Cracks

Miss G, I wanted to thank you

for lending me the book.

Did you read it?

Yes.

- Did you get caught?

- No.

And anyway, I'm not sure

what all the fuss is about.

I wasn't corrupted.

Good for you.

Let them put that in their pipes.

'I stole milk from breakfast

and made butter in an old cocoa tin.'

But I'm going to share it with the team

so it's only half a sin, really.

And I had lustful thoughts

about the gardener's boy.

But he was only here for the summer

and I never even spoke to him.

Actually, I've had rather

a lot of lustful thoughts.

Do I have to be sorry

for all of them?

One, two, three, four, five...

- Did you tell him?

- Yes.

- Everything?

- Not everything.

- Did you mention the book?

- And get Miss G into trouble?

They don't understand art

and culture.

It's stupid to ban books

that tell you the truth about life.

I don't think it's wrong

to want to know about the real world.

We can't stay pure forever.

Come on, Rosie.

I'm so hungry.

Excuse me. Coming through.

Excuse me.

I said excuse me!

Hello, team.

The new girl is arriving today.

Toast, fag.

Yes, Radfield?

Where's my butter?

On your toast.

Really? Where? Show me.

Oh, how generous of you

It's funny. I go to all the trouble

making butter for the team,

and then I actually

expect to have it on my toast.

Sorry, captain.

Do it again.

From edge to edge. Or I'll have you

on a fork over that fire.

I have to set the standards,

or everything goes to hell.

Quick, she's coming.

We have a new girl coming all the way

from Spain to join your team.

And I want you to welcome her

on her arrival.

I know you are not always pleasant

to new girls,

but I want you to be particularly nice

to this girl

because she's travelling

such a distance,

from another country,

another background.

She's also a Roman Catholic,

but she will attend religious services

with the rest of you.

I want you to be kind.

This girl is an aristocrat.

She is accustomed to the best.

Yes, Miss Nieven.

- Do you all understand?

- Yes, Miss.

Bugger.

Roman Catholics are superstitious

and ignorant.

That's why they have

those ghastly pictures of Christ

bleeding with nails in his hands

and thorns on his head.

Catholic nuns bury their babies

in the backs of convent gardens.

And then they're walled in, standing up.

Can't even sit down to die!

- When's she arriving?

- I don't know and don't want to know.

I hear the Spaniard is a gymnast.

I hardly see the relevance

of cartwheels to what we do.

Miss G allowed it, so I don't want

to hear another word about it.

Shh, she's coming.

It's freezing in here!

What does Sunny Nieven do

with your parents' money?

It's not going on the heating,

that's for sure.

Must be throwing it away on drink,

eh, girls?

Fuzzy, why are you hanging

like a sack of spuds?

I lost my bounce, Miss G.

Laurel, give her some bounce.

That's it. Feet together.

Arms straight, eyes forward.

You are sinew and muscle,

cutting through air and water.

With grace, with form,

with agility!

Fuzzy, you can do better than that.

I had seconds of porridge and toast

for breakfast and now I feel a bit queer.

Fuzzy.

Is that the most important thing

in life? Porridge?

- No, Miss G.

- Then what is?

- Think.

- God, Miss G.

- No. Rosie?

- Being kind to all God's creatures?

No, you're missing the point, dear.

Poppy?

- Death.

- In life, Poppy!

- Di?

- Desire, Miss G.

Yes! Thank you, Radfield!

The most important thing in life

is desire.

You can achieve anything you want.

The world is yours for the taking.

Nothing is impossible for you,

my girls.

All you need is to desire it.

- Do you have desire?

- Yes, Miss G.

If you have desire, nothing can stand

in your way. Aim high!

'We shall have a moment

of contemplation.'

I think we should hear Mr. Shelley's

thoughts on excessive ambition.

Poppy?

"I met a traveller

from an antique land

"who said:
Two vast and trunkless legs

of stone stand in the desert.

"Near them on the sand, half sunk,

a shatter'd visage lies

"whose frown and wrinkled lip

and sneer of cold command

"tell that its sculptor

well those passions read

"which yet survive,

stamp'd on these lifeless things,

"the hand that mock'd them

and the heart that fed.

"And on the pedestal

these words appear,

"'My name is Ozymandias,

king of kings.

"'Look on my works, ye Mighty,

and despair!'

"Nothing beside remains

"round the decay

of that colossal wreck

"boundless and bare.

"The lone and level sands

stretch far away."

Welcome!

It's a pleasure to have you with us, dear.

Did you have a good journey?

Come along.

Come along, George.

Come along, dear.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

and if I die before I wake...

...strong conception

that I do groan withal. Thou art to die.

Then Lord have mercy on me!

- I say, amen!

- And have...

Look, new drip.

With staff.

See, she is a real princess!

Can't stop looking at her.

She's so beautiful.

She's not beautiful.

She's funny looking.

Her face is all lopsided.

Her features are too big.

Poppy, you're prettier.

- I'm Di Radfield. I'm your captain.

- Fiamma Coronna.

You may have five things

on your nightstand.

Then I shall do my very best.

These are the rules.

Five things.

Listen.

It's the sound of the world ending.

During your brief stay with us,

Your Highness, the rules are:

you must do up the top button

of your shirt when wearing your tie,

and you must ask a teacher

or a prefect if you wish to remove it.

You may wear mufti on Sundays

after chapel and before high tea.

And you are allowed five

personal objects on display.

The rules are for everyone.

No exceptions, no favourites, no pets.

What a cow!

Mummy. Mummy.

Mummy! Mummy!

Shh, shh, shh!

Do you want to wake the others?

There's nothing wrong with you.

Go to sleep.

I thought I heard my mother

calling my name.

I thought she'd come to get me.

Thought I was going home.

Whoever you are, you're late.

That's Fiamma.

The aristocrat.

Should I curtsey?

Why are you late, Fiamma?

It is not late.

It is not even seven.

We'll see if you were worth

waiting for, then.

Radfield sets the standard!

What went through your head

as you did that?

- Nothing. My mind went blank.

- Exactly!

This is why we train, girls.

The body learns, it memorises.

Your muscles know how to respond.

Then you release your body

from your mind. It's purely physical.

But there is poetry in such perfection.

Right. Who wants to go next?

Fuzzy.

What's the matter with you, Fuzzy?

Thinking about the boys again?

No, I'm thinking about my dive.

Don't think! Do!

Fuzzy!

Fiamma?

It's too cold to dive.

Too cold to swim.

It's not too cold for my girls.

- This is winter in Spain.

- But this isn't Spain, is it?

What are you afraid of?

Not as good as you look, perhaps?

Amazing!

Well done, Fiamma.

It seems the bar has been raised,

Radfield.

Come on, Fiamma.

Fiamma, we're your horses,

so you have to feed us.

Tally-ho!

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