[chuckles]
[in French] Mother.
Why?
I wish to live well. But I'm too lazy to work for it.
Quite simple, really.
We didn't raise you to be like this.
I am sorry, Mother, but actually you did.
Do you have any idea of the straits we're in?
I understand it's time I--
You're to leave this house.
If I see you here again, or at any property I own,
I'll have you beaten and put in chains.
- And that's an end to it. - Father.
- I promise-- - Promise someone else.
What's to become of me?
That's no concern of mine.
[Thérèse inhales sharply]
[in English] We cannot agree to that.
We are not inclined to yield.
- First, you wish to make a meal of Canada. - [John] We have relinquished that demand.
[Franklin] I have not.
[Strachey] Now you lay claim to the banks of the Mississippi.
If you will not pay reparations, we are forced to seek compensation elsewhere.
There is still the issue of the Newfoundland waters.
The cod is ours, sir. We will not surrender it.
It is not yours to surrender but ours to grant.
Such tyranny was the cause for war to begin with.
- Mr. Jay. - Sir?
Might I ask you not to smoke.
I find it rather suffocating.
- Your territory-- - Country.
Indeed.
Your country runs the length of the Atlantic coast
to the southern edge of Georgia.
Now, by what rate do you double it
and lay claim to lands none of us here have ever seen?
By the right of the nation we will become.
All the more reason to limit the scope that we agree to.
If you intend to trap us between the ocean and the Alleghenies,
how can we regard that as peace?
If you accept no limits to your boundaries,
how can we be secure in our North American interests?
That you will have North American interests is the grounds for our concern.
- I would like someone to explain to me... - Mr. Grenville--
...by what magic Newfoundland...
- Are you so majestically nitwitted? - ...both is and is not part of Canada.
Were you to possess even the most rudimentary
- grasp of precedent, you would-- - Perhaps by arrangement on--
By God's wounds!
Dr. Franklin.
Mr. Oswald.
May we dispense with a nicety?
Of what nature?
Your friends at Versailles have drawn a map
less generous than what we have proposed.
Have they?
You know this. We know it too.
You've come to this knowledge how?
By the game we are, all of us, engaged in.
Huh, it's a pretty thing to tell a man
you've picked his pocket as proof of your honesty.
Mr. Adams, let him speak.
[Oswald] It is they who mean to confine you east of the mountains.
The rest will go to Spain and the Red Indians, hmm?
To hold us both in check.
Can we not agree that you will gain more by settling with us now, and in this room,
than by deferring to the French?
Will you give us Canada?
[sighs]
We cannot.
[Franklin] Will you forego reparations for seized property?
If you do the same.
Will you cede all the land to the eastern banks of the Mississippi
and guarantee the rights of navigation on the river itself?
- We will. - [John clears throat]
Will you grant us fishing rights off the Newfoundland coast?
- The coast is nonnego-- - Give us--
Give us your assent now without further engagement of Minister Vergennes,
and the answer is yes.
[sighs]
[sighs] I don't know.
What do you mean?
I mean I don't know.
You don't know if you will say yes?
That is correct.
When might you know?
I can't say, but I know that I do not know now.
[scoffs]
[clock chiming]
Well...
time for supper.
Mr. Adams. Mr. Jay would like a word, sir.
Does he treat you well, Benoit?
Mr. Jay is a most sober master.
To be told not to smoke. Of all the presumptions.
Is that what you wish to convey to me?
He is not the man he was. That is unfortunately clear.
And what do you wish to do about it?
You have already decided that.
I simply give my consent.
[sighs]
I do not like you.
[Franklin groans]
Really?
I do not like your arrogance.
I do not like your-- your pretense of humility.
I do not like your so-called wit
by which you work to disarm those who would see through your fraudulence.
I don't like your libertine appetites.
Damning in someone half your age,
but positively repellent in a man of advanced years.
I do not like your lack of scruples, your bastard progeny,
your personal habits, your manner of dress.
I loathe your little almanac.
