Did he have any family?
He had his bottle
and a little hut beneath the Pont Notre-Dame.
I'll pay for the burial.
And that's more than he could expect otherwise.
Why did you send a double in your place, Doctor?
I was warned I might be in danger.
-By whom? -Someone in your organization.
You must tell me his name so I may commend him.
I believe he wishes to remain anonymous.
A man after my own heart.
The driver.
Pardon me?
Surely he saw something.
He stopped precisely once, or so he claims, at la barrière de Passy.
And the customs officer?
You have a suspicion?
Well, I'm no policeman. I--
Nowhere to be found.
But we'll dig to the root of this. You have my promise.
Not many get to examine their own corpse.
Even fewer want to.
An interesting type, no?
Maybe I'll put him in something.
Well, unless he puts me in something first.
Monsieur, would you give me a moment with my countryman?
I'll see who else I know has died.
This is my doing.
Did you murder this man?
I might as well have.
The deception was mine.
But at my urging.
For that, I can only be grateful, as I am for all the care that you've shown me.
You know who I don't trust?
Lenoir.
Well, he's the one who warned you.
What better way to mask his true intentions?
You suspect someone at court?
Well, perhaps he's in the employ of the British,
or perhaps it's someone close to me. Determined to see me fail.
Mr.…
Adams?
What do you think?
Well, I cannot conceive he would stoop to something so barbarous.
Which would make his scheme all the more ironclad.
Keep your ears open.
You are the only man that I can trust.
Ya! Ya!
Ya!
Temple!
Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves- Roch-Gilbert du Motier?
You have found him.
Somebody wants to talk to you.
Exactly what type of morons are you?
-How many types are there? -I am not talking to you, sir.
I do not even acknowledge your existence.
And you.
I had the vague notion you were a sensible sort.
What on earth convinced you to join this imbecilic escapade?
-Well, I-- -I don't care!
But you.
I had hoped that experience on the battlefield
might curb your natural inclination to idiocy.
Clearly I was mistaken.
Monsieur le Comte, I advise you to remember
you address a general in the Continental Army.
I address the irritation that plagued my foyer for months on end.
And now has it in his head to invade England with
whatever half-sober layabouts he could find sprawled on the docks at Le Havre!
Vercingetorix beat the Romans with less.
What did you say?
I said that it could have worked. If you hadn't stopped us.
I recall a boy coming to me not so long ago.
He was modest in his manner
and, I admit, endearing in his naïveté.
Do you know what I see now?
A man.
No.
I see another vainglorious fool parading in silks
and puffed up with his own picture in the glass.
You may now call yourself French.
Vercingetorix. That was a hero.
They strangled him, of course.
It's all just a game to you, isn't it?
My friends,
we find another way to continue the ba--
What got into him?
At least we didn't get arrested.
But this is simply madness.
Assassins at the gates. Bodies in the morgue.
One cannot leave one's home without being attacked.
Of course, I think only of you.
I'm more concerned about finding my grandson.
He's with Jacques. The servants saw them on the road.
Why didn't you stop them?
Why don't I stop the birds from flying?
Well, where are they likely to go?
Wherever is most shameful to his mother and father.
I am losing hope, Doctor.
I've cut him off, but I cannot correct him.
I fear I may say the same.
My friend…
I hesitate to raise this question now, but--
Your payments.
One man always owes another. That is the world.
And so, I must ask when I can expect--
Congress has promised to address it speedily.
Yes, but…
have they, really?
Dr. Franklin!
I can't keep telling my wife--
I know you're in there!
She's always had a nose for money. Well--
Come in already!
You're alive.
Sorry to disappoint you.
Don't be ridiculous.
The last thing I need is you ascending to sainthood, as unlikely as that sounds.
What do you want, sir?
They're throwing me out of my own house.
What did he say?
It was something about the flower beds.
-Hath he nothing better to do than garden? -Your business, Mr. Adams?
-No. -I beg your pardon?
No, I will not negotiate a treaty with London.
No, you are not being asked to. Those are direct instructions from Congress to me.
Stating that you will take "no steps of consequence
without consulting King Louis's ministers."
I will inform Count Vergennes immediately and be done with it.
-I strongly advise you not to. -There's a surprise.
Meaning what?
Do you find it so incredible
that I might reach favorable terms without you waving your magic lightning rod?
On the contrary,
I have every faith you'll succeed in playing right into our enemy's hands.
That is low, even for you.
