr. Murray, sir.
Dr. Minor. I'm proud to make
your acquaintance, sir.
- I cannot believe my eyes.
- Nor I. Nor this... suprise.
How did you gain entrance?
I came on the off chance..
to bring you this.
Our gathering, so far.
Meek, but poised to inherit the earth.
I thank you.
You deserve to be proud.
- Dumbfounded.
- You've been a bulwark for us, Doctor.
I'm happy to have assisted, though
I am a merely worker to the queen.
The alveary is yours.
Ah, You sent the quote
for alveary? From ..
Baret. 1580.
Of course, the early dictionaries of
English, Latin, French and Greek,
but of course, you know that.
Of course I don't.
I do know the poets.
You in your letters,
you know the scribes.
Now, my task is to describe.
Alveary.
Such a lovely buzz to it.
How about cosh, or fettle?
Fine.
Louche.
I remember that from childhood.
It always seemed undressed.
Commotrix, I adore that one.
Sounds as though it wants trouble.
Troublesome indeed
indifficult to find.
Gyre.
- A revolution. A whirl.
- Decussated.
Formed with crossing lines, like an X.
An intersection.
Perhaps you should be writing the
definitions and I... well,
it'll be useless tending to your
patients, so let's leave it as it is.
We've only just started. Partners.
Word for word.
An American... and a Scot?
How does an American
come to eye these gates?
A story for another day.
Let's continue the comparison.
One Oxford,
one Yale.
- Both gray.
- One brilliant, one mad.
Aye, but which is which?
Where to from here?
Antagonism to bathe.
Then batheable to cholera.
Choleric to dysenteric.
Dysentery to eczema.
Eczematous to fungus.
- Why not jump strait to Leprosy?
- Oh, that'd drop a lot.
Who is this?
- Murray, sir.
- Who is Murray?
The man from the dictionary,
the one the doctor's been working with.
Good god.
Well, he's had a very busy day.
Let's keep it short, shall we?
Yes, sir.
Mr. Muncie..
Accord Dr. Murray full
visitation privileges.
Let me know when
they're gonna happen.
- Yes, sir.
- Thank you.
Let's document all the meetings.
Keep full details.
One could dare say
it's beautiful here.
Listen to the leaves
scratch at the air.
Sometimes it sounds like gunfire.
Sometimes it's like..
- Like applause?
- Yes, applause.
- Mr. Murray..
- Aye, I should be off then.
Check your posts.
I will garner my thoughts
and spark them off of yours.
As iron sharpens iron, so one man
sharpens a accountess of a friend.
Scripture. You're a man of God.
I should not be surprised.
It is by His grace alone.
I wish I had to experienced
that a more often.
You will, my friend.
Goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life.
Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death...
You are not alone, good doctor.
We are linked now.
Consanguineous.
Brothers.
I looked for you this morning.
I wanted to share some
good news with you.
- What news?
- New volunteer. A miracle.
He's pulling us out
of the darkness.
We have doubled our
pogress with him already.
Well, that's wonderful, James.
Who is he?
A friend.
- A letter from our superintendent, sir.
- Oh!
Thank you.
Henry, could you keep an eye for all
future letters from the good Doctor?
He is, rather, a private man,
and I would wish to honor that.
- I brought another book for you.
- I see that.
What is it?
One from the list
Mr. Muncie gave me.
I asked. It's one of the
ones you wanted.
You read?
I will guess which one it is.
Read a paragraph..
- Or a sentence.
- I'm sorry, Doctor.
Mrs. Merrett.
Mrs. Merrett.
Mrs. Merrett, wait.
What did I do?
You cannot read.
Forgive me. I should
not have presumed.
I don't need you to bring books,
Mrs. Merrett. It's your visits...
Please, doctor, let me be.
I can teach you.
- I am who I am.
- You can teach your children.
It's freedom, Mrs. Merritt.
I can fly out of this place
on the backs of books.
I've gone to the ends of the
world on the wings of words.
- I cannot.
- When I read...
...no one is after me.
When I read,
I am the one who's chasing.
Chasing after god.
Please, I beg you.
Join the chase.
Kumquat.
Oblong.
Pert.
Prunes.
Coconuts.
Chitty.
My win, Murray.
- What on earth is chitty?
- Long form of chit.