Well, I did start a company of firemen in Philadelphia.
That must count for something.
All I have said
is but a preamble.
"...compels me to denounce all who call themselves patriots
and abhor the rebellion they unlawfully foment.
But Grandfather has bid me keep silent and do not imperil his own prospects,
whichever side may prove the victor.
For, in unsettled times, it is prudent to seem one thing and be another,
and thus profit either way, or so he instructs me.
No one is wiser in the art of deception."
May I?
[John] No clever retort?
What does it matter what I say? You've already tried and sentenced me.
An innocent man would protest.
So would a guilty one.
I could ruin you with this.
You have long wished to.
Here is your chance.
There is no sin I consider beneath you...
except treason.
Thank you. I suppose.
What do you make of the British proposal?
They are prepared to give up more than we could have hoped.
Then why did you hesitate?
Because...
there is what I promised, and what I must do.
What do you think the French will say if we accept?
They will conclude that my word means nothing...
and they will be right.
Which nation do you intend to serve?
I'm here for America, sir.
I have never cared for anything else.
[sighs]
Then shall you and I make our peace?
We shall.
You did not ask me how that letter came into my possession.
I would suspect that Mr. Bancroft gave it to you.
He told you so?
Of course not, but he's in the employ of the British.
You have known this?
For quite some time.
You have made him an intimate.
He has sat here and been privy to the most sensitive matters.
He has sown discord, and engaged in forgery,
and acted to undermine all that we have committed ourselves to.
That's true, but as he is otherwise a likable fellow...
[sighs] ...I can't hold it against him.
[sighs]
I, uh-- I am going back to my lodgings now.
[pages chattering]
[in French] Let's go! Step lively, you skulking mutts!
- [speaking in French] - [pages clamoring]
Plus vite! Plus vite! Plus vite!
For the Duc de la Vauguyon.
[pages shouting]
[cheering]
[receptionist] Let's go! Step lively, you pathetic minnows!
[speaking in French]
For the Baron de Romainville.
[page] Hurry up. He's calling!
For the marquis de Castries.
[panting] The comte de Montbarrey.
Chancellor Maupeou.
[person chewing]
What?
Try harder.
[Temple sighs]
[panting]
[chattering in distance]
[chattering]
[Temple clears throat]
What do you want?
I have a message.
Oh! "My tiger."
I'm trying to concentrate here.
Not hard enough, it seems.
[courtier clears throat]
"Your brother may be king, but you rule over me."
[all exclaim]
"My provinces north and south are ready to yield their riches"--
[all murmur, chuckle]
I can't be responsible for every woman with an urge to scribble.
- [all laugh] - Oh. My poor boy.
How it must pain you.
Stop pissing about and admit you've lost.
[courtiers murmur]
Who says I've lost?
- 20,000 livres says it. - [courtiers chuckling, murmuring]
Betting on chess?
- That's not sporting. - [courtiers chattering]
Fine.
So be it.
Twenty it is.
Uh, non.
What?
I-- Nothing.
Who are you again?
Your humble servant, Monsieur le Comte.
You know something about chess?
A little.
Well?
What do you suggest I do?
- Take your pawn and-- - [Charles shushes]
[courtiers chattering]
[whispering indistinctly]
[all] Ah, bravo! Bravo!
Not fair.
That's what everyone who loses says.
[all laugh]
[courtier 2] Bien dit!
Tell me your name again.
Gui-- Guillaume Temple.
Ladies and gentlemen,
may I introduce Monsieur Guillaume de Temple.
- [all laughing] - My new...
Minister of Games.
[all laughing, exclaiming]
[Jay, in English] How are you this day, Doctor?
As you see me, sir.
I fear these negotiations may have taxed you beyond mercy.
What makes you say that?
I have no wish to offend.
I'm quite immune. Speak.
An offer was placed before us in our last meeting.
One that we might well have built upon.
And you met it
with befuddlement.
You think me unsound of mind.
Are you?
Perhaps, but I would be the last to know.