I will not forswear the trust and amity
-shown to me by the French… -This nonsense again.
-for some expedient backstabbing! -Your sentimental delusion…
They've honored every promise!
They open every door!
That and an ass will fetch you to Boston Common!
Your children.
What of them?
You worry about their fates?
I doubt the strength of their character.
I pray they do not lapse in their devotion to a merciful God.
They fiercely live in my heart.
I'd burn that if I were you.
No good can come of it.
Take my purse. I don't want trouble. Please.
It'll happen that quickly.
How dare you?
I thought it was him in the carriage. He tricked us both.
Yeah. Well, only one of us held the blade.
I did my part. Don't blame me for a botched job.
What have you heard?
-They're looking for the customs officer. -Yes, but they won't find him.
Look, there's a better way to do this.
So you keep saying, yet he's still around.
-Look, it just needs a little more time. -Well, I don't have it. Neither do you.
Adams wants Franklin gone.
He's got Congress behind him.
The old man won't be able to stop it.
Let them tear each other apart, and England will reap the benefit
with no more mishaps along the road.
Look, it's better than getting caught, isn't it?
I may get fucked here.
Maybe you too.
If I do, I'm taking you with me.
Come on, again. Three cups and one chestnut.
Find the chestnut and double your money.
There.
Lost.
Give me some money.
I haven't got a sou.
You were going to conquer England with nothing in your pocket.
I'm not the one whose father threw him out on his cul.
No, you're the one who fucked himself and is too scared to go home.
Not my home. It's just where my grandfather--
Sponges off my parents.
Damn, I accidentally said the truth.
Why would I give a shit?
Oh, big boy words.
Holding out on me? Some friend.
Well. Now we're both kings.
See you around.
I'll tell you a secret. She said you were cute.
-Who? -You know who.
Just fuck off!
But she's not the kind of girl whose door you just go knock on.
You never know who's on the other side.
At least it won't be you.
Listen. You really screwed up, and there's no one else to blame.
I know what that's like.
So, we can walk over to St. Roch and find you a priest…
or you could do what any gentleman in your situation would do.
What's that?
Come on, little tadpole. We're going to the country.
"…to officially, and formally, announce the intention of the United States to…
to officially, and formally, announce--"
Monsieur Adams.
…to officially, and formally…
Excuse me.
…announce the intention of the…
the United-- the United States--
Might I ask you to speak English?
I cannot understand a word of what you are saying.
In accordance with my instructions,
I am advising you, Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes…
That is my name.
…that the United States of America has authorized John Adams of Braintree,
viz myself, to seek a negotiated peace with Great Britain.
What?
The United States has authorized--
I heard all that.
You wish to announce to your enemy that you're agreeable to surrender?
To entertain proposals of peace without precondition.
And you would like me to approve of this remarkable stratagem.
I am required by Cong--
This office spent a year hearing Dr. Franklin insist
that it could be no treaty of any kind without a guarantee of your independence.
Dr. Franklin is not the bearer of these instructions.
Your authority supersedes his?
The instructions come from Cong--
You expect us to…
wish you well and walk away
with nothing to show for our efforts?
Your efforts, sir?
A child could parse your aims.
Harass Britain to exhaustion,
keep American power in check, and leave France the victor
in your little game of nations.
"American power."
"American power!" What is that?
The power to drain our coffers?
And somehow still go on losing?
Complaining every step of the way?
Your bountiful gift of a few ill-commanded ships, that sad apology of an army--
What an extraordinary talent you have for finding fault in others
and none in yourselves.
Deploy your warships along the coast.
-Bottle up the enemy. -And now, master tactician.
Until you break his command of the seas, nothing will alter.
To sit here and be lectured by some witless backwoods harlequin--
I understood that.
You mark me, sir.
I am no honeyed flatterer, eager to be seduced by your airs and graces
like some I could name.
I am here to do business, hard business, and I mean to hold you to your terms.
And if you will not honor them,
seek whatever is most advantageous to us with any part--
Are you listening?
Monsieur Adams.
May I make a request?
What?
Would you be so good as to leave this office immediately
and under no circumstance come back?
I would prefer never to speak with you again.
I suppose you are mightily pleased with yourself.
I warned you.
You think me blind to your snares and wiles?
Advising me against the very thing--
Good day, madam.
The very thing you most wish for me to do.
If you find me so transparent, why did you go ahead and do it?
-To prove you wrong! -You proved me right.
