[light music]
[upbeat music]
[dramatic music]
Four yards of the blue silk.
Blue, why blue?
From now on everything must be scarlet and black.
[speaking foreign language]
Mademoiselle Clemence.
But you're asking.
[speaking foreign language]
I answer, because of the passion that has taken Paris
by storm and sweeps all before it.
Hazard, France is giddy with infatuation.
We play to see what we will wear today.
Who will we marry today?
What do you say, Madame?
Will you hazard with me?
If you win, it is a blue.
If I win, you will try the scarlet.
Sam, you're my good luck.
Call a number between five and nine.
Seven.
Then I say I will cast a seven.
[speaking foreign language]
Sam, we lose, Madame will take the blue.
But please, not four yards only.
Skirts will be very full next season.
You have it from the lips of Paris.
I'll take six yards of the blue and the scarlet.
And where can I get those dice?
Clemence!
At The Paradise, Madame, only at The Paradise.
[chuckling]
[speaking foreign language]
Not that I'm not delighted to see you.
Why are you here?
Didn't you hear, darling?
I bring you the fever that is sweeping all Paris.
You bring me dice that can be bought
at any French port for five sous apiece.
Where did you pick them up, Calais?
[Clemence] Paris was becoming uncomfortable.
Oh, dear.
Doesn't sound good.
It is true what they say, hell knows no fury
like a woman scorned.
Her tantrums and tears were insupportable.
I wanted a change of scene quickly.
[speaking foreign language]
Clemence, you are incorrigible.
These, these are clever.
How many did you bring?
As many as I could fit into my valise.
I'll take them all.
-Of course. -[chuckling]
Now, tell me, how are all my friends?
How is Denise?
Yes, she's very well.
She's head of Ladieswear.
Oh, no, John, what has happened?
You and Denise, you were made for each other.
She didn't think that we could--
[clearing throat]
Actually, Clemence, do you mind if we don't?
[Denise] And you're sure it was her?
Large as life and twice as French,
she's in with Mr. Moray now if you want to see her.
I have to get back, I'm sure I'll find her later.
My feelings exactly, women, unfathomable.
She loves him, she won't go near him.
Whoop, you all right?
This place takes people like that sometimes.
Let's get the weight off your feet, yeah.
Paradise.
It is paradise.
Not for everyone.
[light music]
Clemence!
I'm so happy to see you.
And I, you, cherie.
But what is it I hear, you and Moray breaking
each other's hearts, why?
We do not want the same thing.
He wants you, you want him.
Not in the same way.
I am his most prized possession.
You would be loved as you yourself love.
Yes.
But what if that is not possible?
Then,
I shall have to learn to live with a broken heart.
[light music]
It is her, it is!
Oh, we'll all go out again like last time.
Just the girls, to The Three Crowns.
But without question, we four.
[speaking foreign language]
But that is for later, now I have a gift for Denise.
And not just for Denise, for Ladieswear.
Whatever I tell them downstairs,
this is the true vogue in Paris today.
Rouge.
Only the very boldest dare wear it but even those who dare
not, buy it, in case one day they should find the courage.
But women who paint their faces are not nice.
They work on the streets.
[speaking foreign language]
So when madame walks into a salon with her face painted
thus and her head held high,
she's telling the world, I am who I say I am.
Let no one else dare to define me.
It is a gauntlet thrown at the feet of polite society.
This is not Paris.
But if there is anyone who can sell
Paris here, it is you, Denise.
So these are not just a gift.
They are a challenge.
Your purchases will be waiting for you
at the parcels desk.
As to the hazard dice you were inquiring after,
I believe they'll be with us later today.
Hazard.
A few hours ago, nobody's heard of the game, now,
I suppose that's the thing with a craze, eh?
Eh?
[dramatic music]
Arthur, Arthur!
Arthur, find Mr. Moray and tell him to come
and tell him to come now.
But I'm helping Mademoiselle Clemence with her dice.
The dice can wait, this cannot.
[Katherine] You were up early this morning.
I was woken by a caller.
A caller?
On a false errand.
The person he sought does not live here.
But by happy accident, I was able to do some business
with him myself, is that Damson jelly?
Perfect.
Is that why you're in such a jolly mood?
Sometimes, Flora, life seems full
of possibility and promise.
Apparently, Mademoiselle Romanie
has returned to The Paradise.
Clemence?
I thought her in France.
An impromptu visit, I believe.
I shall make sure to give her your best.
[sighing]
Who is he?
I don't know.
He looked tired so I offered him a seat
and next thing I know he's--
What is it?
[Arthur] He's a sailor.
Yes.