You delight in conundrum, sir. [sighs]
I prefer clarity.
Dr. Franklin was caught on a point of order. Nothing more.
We have discussed it to my satisfaction.
You and I also discussed something, as I recall.
That has been resolved as well.
Where does this put us?
With four points to secure.
Our independence, our boundaries, our reparations--
And the sacred cod, of course.
Yes. The cod.
It would be best if we at last spoke in one voice.
[John] Whose?
I am content for it to be mine.
I think not.
[Jay] Pardon?
You are too cold, sir. You earn us no goodwill.
And you imagine yourself to be?
I am too hot... or so I am told.
Well, that would seem to leave me.
Your alleged charm must be good for something.
- [chuckles] - [horses approach in distance]
They're here.
Uh, could you gentlemen set out a chair for me?
I prefer to do this upright. [grunts]
[groans]
You're much improved, Doctor?
Never better, sir.
Then may we hope that today brings the concordance we all seek.
We approach in the same spirit and hope.
- Where is Mr. Grenville? - [Franklin sighs]
Gone fishing.
You acknowledge our independence unconditionally?
We do so acknowledge.
The boundaries of our nation will be as settled,
extending to the eastern banks of the Mississippi.
Agreed.
And the rights to the cod off the Newfoundland coast,
also retained by us.
Just so.
- Then regarding these particular matters-- - [Strachey] There is one sticking point.
We are quite firm on the question of reparations.
There must be compensation for those loyal subjects of the Crown
who do not wish to participate in your experiment.
Then the losses of Americans must be paid in kind.
That is not acceptable to us.
Mr. Oswald.
I am not my own man in this, sir.
And there is much here for you to celebrate.
That may be.
But we will not pay for the privilege of our own abuse.
We're very close, Doctor.
Not, I fear, close enough.
May I propose a recess?
You did not say you would be intractable on this point.
You did not ask.
I would rather yield in exchange for further concessions.
That is placing expediency over principle.
You are not generally deemed a stickler in that regard.
What do you know of me, sir, or my principles?
I know this is no time to confuse person with country.
Meaning what?
Your dispute with your son is your own affair.
Mr. Jay.
- You think I seek to punish him by treaty? - I think your judgment clouded.
I always thought dueling absurd, but you are causing me to reconsider.
- You cannot even stand. - I will make the effort!
[John] Gentlemen!
I'd like to suggest some language.
Might I ask you to say that again?
[sighs]
"That Congress will recommend"--
- Earnestly recommend. -"Earnestly recommend
to the States that they recognize the loyalist owners
of all confiscated properties and provide restitution."
If possible.
[whispering] That is a collection of words without input.
Would you give us a moment, please?
[door opens]
[door closes]
[Strachey] They've no power to compel the States to do anything.
All that holds their country together is truculence and a dislike of taxes.
I'm aware of their confederation.
Then you understand that concession is meaningless.
No, it means we thwart the French. And that's what we're here for.
- At least we keep Florida. - That's being handed off to Spain.
Let's get this over with.
[door opens]
Bugger.
[Oswald] Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, Mr. Jay.
We have considered your proposal regarding reparations, and we accept.
And we thank you for this understanding.
Since we are in accord on other matters,
may we say that we five, as of this hour, have reached a peace?
We may indeed.
Then, gentlemen...
here is your America.
[sighs]
[cork pops]
[Jay] Will you take another, Doctor?
[Franklin] I expect I will.
I thought you were meant to have none at all.
If I cannot raise a glass to the United States,
you might as well bury me now.
To Congress not tossing us in jail.
Who will tell them we ignored their instructions?
I seem to recall that you were keen to do so.
I will inform them, and happily too.
It is a glory to have broken such an infamous order.
Were we to defile ourselves for the pleasure of a French king?
Write that letter, Mr. Adams, and do not spare your tongue, I beg you.
All right, you have a dry, undermining way about you, sir.
I will let it pass this once.
Oh, take a sip at least.
What have you got there?
It's a nice little port.
I would prefer some claret.
