Desperate Romantics (2009–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Episode #1.6 - full transcript

'Their honeymoon over,
Lizzie and Rossetti prepare to spend

'the rest of their lives together
in their fine, new house.

'A proposal based on laudanum
and the colour of the bride's hair

'has now to grow into a marriage
based on love and constancy.

'All thoughts of other lovers
cast aside.

'Denied a honeymoon
and cast aside himself,

'Hunt's thoughts dwell on God
and Annie Miller in equal measure.

'For Millais,
the honeymoon is never over.

'Now married, now rich,
now acclaimed, he has everything...

'Everything except
the brotherhood they once shared.'

You have a housekeeper?



Effie and I abhor
the idea of servants.

She is more like a family friend.

And it would be impossible to run
a house this size without one.

We pay her in excess of what
I believe to be the usual rate.

Well, that's all right, then.

Johnny had a big idea
while you were away.

I can see that.

Johnny has a proposal which
I believe will excite you all!

My capital idea is this.

I feel that our success
has taken us apart somewhat.

Well, I for one,
miss our previous brotherly love.

I miss our mutual critiques.
I miss us boys. I miss us.

Our former, idealistic selves.

If you ever miss the poverty,
feel free to drop in and see us.



You are hardly poor. But since now
two of our number are settled into

matrimonial bliss and Hunt
is surely not beyond finding a wife.

I need to wrestle Annie back
from the arms of that toff. Really?

We have this large,
and beautiful house and Johnny and
I think that it would be delicious

if we could all live here
together...under the same roof.

An artistic colony.

That's beautifully put, Wombat!

So what do you say?
The gang back together? The reunion!

And Fred, as our chronicler
extraordinaire. Perhaps one day,
I too shall find a wife.

Miracles do happen, I suppose!

No, that's a top-rate idea.
Are you quite certain
you can change Annie's mind?

Fred will deliver a heartfelt plea.

Excellent. Count us amongst your
number. The revolutionaries are back.

Effie, call for the girl and
tell her to fetch the best sherry.

BELL RINGS

How many times? We're married!

Our marriage doesn't
change your personality.

It does not change the fact
that you're attracted to
Annie Miller and she to you!

I am appalled that you should trust
me so little. Absolutely appalled!

Why would I not trust you in a house
full of models, hm? Let me think..

I swear on my life that
Annie Miller has no hold over me.

She has no place in my heart.

Any feelings I've had for her are
as dead as yesterday's candles.

I have one obsession, and that's you.

You are enough for me.

My God, you are enough for any man!

SHE LAUGHS

'When do I see thee the most,
beloved one?

'When in the light,
the spirits of mine eyes

'Before thy face, their altar,
solemnize.'

Fred, you are a better friend
than Hunt deserves.

I am simply acting the messenger.

But I do think this is a
genuine attempt at reconciliation.

Which I am afraid is what we
in polite society would consider
neither appropriate nor desirable.

So he has stood by you, then,
Lord Rosterley?

No. He has not. Twat!

He has become engaged to a woman
from a more fitting background.

I'm sorry. You did not deserve that.

So you are in a position
to accept Hunt's offer, then?

Would it be such a bad thing?

I think it is neither
appropriate nor desirable.

Annie. Annie, this is me - Fred.

You don't need to pretend!

And if nothing else, it would mean
you and I could be friends again.

Unless you WANT to offend me, Fred,

then I suggest you change
the topic of conversation.

I see.

Well, goodbye, then. Goodbye.

Did you forget something?

I emphatically did. I forgot
the most important thing of all.

And I have been forgetting the most
important thing of all for most
of my thus far sad, little life.

Do I make myself clear?

Not really. I need to speak
to you from my heart.

I need to speak
to you of my feelings.

Is that compatible
with the requisite distance

that a lady and gentleman should try
to maintain on all social occasions?

Annie Miller, will you do me the
great, great honour of marrying me?

SHE LAUGHS
Oh, Fred!

The things you will do
to cheer a girl up! Annie. Annie.

I am in complete earnest about this.

And what about Lizzie?

I can never have Lizzie
and you can never trust Hunt,

so we're both second choice,
and that equals things up.

I cannot marry a man
who loves another woman quite
as ardently as you love Lizzie.

So you overlook me for Hunt,
then you overlook me for Rossetti,

then Lord Rosterley
and now you face penury and
you still will not settle for me.