Oh, of course, chit. letter or
note. Indian origin, no?
That's right.
- Who's she?
- The impossible.
The more impossible,
the greater the love.
Do you truly believe that?
My heart is so sick.
Well..
What I know of love is that the
sickness often becomes the cure.
She is my friend.
She is my dear friend.
She has suffered a
terrible loss.
Perhaps God's grace will come to
her through your love, William.
"Eat"? So don't
really say the "I".
"W-a-s-h"
- Ah, Brush and fish.
- Yes.
- "Wash".
- You're learning very very fast.
"The brain is wider than the sky,
for put them side by side."
"The one the other will include,
with ease and you beside."
"The brain is just
the weight of God,
for, heft them,
pound for pound,"
"And they will differ if they do
as syllable from sound."
Did they cut the rest
of the hair of that girl?
- Mrs. merrett.
- He's making most tremendous progress.
Mrs. Merrett.
I'm begining to believe that the more he's
exposed to the world beyond these walls
the speedier would be his cure.
You think he can be cured, doctor?
I have to. I...
There must be
hope for all of us.
Even the most
broken of souls.
I, uh, think on it.
My Dear Friend.
I have recommended to the Delegates
that your name be acknowledged
in the First Volume of the “New English
Dictionary on Historical Principles”,
to which your vibrant mind has so
critically given the breath of life.
The last fascicle is already complete.
Expectantly, James.
Congratulations, Doctor Murray.
For giving us A to byzen.
And for the rest to come,
beginning with cab.
Thank you sir.
It's not selling.
Only 4,000 orders the Empire through,
and it won't go any quicker.
We're the laughing
stock of all academia.
I wonder if it's time
to ease our gentle Scotsman
off his little perch.
It'll be alright.
They're good kids.
We don't have to do it,
if you don't want to.
Look at me.
William..
It'll be alright.
Children, I would like you to meet
a friend. His name is William.
You must be Olive,
is that right?
Yes.
- Iris?
- M-hm.
- Jack?
- Hm.
- And peggy.
- M-hm.
You must be Peter.
It's good to meet you, Peter.
And are you Claire, then?
Claire.
It's a true honor to
meet you, Clare.
Claire!
Claire!
Mr. Muncie..
- Watch 'em for me. Just for a moment.
- M-hm.
Doctor!
Wait, wait!
I'm sorry. I never wanted that to
happen. I'm so sorry... I...
I remember being safe and still.
I remember knowing who I was.
Then I woke up and
it had all gone away.
And I hated you so
much, for so long.
But now I know you.
I know who you are.
And I know the same
has been done to you.
I wrote you something.
- "I can.."
- I can...
...because of you.
I miss my husband.
I came here that
first day to hate you.
To take your money and watch
you locked way, see you done.
You should still hate me.
Not anymore.
Look, what you have done!
Look, what have done!
Not that many this time, sir.
I wrote you something.
No, read it when I've gone.
I'm sorry, Eliza.
But what if I'm not...
I killed him again.
It's all your fault.
I killed him again.
In your heart!
Mr. Coleman!
You might have
let the clinic know.
I've injured myself.
My Friend. I no longer find
I have the place for this.
I thought you might accept it.
Remember me by it.
As a testament to our friendship and
to that which we created together,
in the brief and fleeting time
when thanks to you, I could
trust my mind. William.
Mr. Murray.
I'm Richard Bryan. Superintendent.
Pleased to meet you, sir.
I'm very proud of the contribution
that Dr. Minor's made, of course.
His illness has entered a new phase.
And you maybe shocked.
I should warn you, too,
that he may display hostility.
You came.
Of course, I came
I knew that you would.
Your God is very demanding.
A sacrifice was required.
- I received your letter.
- His love!
His wife.
I stole her from the dead.
Have you gotten to
the “I's” by now?
I had some to
add to your words,
but I can't, uh, seem to
I can't seem to
find my pens.
Our words, William.
Our words.
Perhaps that is true.
Perhaps ..
...the madness
gave us the words.
But you have made them yours.
They bear your secret signature.
Why did you come here?
- Did you bring others?
- I'm alone, William.
I have reason to believe
that they are hiding
between the spaces of the
floors, biding their times.
I am sorry, James.
I'm sorry.
I... for a moment I...