Not an English one, that's French.
And this is French tailoring, the best.
Did he sound foreign?
I only heard him say three words.
Mr. Moray, sir.
A French sailor with a taste for fine tailoring
and the annual salary of a working man in his pocket.
[Tom] Quite a mystery.
-Mr. Weston-- -Dudley told me.
I met him this morning.
He came to the hall.
He'd been misdirected.
Who is he?
He didn't give a name.
Imagine a small group of customers, hand-picked,
women who feel they can lead fashion
rather than be led by it.
Now imagine a corner of Ladieswear dressed as a boudoir.
The woman who inhabits it has just stepped out
and may return at any moment.
Her scent lingers in the air.
On the dressing table, a bottle of perfume.
We imagine her dabbing it on her wrists.
Her neck.
There's an evening stole, a fan.
A dance card.
And in the middle,
a beautiful pot of rouge.
Beside it, a woman's necklace carelessly cast aside,
tangled and tumbled with a man's cuff links.
Denise?
May I be excused to get a glass of cold water?
I'm feeling awfully strange.
[chuckling]
Glass of cold water?
Cold bath more like.
If that doesn't sell it, nothing will.
The parish will take him and bury him.
Because his identity is not known,
he must be in an unmarked grave.
That's a pauper's burial, that man had money.
An unmarked grave in an unknown land.
I would not wish so solitary an end on anyone.
Mademoiselle Clemence.
If he's recently come from France, she may have encountered
him on her journey, she may even have met him.
Though, perhaps, it's not proper to show a woman
a deceased person.
Oh, I feel sure Mademoiselle Clemence
will be equal to the task.
Don't you, Moray?
No, I've never seen him before, I'm sorry.
Not at all, Clemence.
[clearing throat]
We appreciate your trying.
We could use his money to buy a plot and pay for a burial.
Headstone can come later if his identity is ever learned.
Find somewhere to put him until arrangements can be made.
Moray can't be expected to share his office with a corpse.
[dramatic music]
I love the river when it is like this.
Don't you?
All deep
and still and quiet.
As if it were asleep.
Mrs. Weston, have a care, you might slip.
The ground is dangerous here.
I don't know what happened.
I was feeling faint and the water,
I am very grateful to you.
I have walked by that river many times
when my thoughts have been turbulent.
I walked there this morning for that reason.
I fear I have
nothing.
Everything I had, I cast away.
It is lost.
[Jonas] You have the child.
I have her on sufferance only.
He can take her from me.
He will take her from me.
I have destroyed everything I set out to protect.
And hurt those that I sought to shield.
I have become the harm I feared.
And yet today you were my salvation.
Then there is hope for both of us.
My husband was a soldier.
He has suffered as other men have not.
He has wounds.
Terrible wounds, his
back laid open by swords.
And he bears this pain alone.
In secret.
I thought once to be his comfort.
You make me believe such a thing could yet be possible.
Mama, will you come, I've made a daisy chain.
Of course, my darling.
Only, I do feel so strange.
Have you that grown-up sickness again, Mama?
It is so long since you had it last.
Weeks and weeks.
[dramatic music]
The powder is so light,
it requires the softest touch.
A dusting on the lips.
And on the cheeks.
Like the flush of love.
Or the first time you looked in a glass
and knew you were beautiful.
The effect is lovely.
But it is impossible.
A painted face?
My husband would never allow it.
Perhaps your husband would not know.
He thinks such preparations gaudy and brash.
But this is sweet
and delicate
and gentle.
Like a kiss on your skin.
Denise.
I'm sorry to interrupt.
It makes no difference, they weren't going to buy.
How can I help?
I have a favour to ask concerning your uncle's shop.
We do not know his name or who his people might be.
But I wish for him to be buried with the care
and consideration I would give a friend,
but until arrangements can be made,
he needs a place to rest.
My uncle's keys are inside.
You could have come in.
Thank you.
We should at least try to find a way
of being normal with each other.
[sighing]
Denise, I,
it is hard for me even to be near you at the moment.
But to be in the same room,
be so close and not be able to touch you.
I will learn, I'm sure I will learn, just
not yet.
[dramatic music]
There she is.
Myrtle, don't tell me.
New bustier.
You look magnificent.
You see, women dress for other women
because other women notice.
Oh, we shall have a night of it tonight.
It's women only, lads.
It is women only.
Small mercies.
Unless you prefer an evening with the gentlemen.
I see one of them at least has his eye on you.
This is what I give for an evening with a gentleman.
[speaking foreign language]
Oh, I don't know what she's saying,
but I like the way she says it.