Well, then claret it will be. Mr. Jay.
You might as well fill it.
Shall we have a toast?
The floor is yours.
To virtue, honesty, education of the people
and the rule of law.
We can have no country without them.
Nor be worthy of one.
- Amen, sir. - Hear, hear.
Dr. Franklin, I was sharp with you today and beg your forgiveness.
Oh, I can simply grant it.
And yet I must ask,
do you mean to sign this,
without the further advice of Versailles?
Well, Vergennes must be told at least.
That would fall to you.
Well, I do have a man at court.
[in French] Don't tell me. Lenoir.
No. Someone else.
Who?
I don't know. From Versailles.
I'm having breakfast.
He says it's urgent.
[sighs]
Who even lets these people in here? [stammers] I'm not dressed.
What is so damned important--
Monsieur Temple.
First Minister.
- [in English] What are you doing here? - I have something for you.
Did you happen to see a man from court?
- Me. - What?
I'm the man from court.
[stammers] I don't understand what's happening.
I attend le comte d'Artois.
- Since when? - Fairly recently.
And he sent you?
No, my grandfather.
- He sent your grandfather? - My grandfather sent me.
How does your grandfather know Artois?
- He doesn't. - Then why is--
He wanted you to have a copy of this as soon as possible.
What is it?
[sighs] Grandfather wishes you to know
that he regards the amity between America and France to be undiminished
and hopes that you will feel the same way.
[sighs, speaks in French] Son of a bitch.
[Gérard] Monsieur le Comte?
Monsieur le Comte!
I'm back from London!
First Minister!
[panting]
I met directly with Lord Shelburne's second.
They're willing to negotiate with us separately.
- [sighs] - He made it expressly clear that--
What is--
But--
Is this--
[panting continues]
Franklin sat there and promised--
He promised to--
He fucked us.
[sighs]
[coach driver] Whoa! Whoa, whoa.
[in English] Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams. Excuse my tardiness.
They're ready upstairs.
- Where's your man today? - Who?
Benoit.
He has run off.
I told him I would free him, but the damned Cuffy just couldn't wait.
Which of you will go first?
Dr. Franklin will.
[sighing]
Free, sovereign...
and independent.
That is what it says.
- [door opens, closes] - [Franklin groans]
[footsteps approaching]
She was unhappy with the first version of her corpse.
[sighs] She thought it made her look too...
Dead?
So she ordered another made.
This one is quite peaceful.
Just a little beauty sleep.
I would welcome that myself.
When you're royal, you decide how you will be seen,
even after you're gone.
But the rest of us...
You chose a melancholy spot to meet.
I cannot visit you at Passy.
Such things are not done.
And you, I think, will not show yourself at Versailles.
Besides, I like it here.
A thousand years of French kings.
Nobody remembered their mistakes, only that they ruled. [sighs]
But this will mean nothing to you.
It is not my history.
The new world, where all things are possible.
The same world, I'm afraid, and the same sort of men in it.
Only the idea is different.
What is this idea? I have never really understood.
That a free people may govern themselves,
guided by common sense and a belief in the greater good.
And if they lack common sense?
Then I suppose they shall get what they deserve.
Mmm.
[sighs]
When we first met, I thought,
"This man is clever, but not so clever as me."
Now I see how clever you are to make me think that.
- You flatter me. - [door closes]
It was at every step an invention,
and no one could be more surprised than myself that any of it worked.
You looked me in the eye and gave your word.
And you sent Gérard to England.
I did that, yes.
So the question is not really who lied to whom--
But who lied better.
[grunts]
Do you know what my wife says?
Declare victory and take the credit, even if it is really failure.
- She sounds very wise. - Mmm.
- She's not allowed at court, you know. - Mmm.
Her father was only a merchant.
We married without the king's consent.
None of that would matter in America, would it?
You should come see the country that you helped create.
And what did we get for our billion livres?
The eternal devotion of a grateful country.
Please.
You will trade with the English and leave us empty-handed.
That is the peace they came to buy.