I dared to hope.
Your words,
her... forgiveness.
It's more than forgiveness.
She...
She gave me this.
Read it, later, if you
truly want to know why.
Know what?
Assythment.
Assythment.
A quote from Austin, 1832.
I sent it in, only hoping,
but I wasn't
sure, not until now.
No... I... I can't
remember the quote.
Look it up!
Look it up!
You've seen me now,
and we're done.
You can leave
the lunatic to his illusions.
I came here to...
to see my friend.
I'm no man's friend.
I am a murderer.
Everything else is make believe.
So leave. Leave.
Leave, leave, leave.
And do not come back!
I do not want to see you!
Please, Dr..
If your claim that
you're my friend is true..
You will respect
that one simple wish!
Yeah.
I think no more visitors
for Dr. Minor.
Bondmade.
Missing from volume one.
A perfectly solid, everyday English
word, and we don't have it.
I don't know how it
could have happened.
I checked the proof
for it myself.
The University of
Vienna picked up on it.
The bloody Austrians!
It's a disgrace.
Calm down, Phillip.
We'll catch it.
We'll form an addendum.
I've been meaning to discuss
that with all of you...
Are you intending
to drop others?
“The makers of this grand folly
also deign it beneath them to include the
nouns and adjectives denoting countries.
Hence no mention of African,
Arabian, American and so on.”
In the blasted Figaro!
In the same breath expounding the
virtues of their competing dictionaries.
In France, Germany,
the Netherlands.
This is a war about the
spread of colonial language.
Not won with bullets and bayonets
- but with influence and appearance.
- This is utterly absurd.
No, what is absurd is your dogged,
bullheaded approach.
A superabundance
of redundancy, Dr. Murray.
We need focus. The language is
escaping you. You are losing.
What preciesly are
you saying, Mr. Gell?
This is Oxford.
We do not lose.
Clearly the only course
remaining to...
- Bondmade...
- What was that? Speak up, Freddie.
Bondmade. Um..
I borrowed the proof
from the scriptorium,
to use it in one of my lectures.
I forgot to replace it.
- I am responsible for its exclusion.
- It doesn't change a thing.
Also the absence of African,
Arabian and American.
I convinced James
not to include them.
So you see gentlemen, you are
inculpating the wrong man.
- Freddie..
- You're right, Philip,
there is only one course of action.
I will resign my post on
the board of the delegates.
We shall make an announcement on it.
And the project will go on.
With James.
- I really don't see how this..
- Phillip, please!
Have it in writing, to the Press
offices in the morning.
- He's lying through his teeth.
- Of course, he is.
- Then why let them get away with it?
- Well, didn't you see?
Dr. Murray is a breath
away from shattering.
And without Furnivall's meddling
all we need do is wait.
Have a quiet word with Bradley.
I suspect he is just the ticket
for a more malleable pair
of hands at the helm.
James, what's the matter?
I'm adrift, Ada.
The day has been one of loss.
I need to tell you
some things.
There is nothing you can
tell me to make this right.
All the wisdom, all the diligence, and
you simply seek to...
How long have you known
about his madness?
How much time have you
spent with this man?
Why are you so angry?
What difference can it possibly make?
His work on the Dictionary
proves he is sane.
He fooled that jury,
and he fooled you.
What about repentance?
Ada, what about redemption?
The delegates,
your team, your family.
We all deserve more than to
have it all sullied by some...
Stop!
I couldn't call into question the
morality of every invisible volunteer
we've ever leaned on.
This one hits his children,
that one's on the whiskey,
this one, didn't you hear,
he cheats on the Times crossword.
Remove the blackguard
from the list.
He is a murderer.
He lied to you.
Have not you never lied?
Have you not?
What do you so affraid of?
That a bad man can be redeemed?
Isn't that what we believe, what we
whisper to our children every night?
What we pray for?
Forgiveness.
I don't know who
you're preaching to.
Neither do I.
Thus they in lowliest plight
repentant stood
Praying from the mercyseat above
prevenient grace descending had removed the
stony from their hearts and made new flesh.
Milton. Paradise Lost.
Prevenient grace, Ada.
From before the fall.
Salvation for all,
if we choose to engage it.
"If love... then what"?
What is that?
A note. From the widow.
Asking the question ..of the killer.