Can I sink any lower
in your estimation?

You have been
a good friend to me, Fred.

And if a girl got married because
of the niceness of a chap, then,
yes, you'd be the first in line.

But they don't,

so you're not.

I snagged a lord once,
and I intend to snag one again.

Sorry.

'Nobody could say
that I was not a patient man.

'That I had not bided my time.

'But with her humiliating words,
Annie turned me against
tact and gentleness.

'From now on
I would tell the truth,

'whoever I hurt.'

DOG BARKS

Bird for sale. Get out!

Queen Guinevere? It was
your poem that gave me the idea.

She has the look, she has the hair.

Surely your poem
took her as its inspiration.

Jane did in fact sit for William,
and it was most unsatisfactory.

Ha, painting. I could not paint
Jane, so I loved her instead.

I've already taken the liberty
of doing a few preliminary sketches.

Why would you draw her on
a small...cloth, food spills -

tuck it in, damn you! - serviette?

It was all I had
to hand at the wedding.

You made sketches of William's
sweetheart at your own wedding?

It was during Lizzie's
father's speech.

It was either that or stab myself
to death with a cake fork.
I tried to do that once.

There is a certain way
the light catches her throat.

Stuck in my shoulder.
The, er, fork in question.

So I have your blessing
if Jane agrees to sit for me?

No woman or man needs
asking to sit for Rossetti.

No man or woman needs asking that!

Excellent. Come to my studio
tomorrow and we will make a start.
I still have the scars.

This is a wrought-iron cage.
It's a fortune...
I'll take anything for it!

BIRD TWEETS

So I really did buy it, then?

You really did.

I bought it for you.

I thought you had
a fondness for bullfinch.

I do.

But that's a canary, you dullard.

A canary? A canary.

Really?

Does that at least earn me
a sly fondle? I'd love nothing more.

But Ruskin awaits.
I have been back for three days.

He will be thinking
that I have forgotten him.

BIRD TWEETS

I love birdsong.

It is the most lovely thing.

Do you not think so, William?
I think perhaps Jane is hinting
for a bird of her own, William.

Ah, yes. Yes, of course.
How much would you take for it?

I'm not entirely sure what
it's worth. I'd been drinking.

Oh, yes. Never mix drink
and caged wings...

Beaks... Songs... Birds!

As the saying goes. Let me just...

Ah! Ah!

For God's sake, William,
I was only moving her head.

No, no, no, no.

Your bedroom, you should dress
entirely with Lizzie's paintings

and the living room with your own!
I shall get to it at once!

Very well.

My dear Lizzie, how lovely
to see you. And you, and you.

You were expecting me, were you not?

I think you should come in.

I don't understand.
Whose are all these?

Surely you did not expect
our relationship to carry on
unaffected by your new status?

It would be inappropriate now
for anyone other than your
husband to support you.

Gabriel cannot support me.

We can hardly afford
the rent on our new lodgings.

Well, I will continue
to buy Gabriel's work.

Indeed, I think he never draws
better than when he's drawing you.

So this is your desire.

That I retreat to modelling
and cease our arrangement.

I have a student in Rose.

And you have Gabriel, so...

therefore
no longer have any need of me.

William tells me
you met at the theatre.

That is one way of putting it.

I was working. Oh!

So you're an actress?
No, I was selling flowers.

Violets
I'd picked from the roadside.

Nothing as grand as an actress.

So you consider an actress grand?

I consider any fate
beyond the gallows grand.

I don't think you'd ever be hanged.

You would be pardoned
on account of your beauty.

Is that how you think justice
should work? Absolutely.

DOOR OPENS, SHOUTING

I'm sure William will put
an end to your poverty.

A proposal is surely
just around the corner.

I think love might have
to grow before that.

I suspect it was love
at first sight for William.

For William. Not for me.

"Kneel down, oh, love,
kneel down," he said.

"And sprinkle the dusty snow
over my head."

That's wonderful.

Perhaps in future you might want
to use the time that Jane is sitting
for me to work on your poetry.

And your designs.

Ned showed me some of your designs.

That is where I feel
your future really lies.

You do trust me, don't you?

With my life. I'm glad of it.

Lizzie! Back so soon?

LIZZIE GROANS

What is it?

Ruskin no longer wishes to
mentor me! I have lost Ruskin!

No! Is that possible?

By marrying you, I have lost Ruskin!