Well, at least I spoke my mind.
A habit guaranteed to make yourself disagreeable.
Of course. Your great aim in life.
To be pleasing to all and useless for anything
outside the satisfaction of your own appetites.
I happen to consider that preferable to spreading disaster everywhere I go.
Well, you needn't concern yourself with me any longer.
I will pay my own way in my own lodgings.
I will leave you to your paramours and your reprobate grandson,
wherever he may be.
I witnessed your holiday theatrical, ma'am.
It was engaging to the eye, but-- but unedifying for the soul.
What a strange little man.
Maybe he's right, that I've stayed on too long for all the good that it's done.
That's what Congress seems to think.
I'll tell you what I think. You haven't stayed long enough.
"So if you would believe me, Sweetheart,
while your young age is in flower.
In its greenest freshness,
gather, gather your youth.
Since age will tarnish your beauty. As it has faded this flower."
That was remarkably dispiriting.
Madame?
He's trying to convince some girl to roll in the hay with him before she turns ugly.
Ronsard addresses the fleeting nature of life.
-The rose that blossoms in the morning-- -Don't fool yourself, Cabanis.
It's all about spreading legs.
Madame, you delight in the unexpected.
Clouds, cherubs, wounded unicorns,
little sparrows cupped in the hand.
A man will say anything to get a woman on her back. Wouldn't you agree?
I think that--
When all he really needs to do is be straightforward.
It's not as if the thought never crossed her mind.
Madame, are you against poetry?
I never heard a cat recite a rhyme. And they have no trouble propagating.
Isn't that so, Aza?
Perhaps it's time I retired for the evening.
Yes, don't stand on ceremony.
Should I wake the abbé?
Leave him be. You never know when you might need a priest.
I thought he'd never leave.
You do let him live here.
He might amount to something one day, but probably not.
In the meantime, it's amusing to torment him.
And me as well?
What have I done to you except feed and flatter you?
You have stroked my cheek on occasion.
And where has that led us?
To this table, with Monsieur l'Abbé dozing beside us
and the hour approaching midnight.
Rather late for an old man.
Perhaps I should snuggle up with the Abbé.
That would be the most commonplace of scandals.
Do you have something else in mind?
I don't know what you mean.
Your French is highly irregular after all.
Well…
I'm retiring to my rooms. I can't imagine what you're going to do.
Good night.
Damn it! Infernal creatures.
Either come in or shut the door.
And stop tormenting the cats.
Are you just going to stand there?
Well?
Do you always undress so slowly?
Is there someplace you need to be?
I've only got that much patience.
I must tell you.
I am plagued by a scaly sort of rash,
my legs are gouty
and I have the very devil of a bladder stone.
You do know how to charm a lady.
Come here, you unplucked rose.
Madame? Madame Brillon?
I'm sorry?
I simply said, madame, that I am certain your daughter cannot help but reflect
the refined nature of her esteemed mother.
Perhaps you and I, sir, could privately discuss what particular arrangements--
You may tell us both your terms, Colonel.
We are a banking people.
We have no small business with the court.
We hold title to land inside and outside the city
that we intend to improve at profit.
Your family is not illustrious.
I wager we have made up for it. With gold.
Three hundred arpents in Burgundy. She'll come with that.
A mill in Orléans. The rents on six farms in La Manche.
And my position at the Treasury.
A proper accounting would be best.
You are here to buy a name, sir.
I'd say the scales are balanced.
Fetch her now.
Mama. Papa.
Daughter.
This is Colonel Paris d'Illins.
He is eager to hear you play.
Most likely, he sailed from Southampton and landed at Le Havre.
A stevedore was killed on the docks there around that time.
Why didn't you catch him then?
No evidence. No witnesses.
I don't recall that stopping you before.
Does the brush get to choose the painter?
Did this fellow try to kill Franklin or not?
Possibly.
I also note visits to Dr. Franklin by a certain Mr. Williams…
claiming to represent the British prime minister.
Although none of our spies in Lord North's office have heard of him.
Where is he now?
In Paris, no doubt. He moves frequently.
But he wouldn't be so hard to find.
Then why don't you do it?
Would you like us to?
He's going around stabbing people.
-No one who matters. -Yet.
Not every fish has to be caught.
You want to…
Let him go about his business.
While we keep an eye on him.
You might find it useful at some point.
I can't have Dr. Franklin being murdered.
We would definitely draw the line at that.
This conversation never happened.