“Assythment - satisfaction
for an injury done.
Compensation, reparation,
indemnification.
By law, the wife and family of the slain
have still the right for assythment.”
I don't understand.
It means to pay everything back.
The guilty make recompense to the victim.
I thought he has
already given her money.
No, Ada. His life.
With his life.
“If love... then what?”
Is what she wrote to him.
And his response...
“...then no chance redemption.”
What are you going to do?
What can I do?
Sometimes when we push away,
that is when we most
need to be resisted.
Please, let me in!
Let me in!
I need to see him!
Let me in!
Mr. Muncie, please!
I know you can hear me.
Let me in!
I need to see him.
Let me in!
- Mrs. Merrett?
- I need to see him. Please.
It's best you you went away now.
And you not come back.
- Please, I need to see him.
- Mrs. Merrett, I'm sorry.
No, I need to see him.
Please, no.
I need to see him!
Please!
It is time to commence a course of more
invasive and experimental treatments.
All procedures will be
fully documented.
William?
Are we ready?
Thank you, Doctor.
Secure his arms.
All right.
Here we go.
That's it.
Steady, boy.
Come on, let's get moving.
All right.
- Doctor, bear with me.
- M-hm. Yes.
All right!
That's it. That's it.
Sit. Sit.
Steady yourself.
- Again.
- Same again, sir.
- Again.
- Leave him there.
- Come on, sir.
- I asked first.
Up, now.
Up, now.
- You got it?
- Yes.
Mrs. Murray.
My name is Church.
I'm with the South London Chronicle.
May I speak with your
husband, ma'am?
The story runs tomorrow, sir.
Everything, you, the big book,
the widow Merrett.
There's nothing I can
do about it now.
I just wanted to give
you a fair warning.
But, these...
I havn't given 'em to the paper.
I thought, maybe, you
should hold on to them.
It looks like he's in a bad way, sir.
Mummy!
Why don't you go upstairs to
Mummy's bedroom and play for bit?
James...
If I may say, sir,
between you and me.
We... had to take precautions.
William?
It's James, William.
- William.
- It's no use, I'm affraid.
He's not here.
I don't know where he is,
but he's not here.
Wait for me outside.
Dr. Murray, I must ask that
you inform me before you pay a visit.
I came as soon as I knew.
Yes, but it's not a club, sir.
This is a medical facility.
- Dr. Minor is a patient.
- He's my friend and my brother.
Yes, he's my friend as well.
And he's one of the bravest
men I've ever known.
However, this is
evere catalepsy.
It's a fair question whether or not
the soul has already left the vessel.
“Divided from himself
and his fair judgment;
Without which we are pictures
or mere beasts.”
How could this have happened?
I must ask you to leave immediately.
No, he dosen't belong
here, not like this.
On the contrary,
he doesn't belong anywhere else.
Please allow us to get on with our work.
We have a great deal to do.
It's alright, William.
Please.
It's all right, William.
It's all right. William.
It's all right.
The last 400 years have been
defined by his quotes alone.
We were at our darkest moment.
He gave us life.
I am asking for your help here, Ben.
To tell the truth
about what he has done.
Let this be known, and not this.
My only regret
is that you did not come forward
with this much sooner.
What there is to be known has
already been said... right here.
Written. Didn't you see?
But this is the life of man.
All that he is will end
with him in that place.
And he is where he should be.
What use an act of
pointless charity?
Then I resign.
There will be no need
for such theatrics.
William Minor will be struck
from all acknowledgments.
You are to be welcomed, for as long as you
like, as a contributor to the dictionary.
The editorship will pass
immediately to Bradley.
I will be proposing this to an emergency
meeting of the delegates this afternoon.
I do not expect any dissention.
- I won't thieve any more of your time.
- Nor I yours.
- Yes sir?
- Is the master of the house in?
James.
Is everything all right?
I'm sorry, Freddie.
I didn't know where else to go.
I've lost everything.
Everything has broken.
I wanted to document the
history of each and every thing.
To offer the world a book that gives the
meaning of everything in God's creation.
Or at least the
English part of it.
But it has defeated me.
And now, I have paid for it with every
thing that ever meant anything to me.
You know, there is another
book purports to do just that.
But it has already beaten
you to the punch...