Rose La Touche?

The girl from the wedding?

His new pupil.

I'll visit Ruskin later
and change his mind.

You're a good man.

Husband mine.

What is it? The prophylactic.

It's around here somewhere.

Perhaps we don't need it anymore.

What? Perhaps now
we are married, we don't need it.

But if you were to fall pregnant..
Your work...

I have no work
now that Ruskin has dropped me.

And perhaps that was fate.

Do you not wish to have
a child with me? Of course.

Of course I do.

I beg of you, John, if
only for the sake of Lizzie's sanity.

Please resume
your interest in her work.

I will always remain
interested in her work.

But perhaps it will not be
my principal interest from now on.

Then man to man, could I beg of you?

For the sake of MY sanity?

I have a new pupil, as you can see.

Miss La Touche?

Surely you can not be serious?

Rose, would you leave us
alone for a moment, please?

So...

How did you discover
your latest protegee?

Her mother wrote to me and
asked me to give her lessons
in drawing and painting.

A mother offers up her young daughter
when she learns of the peculiar
circumstances of your divorce?

What precisely is your meaning?

Oh, it's of no matter.

I can see that you have no intention
of seeing sense over Lizzie so I'm
simply wasting my time. No, I insist.

I insist that you explain the
implication of your last remark.

I speak as someone
who loves you, John.

And who owes you a great debt
of gratitude. Without you
and your support...

I've discovered that when a friend
lists your good qualities,
then an insult is sure to follow.

You can see it, John, surely?

You did not consummate
your marriage with your wife,

and people will speculate
forever about the reason for that.

And when they see
that your companion is...

little more than a child,

then they may well conclude that you
are attracted to children in a way
that is altogether inappropriate.

You must desist from judging
the whole of the human race
by your own sordid standards.

I am merely saying what people will
think. And how long have you cared
what people think, Gabriel?

I thought you were a rebel.

Do you...

like Rose La Touche?

Let me tell you
what I like, Gabriel.

I like the company of
children and of young people.

And I like art. I love art.

And ideas,

and nature.

And as for the rest,
the inappropriate appetites,

the sexual desire...

It's not something I feel.

And because of that,
I come under constant suspicion,

and am the target of the most
vicious gossip and speculation,

both from strangers,
and even now from my friends.

I'm sorry.
Consider your own life, Gabriel,

led by lust and cravings
from one woman to the next.

Never settling, never satisfied.

Distracted from your true vocation

by the chance of some sordid, moist,
grunting encounter or another.

Who's to say my grunting encounters
aren't my true vocation?

Look at your own life and tell me
who is the damaged man in this room.

Who is the man who has no control
over his feelings?

I have always defended you against
the most rank and sordid accusations.

That does not give you
the right to judge me.

Me? Driven by lust?

How dare he? Outrageous slur.

I think lust within a marriage
is a holy thing, Gabriel.

Which leads me to this.

Morris, if you wouldn't mind...

What's the matter?
Why don't you ask our very
own Jeremiah over there?

What? Annie means
to marry anyone but Hunt.

Fred, you could have
expressed that more delicately.

Fred has taken it upon himself
to tell the truth at all times,

regardless
of other people's feelings,
like an Old Testament prophet.

I have devised an elaborate colour
code for rooms and shared areas.

Do you think
I am driven by lust, Fred?

I think that we have all been
distracted by lust, but you have
let it be your leading light,

your rudder, your pole star.

Effie has devised an elegant rota
for meals shared
and meals eaten alone.

We need our intimacy hours,
after all. Morris, Ned...

You have known me a briefer time than
these boys and might not have

your judgement queered by bitterness
and envy. Do not ask me, Gabriel.

I really do not have any
knowledge of physical intimacy.

Hunt, since you will
no longer be bringing a wife,

would you mind terribly
being based in the summerhouse?

What? Neither of you?

You forget, we were destined for a
different calling before we met you.

In the spire...
Pews... Vicar... Church.

Are you seriously telling me
you haven't had the
pleasure of Miss Burden yet?

When left alone,
we play hide and seek.

But your poem? About "spraying
dusty snow" onto your lover's head.

That was...what?

About snow. What else?

Oh, boys.

It's time we visited the Gardens.

So, looking for company, boys?

Surely you're not proposing
that William betrays Jane?

Do you like to eat meals with Jane?

Yes. Then do you not
betray her every time you dine alone?