Monsieur le Comte, I did not mean to wound you.
You have not wounded me. You have outsmarted me.
That is far worse.
I plead forgiveness for the inexperience in affairs of state
that led us to an indiscretion.
Our debt to you,
to your greathearted king, to France itself is bottomless.
[Vergennes sighs]
And would it not be a pity
if this little misunderstanding should come between us?
And let the English think that they have succeeded in dividing such a--
[laughing]
What? [laughs]
[both laughing]
- W-W-What are we laughing about? - [chuckling]
You're going to ask me for more money, aren't you?
Only another six million.
It would come in awfully handy.
[Vergennes] No doubt your Congress will guarantee this debt.
[Franklin] Of course.
Don't tell me you're afraid to get in.
I see no need to spend more time crossing water than absolutely necessary.
When you're clutching the rail of some miserable ship,
you will regret missing this pleasant little paddle.
[groans]
[Helvétius] I have a nice bijou of a place.
[Franklin] It has its modest charm.
[Helvétius] Thirty rooms or 40. I can't remember.
Fields, stables...
You must live in the forest in a house made from trees.
It is made of brick, in a city.
What it looks like now, I can only guess.
The British have had their way with it.
Well, you've gotten your revenge. You've beaten them all.
I suppose I have.
It's oddly unsatisfying.
What more did you want?
Just more.
No matter what it may be. Just--
Just more of it.
- Oh. We are feeling our age. - [chuckles]
[sighs] I'm feeling...
There is a country that, I dare say, I've had some hand in making,
and yet I have hardly been there in 20 years.
Then why bother to return?
[sighs]
I think I'm obliged to see what this America might be.
And if you don't like what you discover?
Madame.
[groans]
Would you marry me?
[chuckling]
You are a rascal.
- Hmm. - You're serious?
Are you serious?
Am I?
What about your America?
I owe her my loyalty but not my happiness.
Well, I suppose the abbé could take care of it.
I hate all that fuss in church.
Are you saying yes?
[sighs]
[speaks French]
Oh, I'm so terribly fond of you.
But we both know you are the most troublesome sort of cats.
What sort is that?
The sort that always wanders off, no matter how much you pamper him.
[footsteps approaching]
[Thérèse, in French] You see what's going on out there?
He'll be on his way by morning.
And you?
What will you have done about it besides sit here and cower?
[sighs] We'll lose this house.
We'll lose everything.
Do you know why?
All because you've allowed this mesmerist to empty our purse for years
over some country you will never set foot in.
Have you anything to say?
It turns out the queen never bought the necklace in the first place.
The whole affair was a confidence trick, and she's utterly blameless.
Fine.
I'll take care of it myself.
- [in English] Leaving these? - They served their purpose.
Perhaps you can hand them out to curious visitors
or use them to stuff a crack in the wall.
Now, I do urge you to follow my prescriptions.
Six weeks at sea and no sugar or drink as consolation?
And a daily walk of the deck. You-- You'll thank me for it.
I'll curse you for it.
Well, fortunately I won't be nearby to hear.
And, um, avail yourself of this if needed.
But sparingly.
[groans]
The Ottoman dervishes claim opium affords them a vision of happiness to come.
Would that be so unwanted?
[sighs] Will there be such happiness though?
For America? Hmm.
- That will be up to the people. - [grumbles] For myself.
That has ever been my chief concern.
Where would the country be without you, hmm?
They'll lord you as the essential man.
Will they? [sighs]
I wonder.
- And what fate shall befall you? - Hmm?
Oh. [chuckles]
I'll, uh, amble about in my usual way.
No returning home?
Well, I've been so long abroad, I don't think I know where home would be.
England perhaps?
Well, we are at peace with them after all.
Is that not what we have worked for?
We have.
Each in our own fashion.
A case of the most excellent Madeira.
No sense letting it go to waste.
[horse whinnies in distance]
You're too generous.
Remember me by it.
I'll miss you, friend.
You have always been a most amiable companion.