Come with me. Come,
I want to show you something.
I told'im if he was to take
me out I'd need new dunnage.
What? With a sprat?
How'd you do that?
I told'im t'was a quid and I
blagged the rest for myself.
Dunnage? Sprat? Blag?
How many new words
replacing the old?
How many new words for
things that yet to be imagined?
How many of them in your
all encompassing book?
No language can ever be
permanently the same, James.
Not if it springs forth from life.
But how can the work be
ended if not ever completed?
You've given us is its heart
along with a great jolt
to begin the first few beats.
Generations after you
will continue this work
because you has
showed them the way.
But it will never be completed.
Let it go. Attend to yourself.
Leave the project to me.
I have a few tricks for
Jowett and his lackey Gells
that they haven't considered
in their maneuvering.
Ada.
With Bradley in charge and the university
press firmly driving the endeavour.
We believe we can keep
to our desired target
of 704 pages for a year,
doubling current sales aspects.
Thank you, Mr. Gell.
Well, gentlemen, I believe we are
all now sufficiently informed
to put the motion to a vote.
Sorry, my husband's
unable to attend.
I would like ask permission
to say a few words in his stead.
Mrs. Murray, this is a closed meeting.
I'm affraid you'll have to leave.
My family and I have given much for
the glory of the delegates, Mr. Gell.
I am certain they can give a few
moments of their time in return.
Of course, Mrs. Murray.
We are here to listen.
Please, go ahead.
My husband has this silly
little leather parchment,
on that, he's engraved a creed:
"Only a most diligent life".
Diligence.
I looked it up in your dictionary.
Constant and earnest effort to
accomplish what is undertaken.
Persistence. Application.
But also, toil..and pain.
Some of you think my husband a fool.
Obstinate. Naive.
Driven to what he is by a fear of
what awaits us all on the other side.
But he isn't.
He sees the world, all of
it, with its myriad choices.
And he chooses
to be what he is.
Yet, two such men found
each other in our time.
My husband and his friend,
the murderous madman.
Together they have given
us something extraordinary.
I am here to ask you to take
exception to our prevailing natures.
I'm here to ask you not
to punish them for it.
Bradley told me you quit.
I did what I could in there,
but they're a tough lot.
We're leaving this place.
We're going back to London.
And the book. It is not just yours to quit.
It is ours, remember?
Mine, the children's,
countless others'.
And they can, James,
if there is love.
I know the answer now.
I know the answer
to the widow's question.
I want you to do
something for me.
I will.
I want you to go to her
and look her in the eye.
And if you see forgiveness,
if you see love..
Then I want you to
help your friend.
Aye.
- Here my man.
- Thank you, sir.
He gave me that the
last time I saw him.
The last time he was lucid.
They won't let me see him.
Can you make them let me in?
It's no use. He's not the same
as you remember.
If I've forgiven him, why should
they go on punishing him?
Thank you for seeing me at
such short notice, Sir Charles.
Freddy is an old friend.
I have to warn you though Mr. Murray,
the American murder is a scar.
- Perhaps one that is still too fresh.
- Perhaps this will heal it.
Hardly so.
Any politician espousing his cause
is certain to face public outrage.
Chances of a pardon, or a reprieve,
are virtually non-existent.
What price justice?
What price mercy?
Expensive to your first.
Cheap but unpopular
to your second.
Look here, levers can be pulled.
Get you a hearing.
But if I were you, I
would do all I can to
find out who will be called to it.
And I would stack the deck.
William?
William, can you hear me?
- Everybody out.
- It's James.
- Everybody out.
- William, you need to hear us.
Can you hear me?
I've brought Mrs. Merrett to see you.
- Leave him be!
- She needs to talk...
Leave him be!
With all due respect, sir.
Leave them be!
William?
William?
William, I'm here.
It's Eliza.
Do you remember, William?
If love... then what?
If love... then what, William?
If love...
then Love.
If love then love.
Please, stand.
Do you know why you are
here, Dr. Minor?
I do.
And in your opinion, Sergeant,
have the circumstances changed?
No, sir.
Under what conditions
did he enter catalepsy?
- Documented procedures of treatment.
- With the patient's agreement?
Of course.
Gentlemen, with respect, the matter
here begs a different question.
Where and into which hands would
misguided compassion release him?