An analogy that does
a gross disservice
to your intelligence, Gabriel.

Not worthy. You will leave
the Gardens happier men.

You, sir, are married.
I know. And to a woman I love.

My motives are just as much
a mystery to me as they are to you.

But...I can't stop.

You speak of love as though
it is a mighty thing
and yet you would betray it for...

..stray tit!

Perhaps we overrate
the importance of sex, and
underrate the strength of love.

I think, perhaps, William,
we should be getting home.

Annie?

Annie!

Annie!

Annie!

Fancy some fun, sir? Annie!

Annie! What are you doing here?!

Are you working again? I am working.

Would you care to sit for me?
No, Gabriel.

I do not think that
would be an at all good idea.

Come on, Annie,
is it such a repellent thought?

You married Lizzie.
You married the poor girl.

So the least you can do
is to try to be a husband.

So it's come to this, has it?
Lectured on morality by a whore?

Who better than a whore?

She sees men for what they
are every day of her life!

Go and see Hunt, then! He adores you!
Surely Hunt is better than this!

Fancy a grope?

Thank you, ma'am.

What are you doing?

Writing.

Read it to me.

I have barely begun.

And it's just a silly thing
about you and the canary.

Read it.

She fluted
with her mouth as when one sips,

And waved her golden head,
brave head and kind,

Outside his cage
close to the window-blind,

Till her sweet bird,
with little chirps and dips

Piped low
of her sweet companionships.

And when he stopped,
she took some seed, I vow,

And fed him from her rosy tongue,
which now

Peeped as a piercing bud
between her lips.

And you wrote that just for me?
Just for you.

What have you been
saying to William about me?

I always tell him
you are a stunner and no mistake
that he's lucky to have you.

Well, he's taken you at your word.
He's asked me to marry him.

Has he now?

What should I say to him?

Do you love him?

I love him.
He's rich. He's kind. He's gentle.

He is loud
and he is fat and he is hairy.

Spoken like a lover.

I want you to tell me to marry him.

That's not my business.
I think it is.

Because I think
it is you that I truly love.

Oh.

I see.

I see.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Rossetti said that
I should come to see you. Annie.

I can barely believe
you've come back to me.

I prayed

and it seems yet again
God has answered my prayers.

As you may have heard, Lord
Rosterley broke off our engagement.

The man is a toff and a rake. The
two things I hate most in the world.

A gentleman's prerogative, as
I have discovered, to make promises
he has no intention of keeping.

Not this time.

We will be married immediately.

No.

No, we will not.

I have grown up these
past few months and I know better

than to believe a promise from you
or any man.

But why are you here,

if it isn't to accept my proposal?

I have been reading
your old love letters.

They are very prettily put.

I don't know about that.
Full of declarations of love

and very vivid descriptions
of my secret places

and your lustful preferences.

Such detail...

the colour, the shape,

the texture...

Enough to make a lady blush.

As you know, I was and indeed,

am very taken
with your secret places.

And I was thinking, as my tears
fell onto your pretty letters,

I was thinking that now you
are famous and respectable,

it would be a terrible and
embarrassing thing if those letters
were to fall into the wrong hands.

Why would they fall
into the wrong hands?

That's just it.
They needn't, need they?

And for a small consideration,
I can make sure of that
by destroying them.

A small consideration?
What do you mean, a small...?

Are you blackmailing me?

I'm just playing the hand
I've been dealt, Hunty.

Why would any of these galleries
be interested in me?

I have excellent contacts
in all of them.

I made Hunt an absolute fortune.
And I can do the same for you
if you will just let me.

You are very sweet, Fred,
but Gabriel and I are going to
concentrate on starting a family.

Starting a family? You and Gabriel?
Is that so strange for man and wife?

I suppose not.

I think it would be
a dreadful mistake.

Fred! You are a sweet man,
and for that reason I shall
choose not to take offence.

I would risk offending you if it
would dissuade you from the folly
of having a child with Gabriel.

What has got into you? I have
decided to be honest from now on.

And I honestly think that Gabriel
cannot be relied upon as a father,
or a husband.

Does he have a lover?

Do you know something?
What is it, Fred?

I cannot help but suspect
that he is planning to have
an affair with Jane Burden.

William Morris' sweetheart?

She is poor. She is beautiful.

She is in awe of Gabriel and
she belongs to someone else.