[chuckling]
So what is it to be?
The Three Crowns and perhaps a little dinner?
A little dancing?
Mademoiselle Romanie.
I wonder, might I beg the favour of a word?
It is delightful to see you back.
[Clemence] Oh, I'm delighted to be back.
And delighted, I'm sure, to have escaped
all that unpleasantness in Paris.
An acquaintance of yours called at the hall this morning
under the mistaken impression that
he would find you with us.
I had to disappoint him.
But we got talking.
Now, he said he was, oh, what was the word used?
Ah, yes.
A sangsue.
A bloodsucker.
Though I believe
"debt collector" is the more common term.
What do you want?
Oh, I already have what I want.
My debts, he sold them to you?
I'm only sorry he never got to enjoy his ill-gotten gains.
What will you do with them?
Well, I thought we might discuss that over dinner.
Of course, you will have to tell your
friends that you're now unavailable.
Tomorrow, please.
But I am hungry now.
I am sorry.
I had forgotten a prior engagement.
[dramatic music]
[birds chirping]
[Katherine] I was wondering what your plans
were for this evening?
I'm dining out.
What a shame.
It has been so long since we dined together.
Too long.
Do you remember when we were first married?
How you would send the servants away in the evening.
You would sit by me
and pour my wine.
I do.
I do remember.
You were so tender.
Yet so
withheld.
I thought I had a lifetime
to fathom the secrets in your eyes.
But then we came here.
And I learned the secret had a name.
Moray.
And little by little, I watched
as his nearness
turned your tenderness to anguish.
I don't doubt you've endured the destruction of your dreams.
We have that in common at least.
But do not,
do not insult the hopes I once cherished
by trying now to resurrect
what you so thoroughly laid to waste.
I have found someone else to comfort me.
[dramatic music]
I no longer need you.
If only it weren't so red.
I think you'll find the clue is in the name.
We're just gonna have to admit defeat on this one, Denise.
Oh, but it's gorgeous.
Feels like silk when you brush it on.
It even smells divine.
What's that?
Otto of roses.
How do you know it's Otto of roses?
Otto of roses, white starch,
bit of carmine for the colour.
I'm a cook.
I know what goes in most things by smelling them.
My mother, now, she had a nose like bloodhound.
Made her own preparations, too.
She had a cream would turn your skin to satin.
Face like an old boot, God rest her.
But to touch, oh, you have never known anything so soft.
And do you know what she put in these creams?
I know what she put in, just don't know how much.
Kept her quantities close to her chest.
Myrtle, how do feel about a little
after-hours experimenting?
You need the water hot if you want
the spermaceti to melt this time.
It's already burning my hands.
Beauty comes at a price.
Now, the rose water and the oils.
Slowly.
Oh, and to think I could be at the pub.
Stop, now into the cold water.
Perfect.
Not quite.
[Myrtle] What are you doing?
The scent of roses and the faintest hint
of a blush.
[chuckling]
Myrtle.
You are beautiful.
-Oh, you-- -No, I know, I know.
And before you say it, I deserve every word.
But what if I told you that tomorrow night
is my very last night of freedom?
And that I have come to ask you all to spend it with me.
What are you talking about?
I was not honest with Moray about
my reasons for leaving France.
There were debts.
Prison if I could not pay and I could not.
So I ran, but someone came after me.
I don't blame him, he was doing his job.
He sold my debts to Tom Weston.
And now Weston gives me a choice.
Become his mistress or face prison.
Oh, no, please.
I don't want your pity.
I want your company.
Tomorrow night at The Three Crowns,
won't you come and drink with me?
I bloody will.
Bloody need a bloody drink after that.
His last night above ground, I didn't think
he should spend it alone.
Death raises questions about
life, about
purpose.
If we're gonna talk about life, death and purpose,
I'm going to need another drink, luckily,
I know where Edmund keeps his brandy.
[light music]
Saw the light.
Oh, welcome to the party.
It is a vigil.
With refreshments.
I want to know what potion the three of you
were brewing like witches last night?
Mrytle's mother's cream,
which Denise has tinted with your rouge.
A secret between you and your skin.
[gasping]
I could take this to any shop in any city in the world
and by tomorrow, there would be queues in the street.
You are a genius.
No, I mean it.
You are a genius.
But not in love.
Why, with all your flair and passion and elan,
why cannot you and him find the way to be together?
Clemence, please.
Please don't make it any harder.
I'm sorry, cherie.
It is just that I must believe in love,
now more than ever.
I must believe that Tom Weston's way is not the only way
and that love, real love, can triumph.
[dramatic music]
I shall have to speak to Edmund
about the quality of his brandy.