[horses whinnying]
Oh, you have a visitor.
This is for you.
Madame.
All is here.
[in French] Expenses by the month.
[in English] Every instance of our hospitalité.
Isn't hospitality by its nature given freely?
[chuckles]
[in French] Not for years at a time.
[in English] 23,654 livres.
Read it line by line.
I do not doubt its accuracy.
Then I wait here while you get it.
I have no such amount at hand.
We lost millions. Where did it go?
To the United States. Monsieur Chaumont, he knows that.
You seduce him with talk of freedom and profit, so he--
he cannot think right.
You ascribe me powers that I do not possess.
[in French] Listen to him now.
[in English] But I give you my assurances that I'll personally see that Congress--
[in French] What do you have?
Pardon?
What do you have in your pocket right now?
[in English] Now.
[coins jingle]
[sighs, speaks in French] It's like pissing in a violin.
[in English] You might have intervened.
It seemed best to stay out of it.
Is that yours?
Belongs to Artois.
What else belongs to him?
It's only a means of advancement.
Towards what though?
You wished me to find my station.
Mmm, this is not what I had in mind.
But it's what I've chosen.
I will ride with you tomorrow to Le Havre.
Oh, there's no need.
You shouldn't be on the road alone.
Well, I wouldn't worry about that.
Monsieur Lenoir has been following me for years.
He won't let a trivial thing like my leaving the country stop him now.
Your father's living in London.
- I know. - You do?
You can find out anything at Versailles if you ask the right person.
You might go see him?
Do you wish me to convey something?
Nothing that has not already been said.
[sighs] Must you be so hard?
You made peace with Britain.
Can't you do the same with your own flesh and blood?
[sighs]
The heart is not negotiable.
"The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness."
[chuckling]
Whoever wrote that is a damn fool.
You are sure that this is what you want?
It is a game.
Like chess.
I enjoy playing it.
Then kiss me farewell, boy.
We will see each other again.
Perhaps.
But not, I think, in these editions.
[crying] Dear grandfather.
[kisses]
[both breathing shakily]
Seek happiness.
But remember who we are.
[in French] Who was that funny old fellow?
A great man of America.
[playing "So Merry As We Have Been"]
[music continues]
[speaking French indistinctly]
[applause]
[cheering]
[attendee] Bravo!
[music continues]
[no audible dialogue]
[applause]
[music continues]
- [breathing shakily] - [music ends]
[chattering in French]
[baby babbling]
[Cunégonde whispers] Très, très bien.
[whispers in French]
[sighs]
FOR MY DEAR PAPA
[Jacques, in English] Dr. Franklin.
I am sorry to disturb you,
but I did not imagine, after everything, that we would be making the same voyage.
[stammers] I'm at a loss, sir. I--
Jacques Chaumont.
Jacques.
Jacques, of course.
You are--
On my way to the United States, yes.
[Franklin grunts]
[sighs] You have spoken to my parents?
Your mother and I had a frank farewell.
Uh, they have banished me.
I'm sorry to hear it.
I cannot blame them.
In fact, I welcome it.
There was nothing for me in France.
At least, nothing I did not ruin.
How could I stay?
What will you do?
I do not know.
I have no money.
A few coins and the clothes on my back.
I only know I wish my life to be different.
In what fashion?
To make my own way in the world.
If I can.
By whatever wits I have.
To be free.
My apologies. I'm ridiculous.
You sound like a fellow of my acquaintance.
He ran off from home without a penny in his pocket.
What was his fate?
He's had some middling success
with those smallest of errors to show for it.
He has not always been truthful, or wise, or kind,
but he has labored to increase the store of useful knowledge
and improve man's lot on earth.
He can only pray that providence does not judge him too harshly.
Then perhaps there's hope for me.
You will have your opportunity.
The rest will be up to you.
Sir, I thank you for your time, and wish you safe passage.
Jacques.
I have a good brandy sitting in my cabin that I'm not supposed to drink.
Come by this evening.
We'll uncork it...
and talk of America.