All qualities which
Gabriel finds irresistible.

I am only telling you this
because I love you, Lizzie,

and because I fear for you.

And because you do not
deserve such treatment.

Dear Fred. You are a good friend.
I cannot believe what you have
just told me. I will not believe it!

It is your loyalty that
makes me love you even more.

Fred!

Poor, lovely, loyal Fred.

What are you doing? My
God, what are you doing?

I am sorry. Just go! I thought
that you wanted me to kiss you.

After softening me up with tales of
Gabriel's infidelity! How dare you!

Go! Please go! Please leave!

HE SHRIEKS

Tea, Gabriel? Yes. Thank you.

Pass your cup, Charlotte.
Are you well, Lizzie?

I am quite well.
Just a little tired.

You will find that the first
few months of marriage do that
to a woman, Lizzie.

Familiarity blunts
desire sooner or later.

Where did you get these
dainties from again, Gabriel?

It's a little bakery
called The Golden Door.

They are delicious. Aren't
they, Mr Siddal? I prefer more
masculine confectionary.

A Staffordshire oat.
I have some news!

I am taking a break from my
art for a while. Really?
But you were doing so very well.

Your artistic nature flourishing
and revealing your...

Gabriel and I are going
to have a baby. A baby!

A baby?

A coming together of two great
bloodlines. Great day! Great day!

Congratulations, Gabriel. Thank you.

What an enchanting surprise!

Indeed it is.

My clever girl, come on now.

Put some sugar in your tea. You need
to get some colour in your cheeks.

Are you COMPLETELY insane?

We are going to have a
child one day. One day?

With God's will, but you're not
with child? Are you? I am not.

So why perform that little
charade in there just now?

Why humiliate yourself in such a way?

I wanted to demonstrate that I made
the right decision in marrying you.
By making up a stupid lie?

I have learnt at the feet
of the Master, have I not?

What on earth has possessed you?

What's the matter with you?
Why can't you just be happy?

You block me at every turn!

The only thing you consistently
encourage in me is my use of
laudanum!

I married you, didn't I?
Because you feared I was dying,
We both know that!

I married you to save your life. And
that isn't romantic enough for you!

You married me to save your
reputation, not my life!

You can't even be happy you finally
managed to trap me in matrimony!

Trapped? Is that how you see it?

Caged like that damned canary!
No. You're not like the canary.

The canary is entertaining.

I'm not staying here to argue.

I am going. I will
see you at home later.

Where are you going?
To see Jane Burden?

What are you talking about?

I can see the way you look at her.

She is low-born, she is besotted
with the world of art,

she has long flowing hair and
could pass for a medieval maid.

She reminds me a lot of me,

before you beat the life out of me

with your fake love
and your false promises.

Would any man blame me for
seeking a lover right now?

Would God blame me?

Let him strike me down if he does!

You see? You have
even driven God away.

Don't forget the laudanum
for Miss Burden!

She'll need it!
By God, she'll need it!

So what did you do? What else
was I to do? I bought the letters.

She took the money. I do not believe
that Annie would be so underhand.

She deserved some compensation
for the way I treated her.

If she had merely asked
I would have given her the money.

Fred Walters!

Why did you tell Lizzie I was
having an affair with Jane Burden?

Because I thought it most likely.
You thought it most likely?

Well, thank you for
ruining my marriage on the
basis of a scurrilous lie!

When Effie and I have a tiff
we make friends by devising
new nicknames for each other.

There is only one man ruining your
marriage, Gabriel, and that is you.

Effie likes to call me Mr Crumpet.

I wish I had never met
Lizzie damned Siddal!

And why did I meet her?

Because of this man! This...writer!

Surely you cannot blame Fred
for your current malaise.

Can I not? She ruined my life
and he introduced me to her!

It is not your life that
stands in ruins as a consequence
of your meeting each other!

You prick! Think about the colony.
We can resolve our differences!

And she is the fairest!
The cleverest! The gentlest!

The funniest. And you treat her
like something that clings to you!

You have been visited by an angel
and all you can do is pick
at her wings.

You are right, of course.

She is the best woman in the world.
And I can't see it.

Why is it that I can only appreciate
her when somebody else wants her?

I don't think that Fred said
he wanted Lizzie, exactly.

Did you Fred? I did. Actually.
Because I do want her, I do!

Not sure that's the wisest statement
to make in the circumstances.