I am carrying quite a head this morning.
At least he was not alone.
See, I don't know why you think this man's death
was such a sad and solitary affair.
If I had to venture an opinion, I'd say he died happy.
"It is paradise."
When he looked about, that's what he said.
Perhaps he could already see something you couldn't.
Or perhaps he was exactly where he wanted to be.
Just happy.
What would it take to be so fulfilled?
Every man has to decide for himself
what is it that makes life worth living.
And if a man loses the things that makes
his life worth living, what then?
That would depend on the man.
[sighing]
I have lost The Paradise.
I've lost Denise.
Every day the pain gets worse.
Moray, I have never been the one with the answers.
Dudley.
I am
lost.
I'm asking you,
you're my closest friend,
what would you have me do?
Very well.
I would not have you as you are now,
as you have been these past weeks.
Resigned,
accepting, defeated.
I would have you fight.
Fight on.
With what, I have nothing.
You have everything you started with.
[chuckling]
Dudley, that was nothing.
Exactly.
Come on, time to go home.
No, please.
Please stay.
It is so mournful to drink alone.
We're not leaving you.
You're coming with us.
I am?
[light music]
But I have agreed to meet Tom Weston.
I have to give him my answer.
[Clara] You have to lie down first.
We can't let this happen, Clara.
We can't.
Jonas,
I couldn't sleep.
Nor I.
So many comings and goings.
How is Mademoiselle Romanie?
She's,
she's in trouble.
Mr. Weston has acquired letters of promise
that she is unable to honour.
And he is using them to coerce her
into an arrangement.
And you would seek to help her?
I can't stand by and watch.
Then I will come with you.
No, Jonas.
I'm truly grateful but what Mr. Weston would see
as a plea coming from a woman, he would see
as a challenge coming from a man.
Then you must go armed.
Tom Weston has a secret.
The pain of it and the shame of it are what drives him.
It will also be the undoing of him.
I don't understand.
He was a young Officer in the Indian Mutiny.
The city of Delhi was besieged, many men died.
Tom Weston survived a hero.
But he had secret wounds.
Sword cuts to his back,
as if he had tried to run and was set upon
by one of his own.
You can't know that.
I know men.
Tom Weston is a man in torment.
He is a man who met himself one terrible day
and despises the coward he found himself to be.
Do you understand, Denise?
That is why he looks for comfort, for escape.
To lose himself within another.
Because the pain of who he is is so unendurable to him.
I want you to use this knowledge as a weapon against him.
You must use it as you will.
[dramatic music]
Denise.
You're waiting for Mademoiselle Romanie.
She's at The Paradise, indisposed.
I'm her messenger.
Has she reached a decision?
She accepts your proposal.
But I wish you would reconsider.
There are some feelings
which are so unendurable we would do anything
to escape them.
But we cannot,
we can only distract ourselves for a while.
If I could buy my way out of the ache in my heart, I would.
But some things cannot be bought.
And to try to buy that which can only be given freely
would be a comfortless thing.
Did Mademoiselle Romanie send you here
to negotiate with me?
No.
I act for myself.
You're a daring strategist for a shop girl.
And you're a good businessman for a soldier.
A woman's life for a few debts?
That's a hard bargain.
[chuckling]
-Sir! -[gasping]
Mr. Weston?
Sir!
[gasping]
I'm sorry.
I have wounds.
Old wounds.
From India?
What do you know of India?
Nothing.
You cannot spend a lifetime punishing yourself
for a moment's lapse driven by fear.
But don't you see?
Nor can you escape it by punishing another.
You dare to tell me what can and cannot be?
You dare presume to know me?
You tell Mademoiselle Romanie to be ready.
You tell her I am coming for her.
[dramatic music]
[Jonas] Mr. Weston?
Jonas.
Turn back, sir.
Go home to your family.
No one will ever know what passed here.
You came here with Denise?
I did.
Though she did not know it.
You.
It was you who told her.
[chuckling]
How long did it take you to piece my story together?
Watching from the shadows.
Listening at doors.
You spoke to me as a friend.
You let me believe you were my man.
I serve The Paradise.
I am The Paradise!
No, sir, you are not.
And I will not allow you to avenge yourself
on those who are.
Get out of my way.
Get out of my way!
[dramatic music]
My luggage?
We collected it from the hotel.
I don't understand.
There's enough in there for a train to the port
and a ticket on the boat.
France means prison, I can't go back.
The boat to America.
Money.
This is your money.
I can't take it.
You can and you will.
I went to Tom Weston.
I tried to make things better and I made them so much worse.