I was out riding all morning myself.
Coffee, Monsieur Lenoir?
No, thank you, Madame.
It makes me excitable.
Why does he always come when I'm eating breakfast?
Because you let him.
What do you think?
Be careful you don't wind up needing him more than he needs you.
The question, Your Majesty, is what France may yield in honor
without too much loss of dignity.
London proposes each side retain the territory they occupy
at the end of hostilities.
Has Dr. Franklin been informed of this proposed truce?
In this matter, I am dealing directly with Lord North.
I remind Count Maurepas that our treaty with America guarantees its independence.
And independent it will be.
The bits they haven't lost, at least.
When did the first minister intend to inform me
of his discussions with London?
I am under no obligations to the foreign minister.
My responsibility is to His Majesty and to France.
We can't keep floating loans for a war we aren't winning.
France has made its point, sire.
We must come to terms with the enemy.
I am willing to abide by whatever Your Majesty decides.
But--
I will need the order in writing.
Did you say "in writing"?
If France is to quit the war, it must be under your signature, sire.
Don't do that.
I owe it to you.
For what?
Going against your wishes.
I had no objections to the scheme.
Only the rashness of the execution…
and the recruitment of my grandson.
-I have no excuse. -Where is he?
He left us at Versailles. I have not seen him since.
I have plans for that boy, marquis. Do you understand this?
With respect, doctor, I do not think him a boy,
and I am not the one who must understand.
Would you say that the king likes you?
He did not have me strangled.
I need you to speak with him.
There must be ships to block the English at sea, men to fight them on land,
before it's too late.
Why not ask this of le comte de Vergennes?
My good friend Mr. Adams has made that quite difficult.
We open a new front?
Yes? We fight a different way?
You have a keen grasp of the field, sir.
I go to him…
I convince him…
He gives me the command.
Temple will return. You will see.
I fled my brother and never came back.
I was 17.
Was that not for the best?
Just look what it's cost so far, Maurepas.
And no end in sight.
How would you arrange it?
Pin it all on Vergennes.
It's his mess after all.
And we come out smelling clean.
We'll discuss it later, hmm?
Quickly! It's Monsieur Maurepas.
-Is he breathing? -I'm not sure.
His heart gave out?
You're sure? Absolutely sure?
Barring resurrection, yes.
He's quite dead.
Well, then.
We mustn't pass up this opportunity.
Am I to assume that you'll now be first minister to the court?
If His Majesty sees fit.
May I be the first to offer my congratulations.
We have both been freed from the interference of troublesome colleagues.
Well, I fear that Mr. Adams's absence may not be as
permanent as that of Count Maurepas.
Then we must act with dispatch.
If you've invited me here to seek my acceptance of a truce,
Monsieur First Minister, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disappoint you.
You are remarkably well-informed.
I'm just guessing. But now you told me.
A truce would end the war and the expense.
But it would not secure our independence, and that's all that matters.
To you.
The next campaign must be the last. After that, I cannot help you.
And this-- this helping might amount to…
Another six million livres, possibly.
A gift.
A loan. A final loan.
Money by itself will not achieve the purpose.
I must ask you for--
Ships of the line, frigates and, let us say, 5,000 infantry?
You are well-informed yourself.
I'm just guessing too.
We cannot win without them.
That would be up to the king.
Might I hope that you make the case?
I have ever relied on your favor.
Mr. Adams is the fist, yes? And you are the glove.
Jean! Jean-Jean!
Monsieur Jacques.
I was just emptying the pots.
Of course you were, you dear old ox.
No one told me you were coming. The house isn't ready.
Don't worry about that, Jean-Jean.
We're here for the simple joys of the countryside.
To breathe fresh air. To look honest Christians in the eye…
To… What are we here for?
To fuck and kill!
Don't listen to him. He's got no manners.
All of you shut up!
May I introduce Mademoiselle Odette Caillot of the Comédie-Italienne.
-Sir. -Sir! Sir! He's not sir, he's Jean-Jean.
I want you to meet someone. Where's Temple?
Temple!
-Hey! -Hey!
Temple!
Come on! Come on, Temple!
Jean-Jean, you know what you're looking at here?
A young gentleman?
An American. Do you know what that is?
A sort of Turk?
A free man. No one is his master!
His life, his fate, are his own!
Say something American. Go on.
Give me liberty or give me death.
What do you think of that?
Very nice, I'm sure.
Give me liberty! Or give me death!