This man! This...

.."Good friend"!

This prophet in the wilderness
is coming home with me right now!

Gabriel, I am really not certain
this is such a good idea.
Don't desert me now, Fred!

Damn it all, Gabriel!
I made an inappropriate
approach to Lizzie just yesterday.

What?

I tried to kiss
your wife, Gabriel. And...

she slapped me hard for my pains.

And now I expect you to do the same.

You tried to kiss her?

I did. And she slapped you.

She did.

Of course you did! Why wouldn't you?

You love her and I keep
implying that I don't!

Which is why you must come home
with me right now and give Lizzie
the chance to choose. What?

I'll declare my love and then
you'll declare yours, and then
Lizzie can make a choice.

But you are her husband.

I want to see her well again, Fred.
I want to see her happy.

And if that means sacrificing
her to another man, so be it.

She is clearly sleeping.

Perhaps we should
come back tomorrow.

No. We must do this now. Don't move.

I will find a lamp.

Wha...?

I told you not to move!

You keep bumping into things.

Go and get help! Go! Go and get help!

Run for God's sake!

Oh!

You do not die!

You dare not die! Please don't die!

Please, Lizzie, please!

Oh, Sid.

Oh, Lizzie. Please, please.

Please don't die. Please.

Lizzie, please, please,
please, please don't die!

Please! Lead the way, sir.

WE'RE IN HERE!

Please save her.
You've got to save her!

Come away, Gabriel.
The doctor is here.

Let the Doctor do his work, Gabriel.
Please, sir, please.

GABRIEL SOBS
Oh, please, I can't, I'm sorry!

No! NO!

Drink this. It will help
see you through the next hour.

I don't want to see
through the next hour.

You mustn't say this.

I killed her.

She was weak. She
took too much laudanum.

You mustn't blame yourself.

That isn't what she thought.

I know that isn't what she thought.

Gabriel, you are tired.

You are ill with grief.

You're not making sense.

She left a note, Fred.

She left a note.

She took her own life.

No, no, no. Cannot be right.
Cannot be right.

Oh, darling, my poor darling.

A terrible thing. I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

Were you there? When she died.

No. Fred and I were out.

We returned, and found her.
Found her?

On the floor. She had passed out.

That is to say, she had passed
away on the floor. Where were you?

Why were you not with her?

I had business to attend to.

She died alone.
You let her die alone!

But the Doctor thinks the laudanum...

She would not have known any pain.
The laudanum? She had a weakness.

Yes.

She had a weakness.

Did you tell them about the note?

Their hearts were already broken.

They have a right to know the truth.

I know what you think of me, Fred.

I know you think I'm merely
protecting my own reputation.

But if word gets out about this,

it will be her reputation that
suffers the lasting damage.

It will be her name
that will be disgraced.

If you don't tell them,
Gabriel, then I will.

I can't stop you.

Gabriel... I'm sorry,
I have no words.

Let God be comfort to you.
Thank you.

My poor friend, my poor brother,
my poor brother.

Jane. There's been a change
in my circumstances.

I knew it. I knew you
would lay eyes on Lizzie

and be overcome with guilt or
whatever passes for conscience,

and she would look
at you with those watery eyes

and hook you back in once more
to a life of obedience and misery...

She's dead. Lizzie's dead.

She died last night.

That is the change of
circumstances to which I refer.

Oh. Oh!

I am sorry.

How?

The doctor thinks she accidentally
took an excess of laudanum.

I wish now I had not
said those things.

They are no worse than the
things I said to her very face.

So don't reproach yourself.

My poor Gabriel!
I have come to ask you one thing.

Indeed to beg of you.

Marry William.

You still wish me to marry
him even though you are free?

He's a fine and loyal fellow.

And far better for you
than the wretched dog you
see before you now.

(Oh, Gabriel, oh, Gabriel!)

The pain will fade, I promise you.

Charlotte.

I am sorry for your loss.

Thank you, Fred.

I wanted to say that...

I feel responsible,
in some way for Lizzie becoming
a part of a world where...

I sat in this room and
made solemn promises that
I would look after her.

Lizzie would never have been
happy as a hat shop girl.

She never fitted in the circumstances
in which she found herself.

Reason for that. Please, Mr Siddal.

Aristocracy in her blood.
Oh, for God's sake!

It's true enough and you know it!
I know no such thing! No such thing!