But he will know I had help.
He will know who helped me.
There are other places to work.
I'm not sure we could carry on anyway,
knowing what he was doing to you.
[John] Knowing that he was doing what to her?
[Flora sobbing]
Flora, my darling, what is it?
Was it a bad dream?
It is not a dream!
Papa will send you away.
He will send you away and I will be alone.
Flora, listen to me.
We belong to each other now.
Do you understand?
All of us, we belong to each other and we will be together.
Come.
What are we doing?
Are you brave enough to venture out into such black night?
I'm never scared with you.
That is because you make me brave.
And when you are with me,
there is no one in the world stronger than I am.
There.
[Denise] He's coming for her,
if she's going to get away, she has to go now.
[Clemence] You can say you saw nothing, sir.
-Please, John. -He cannot do this.
He cannot own you. You're not,
you're not his possession.
[Tom] Mademoiselle Romanie.
Denise.
Clara.
She didn't know.
The noise woke her, she tried to stop us.
Go, Clara.
[dramatic music]
You should have reined her in while you
had the chance, Moray.
Your creature,
your little champion.
She is not my anything.
She is her own,
as is Clemence.
Oh, no, Mademoiselle Romanie is bought and paid for.
Her debts are bought and paid for.
Give me 24 hours.
I'll find the money,
I'll buy them back.
They are not for sale.
Then,
I'll play you for them.
Hazard.
You would need a stake and you have nothing that I want.
You want me gone.
If I win,
you will return Clemence's debts to her.
If you win,
I go.
Where?
Away.
Away from The Paradise,
this city, the country.
No!
-Moray. -You will not return?
I will not return.
You have my word.
Very well.
But let us dispense with the notion that this is a game.
One throw each.
Highest roll wins.
[dramatic music]
[dice rolling]
Clemence.
Merci.
Your past is none of my affair.
But your actions today,
they were the work of a true coward.
Wait.
I will play you again.
I will play you for The Paradise.
Department by department.
And my stake?
Oh, the same every time, your exile.
Or are you too much the coward to risk so much?
John, please don't.
This is not brave, this is insane.
You'd have to win every throw.
Every throw.
Denise, I had The Paradise, I had you.
I've lost them both.
Don't you see, I have nothing more to lose.
[dramatic music]
The Great Hall.
[Katherine] I've come for my husband.
He's inside with Moray.
They're playing dice, for The Paradise.
[dice rolling]
Two in a row.
But your luck will not hold.
It cannot.
You have lost half your shop.
Would you really rather bring down your own world
than see him prosper just a little?
Your cast.
Get out.
Throw.
Not before the child.
-Throw! -Not before the child.
[Katherine] Flora, go with Denise.
Miss Flora, have you ever seen The Paradise at night time?
I did once
have a dream of Moray.
But I promise you,
that dream is dead.
I am free of it.
There was a kindness between us once.
Could we not look for it again?
That dream is also dead.
Then we must make a new dream.
For Flora's sake.
And the sake of the child that is coming.
Come home.
I will send away the servants and I will sit beside you.
And we will talk.
Let me be your comfort now.
It is like a secret world.
If I lived here, I would wander around all night.
Do you?
I used to.
I thought you would lose.
I thought I would lose you.
What would you have done?
Followed.
To hear you say those things and know that you meant them,
you don't know how much I've longed for that.
You are my equal
and more.
I look at you now and I see myself.
That is how I know
you will never be content in my shadow.
It is not my Paradise you need,
it is your own.
No.
I want you.
I want to work with you and grow with you.
It's yours.
Everything I won from Weston
I give you gladly, freely,
with all my heart.
Yours.
Sweetheart, don't you see?
You will never be happy.
You will never be happy with me
until you've built something that is yours
and yours alone.
But to do that I'd have to go.
I'd have to leave you.
Yes, you would.
You will.
I would rather see you walk away
than keep you beside me, only to watch the light
go out of your eyes.
I love you too much.
Jonas.
Is it over, sir?
Yes, it's,
it's over.
[chattering]
[light music]
Arthur, I need you to deliver this and bring
the answer as fast as you can, can you do that?
Yes.
Clara, take charge.
My uncle's shop.
But not as a drapery any more, as a beauty emporium.
With creams for the complexion and oils
and powders and scented balms.
Mr. Ballantine has agreed to invest in me.
He will be my backer.
And I will be here.
I will be here.
And when I've made my name.
Not your fortune.
Both.
I will come to you
and ask you most humbly
if you will do me the honour of becoming my husband.
-Will you say yes? -Yes.
-Do you promise? -Yes.
Yes.
[light music]