There is nowhere else.
This is his home.
Thank you, Mrs Merrett.
Is there anything
further you'd like to say?
Yes, I would.
My husband didn't deserve
what happened to him.
He worked hard.
Kept his family together.
Then one day he was gone.
And nothing could bring him back.
What happened to him isn't fair.
For a long time after he was gone,
I didn't want to remember him.
Not even what he looked like.
I want to say
I'm sorry about that.
He deserved more than that.
My husband was a sweet man.
But he could get angry too.
Once he got so cross, he kicked the
heater cause it weren't working,
put his foot right through. Burnt it on the
hot coals. He was limping for weeks after.
One day he caught
Jack behind him,
hopping along, all hobbled and
all, like him. Do you remember?
He looked at Jack,
and he started to laugh.
He laughed so hard hobbling,
he nearly fell over.
I think that's why he
was often so cross.
It's cause he wanted his babies,
you were all his babies,
he wanted them to
make him laugh.
I think if George was here now
he would think all this is unfair.
I think this would make him angry.
He wouldn't have a lot of
fancy words to say about it.
But I think he would
want it to stop.
Sir, please, I want
a moment of your time.
I will deliver my report in two days.
You will know then.
We're not asking for
your full deliberation.
Just a hint at
which way you lean.
Release will be denied.
The particulars of his treatment that
have come to light are troubling...
Well, that's not enough...
...but they are an indictment of the
entire criminally insane system
of which this board is
not a competent judge.
Dr. Minor is a severely
disturbed man.
For his own safety,
the recommendation
cannot be given to
release him into the open.
Sir, is there no other way?
Whatever you intend to do Dr. Murray,
you have one day.
Then I have to
submit my report.
We can try one last measure, James.
But you'd better be
prepared to lay it all on.
Your timing couldn't be worse.
An armed gang of Latvians have hauled
up in a building on Sidney Street.
The Scots Guards
have it surrounded
and the whole thing has
escalated into a siege.
A bloody disaster.
It's put him in a foul mood.
Wait here.
I'm sorry, chaps.
No go. Bad timing.
Sir?
Sir?
Forgive me,
that was insolent.
I don't know you, sir.
I don't know
the sort of man you are.
But the office you occupy
permits me to have desires
as to the kind of man
I would want you to be.
Your decisions affect
all of the lives in this land.
I am here, standing before
you, for a single one.
A complicated, pained and soured one.
But a life nonetheless.
And therefore deserving
and worthy and precious.
If you believe,
like I would want you to believe,
that every individual life
deserves its own chance,
Then please,
hear what I have come to say.
- Please, sir.
- All right.
I suppose I did say lay it all on.
Charles.
I will not release Dr. Minor.
The prime minister won't countenance it.
The public won't stand for it.
Fortunately your lexicon provides us with
the means to conceal the unpalatable.
What I will do is
deport Dr. Minor.
- I gather he has family in Connecticut.
- He does, sir.
I shall let the board know that should
he be released, he is to be sent home.
Undesirable alien.
Let America manage her errant son.
Settle this matter Dr. Murray.
Go back to work.
The nation has need of you.
- And allow me to get back to mine.
- Tha-Thank you, sir.
- Congratulations, Doctor.
- Thank you! Thank you.
May I introduce you
to Freddie Furnivall.
- It's an honor, doctor.
- No. It is impossible.
They're ready, sir.
- Wait a moment, please.
- Yes, sir.
I'll be right here, William.
Right over there.
Alright?
That's good.
And if you can held on till three.
One, two, three.
This is ours.
Something to read on the ship.
Does she know?
She does.
Tell her I..
- You'll tell her then.
- I will.
Have you seen the latest
proof for the front cover?
You see the fortunate thing
about these awful people,
is that they believe in the divine
right of rule of the monarch.
Their system falls to pieces if they
don't abide by its silly intricacies.
So, we use it against them.
Your book is safe, James.
And you are safe at its
helm for as long as you wish
or until you shuffle
off this mortal coil.
- Yes?
- What now?
Now and forever
beyond, my dear Gell,
Dr. Murray is the dictionary.
Perhaps you should
consider taking a rest.
I hear the South of France
is quite the place for, um..
Recharging
one's spirits.
Subtitled by NILNUWAN