I will no longer endure your
laughable and pathetic claims
to be descended from greatness.

You are not great! We are not great!

You're a knife sharpener
with a shop and out of respect
for our dead daughter,

can we stop pretending
we'll ever be anything else?
Can I just ask that of you?

She's...

Well, she's...

Grief and such.

It's, it's different for me,

you know, with
my background and history.

If you will excuse me.

I had not intended to make
a painful situation worse.

Did Lizzie kill herself?

I don't know how I or
anyone else would know that.

If Lizzie killed herself, She would
have left a note. She would have
left some sort of message for me.

The laudanum had taken
a grip of her soul...

I am talking of her
intentionally taking her own life.

Will you tell me?
Did she leave a note?

Will you tell me the truth about
the sister I loved and cherished,

and warned against her terrible
marriage to that terrible man?

Lizzie and Gabriel were
born to be together.

Neither of us cares much for that
fact but I am afraid it is true.

Did. She. Kill. Herself?

No. She did not.

There was no note.

'Rossetti was right.

'He is always right.

'I lied to protect Charlotte,
not Rossetti.'

This is her picture as she was.

It seems a thing to wonder on,

As though mine image in the glass
Should tarry when myself am gone.

"Glory be to the Father, and to
the Son and to the Holy Ghost,

"As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.

"World without end. Amen."

Amen.

And now, Lizzie's sister, Charlotte,
would like to read a poem
that Lizzie wrote.

Lizzie gave this to me a
few days before she died.

It is, I believe,
a poem about her and Gabriel
and the love they shared.

"Oh, never weep
for love that's dead,

"Since love is seldom true

"But changes his
fashion from blue to red,

"From brightest red to blue,

"And love was born to an early
death and is so seldom true.

"If the merest dream
of love were true,

"Then sweet, we should be in heaven,

"And this is only earth, my dear,

"Where true love is not given."

"The Lord bless her and keep her,

"The Lord make his face to shine
upon her and be gracious unto her
and give her peace.

"Amen."

No. She's not dead.

Oh, for God's sake, can't you see?

She is not at peace because
she thinks I did not love her!

Gabriel. Please. Gabriel! She
comes to me all the time, William!

Her ghost comes to me! Gabriel.

(My darling!)

I wrote these for you, my love.

So they must rest with you.

GABRIEL SOBS

Why could I not have loved her with
this intensity when she was alive?

There is a lack in you, Gabriel.

Perhaps you are right.

You always want women
you cannot have.

Lizzie's death makes her utterly
and completely unattainable.

And so now she is dead...
she owns your heart.

When did you get so wise?

It is Effie. She tells me
I'm clever and it makes me clever.

She's been good for you.

You must cherish her.

You cannot be alone, Gabriel.

You must move in immediately
with me and Effie as we planned.

Live with us. Jane and I.

She is scared to be under
the same roof with just me.

I'm sure that's not true.

Now, hang on, Morris.
An artistic colony was my idea!

She said she would marry me on one
condition. That we were never alone.

An odd demand for a marriage.

Possibly a necessary one in
William's case. It's true.

I am difficult.

A clumsy man of great delicacy.

What if I were to move in
with you instead, Maniac?

I am afraid I am going
back to Palestine, Gabriel.

I know you have never
been one to take my advice.

But I would move in with Morris.

It would be a new beginning.

And if anyone was in need
of a new beginning, Gabriel,

then it is you. And Lizzie's
ghost will follow me there.

She will follow me there.

I didn't believe you loved her.

We have talked of this
often. Let me go on.

I did not believe you loved her
until I saw you throw your
poems into the grave.

I know how much they mean to you.

Well, I can't look at them again.

Not just to you. But to others.
I don't know about that.

They were just idle scribbling.

No. It was their quality
that made your decision
all the more remarkable.

They were clearly publishable.

"This is her picture as she was

"It seems a thing to wonder on,

"As though mine image in the glass
Should tarry when myself am gone."

You memorized it?

We both did. We thought in many
ways they were your greatest work.

Really?

Any sign? I think perhaps there.

It's the poems, Gabriel!
We've found the poems!

Completely undamaged!
It's a miracle!

It's God's will, William.

Surely it's God's will.

I have them, Fred.
God has returned them to me.

'I look at Gabriel as he says this

'and I look at myself

'and I realise that I will
never believe another word he says.

'I am finally free.'

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