Liberty or death!
Should I go find him?
Why? Are you his servant too?
Jacques. Jacques!
What do you want?
The hunt's about to start.
I already caught something. I thought it was a stag, but it turned out to be a cat.
Meow.
Friends keep secrets, yes?
Ya!
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa!
My dagger!
Here, sir.
You do the honors.
Through the heart!
You don't understand. The stag wants you to kill it.
It didn't look that way.
It's no different from a woman.
You have to chase her down. Or it's not worth anything.
And then the lance!
Isn't that so, darling?
With you, it's more like a pinky.
Ladies and gentlemen,
you are the sorriest lot of blackguards and doxies
it's ever been my misfortune to encounter.
I loathe you all and wish you nothing but a healthy dose of the clap.
We hate you too!
Because I can't stand the sight of any one of you,
someone needs to do something to amuse me, right now!
A song!
-A song! -The African princess!
Make the African sing!
She's not an African, you miserable cock-gobblers!
She's the jewel of the Comédie-Italienne.
And if you want to hear her, you'll have to beg for it.
-Won't they? -Stop it.
It's all good fun, angel.
Let's hear you beg.
You ebony goddess…
O, dark Venus…
Great sable Amazonian…
-Conquer us! -Conquer us!
You see? They worship you.
Just like I do.
When my lover's courting me
He aches, he sighs, he weeps
And spends the days just telling me
Of all his troubles deep
Oh, were he to spend time diff'rently
A merrier girl I'd be
I have to be paid back somehow--
But we're in the country.
The thing you need to learn about women--
"It's the mirror perilous"--
You can't go riding back to Paris in the middle of the night.
It's better than staying here.
You'll get yourself killed.
Another gentleman who wants to help me.
I'm not a gentleman.
Then what are you?
What are you even doing here?
I don't know. I…
Running away from home, I guess.
What is "home"?
Where you belong.
Alors, where is your home?
Nowhere, really.
You think he's your friend?
He doesn't have friends.
He has people he charms, or borrows money from,
or takes pleasure in humiliating.
And when he can't squeeze any more out of you, or just gets bored…
He won't even remember who you are.
Then why are you with him?
Why do you think?
He gives you jewels? Bought with his father's money?
And what can you offer? Hmm?
A title? An estate? A diamond bracelet?
What will you dazzle me with?
Nothing. I have nothing.
I punched Jacques in the face.
What for?
Because no one should be allowed to treat you that way.
Odette, my jewel, come back to the party!
All right.
What? What?
I said, "All right."
Odette. Odette!
-Mademoiselle Odette. I pledge myself-- -Stop talking.
Excuse me.
Jean-Jean.
Sir?
-Where is everybody? -They're all gone.
-What? -They left. Hours ago.
Lord Little Shit and his friends.
How do I get back?
Whoa. Whoa!
Paris?
-Well. Well. Well. -Look who showed up.
We thought you didn't love us anymore.
That's all done with.
Why do you smell like old potatoes?
Where's Gilbert? What's going on?
Don't you know?
Long live America!
We sail for Virginia in a fortnight.
For real this time. With 7,000 men men and the king's consent.
Even if he gave the command to Rochambeau.
-He's the more seasoned fighter. -Aren't we noble.
There'll be enough to keep us busy.
Remember when he used to be fun?
And you, my friend.
What about me?
Will you make it up with your grandfather and come join us?
All the four. Together.
We'll have one hell of a time.
-What did you say? -I'll get you a commission.
Make it up with my grandfather?
What should we do? For old times' sake?
How do you know what my grandfather thinks of me?
-I-- I spoke with him. -And you-- And you talked about me?
You think you know what I should do?
-My friend, I only wished to-- -What gives you the right?
Because Washington made you his pet?
But they won't give you an army, will they?
Why do you think that is?
-Watch yourself-- -Or what?
You talk a lot, but you never do anything.
-I'll do something now. -Let's go!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
What is happening with you?
Me? I'm not the one running off to some war I've got nothing to do with!
I'm staying here. I found someone here!
And you're all a bunch of fools.
What are you doing?
Straightening your papers.
There's no need.
I've already started.
I had rather a lot of port.
It's not good for you.
It tempers the gout.
Makes it worse.
Something will do me in. Why not that?
You intend to rest here tonight?
Those could use fair drafts.
Actually, wait till tomorrow morning.
I'll do it now.
Two… Two copies?
Just so.
One in English.
And one in French.