Margot Page #3

Obviously, my darling, I can't be an ambassador

and run for deputy in Panama. That's what I mean!

So we'll get out of the lease

here, we buy a house over there.

I see. Goodness.

The ranch by the sea!

If I'm in the government we'll

need somewhere in the city.

Of course, I wasn't thinking.

Tito, does this mean

do you want me to give up my career?

If I'm elected, of course.

But not yet.

Good, because the timing's dreadful,

with this huge American tour.

Political campaigns eat money.

This is something important, this

is something real.

Of course when Tito and I retire we'll be able

to spend as much time together as we'd like.

I look forward to that.

But now your partnership with Rudolf

Nureyev goes from strength to strength.

The two of you have

conquered Europe.

America's next on the agenda.

Are you really thinking

of retirement? Not at the moment.

Dancing with Rudolf

is such a great gift.

He's taught me so much.

Always cash.

Of course you and your

husband have never had children.

No.

No.

Rudolf Nureyev is almost

20 years younger than you.

Is that something that

you're very aware of?

Not when we're dancing.

He makes me feel 25!

ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

Come on Rudi, baby! Be cool!

Sit down.

Well, no I don't think of it as elitist

because I remember the war, you see.

Oh, no thank you. Rudolf?

The audiences were such a joy. They

came from all over, they really did.

But there wasn't anything else for the

poor bastards to do over there, was there?

DOOR CRASHES:

This is a raid! Everybody....

Tito's wedding ring,

I've lost his wedding ring,

I must have dropped it.

It must be here somewhere.

Come on! No wait!

Released without charge,

thank God. I must say you've never

struck me as the sort to be a dope fiend.

Oh, the papers are ridiculous.

What I can't stop thinking

about is Tito's wedding ring.

It's rather hard not to see

it as some sort of an omen.

It doesn't mean anything, darling.

Of course, if it were in a ballet,

the ring would be enchanted

and its loss would

lead to your death,

beautifully, in the third act.

Aspreys'll do you a replacement.

Tito needn't even know,

although

if he left it in the first place...

Let's not talk about it any more.

Oh! Just like that?

There's no point, is there?

If something upsets you and

you can't do anything about it.

You should just put it in a box

and lock it tight away.

That's what I've always done,

with all sorts of things,

and it's always worked

quite wonderfully.

Rudolf was saying about Swan Lake,

how Odette and Odile used to be

danced by two different dancers,

white swan, black swan.

It's quite recent, the role as two sides

of the same personality. Odd, isn't it?

And now it's impossible to

think of it in any other way.

He's so interesting

about these things.

You know, Margot, darling,

there is such a thing as divorce.

MUSIC:
"Swan Lake"

The characters you play in ballet are rather

removed from real life, wouldn't you agree?

Of course.

Giselle is an 18 year-old

peasant girl who becomes a spirit.

Odette is a princess who's

been turned into a swan.

Odile is a magician's daughter pretending to be a

princess who's been turned into a swan, goodness!

Being someone else must

be second nature to you.

Well, it's tremendous fun, you see.

Like leading a double life!

PHONE RINGS:

Hello?

Tito.

You said midnight.

I did wait up.

No, midnight. Is it?

I see. Of course, I know you've

seen Swan Lake a million times.

Yes, you too.

Oh, I wired the money to Panama.

It should be there when you arrive.

I could come and meet...

PHONE LINE GOES DEAD

DOOR CLOSES:

Is late.

Yes. Very.

No, you haven't understood. He isn't expecting me

because I couldn't get through on the telephone.

I fail to see how I am supposed to

manage a campaign without a secretary.

She doesn't even have her own room!

An economy.

Oh, Tito. When have you ever,

in your entire life, economised?

Must we really have

this quite boring scene?

We are not children, Margot.

We are not newlyweds.

We are not so long married.

Oh, spare me the Sleeping Beauty.

What did you think

would happen, marrying me?

Think? I loved you!

From that moment in Cambridge...

Cambridge!

We kissed when we were 18.

And you kept yourself pure for me

until you reached

the magical age of 35

and all your friends had husbands?

Despite the fact I was

a married man with three children?

Really? How much make-believe

is there in that head of yours?

You pursued me. Yes.

And you let yourself be caught.

But this isn't the ballet, you know?

My God, there really is nothing

for you outside it, is there?

You talk of retiring,

talk and talk, but when?

When will you be MY wife?

I AM your wife.

Tito, if you want me to retire...

Oh, don't be ridiculous!

I don't understand! How can you...

how can you humiliate me like this?

KNOCK AT DOOR:

Patrizia's friends had volunteered

to help with the leafleting.

"Margot, girl of mine, do not fret in

that way that you have and I so adore.

"Your Tito is with you.

"Not Tito the bold or Tito the

clown or even Tito the lover,

"but simply Tito

"who is yours.

"You must know this.

"Even if miles part us

"and my behaviour leads

you sometimes to doubt it.

"I write these words

not to make a gesture

"but merely because

they are the truth.

"Your heart knows that truth.

"Your sad,

"gentle heart

"which only I understand and cherish.

"The truth that Tito loves you

most dearly."

You get this morning? No.

Eight years ago.

A month before we got married.

Why you marry him?

So. Flowers.

The first time we

met, before the war,

then years later, when he came

to my dressing room in New York.

He always had this,

this extraordinary belief in himself.

It makes me realise

how silly it all is,

dressing up and standing

on one leg, as he calls it.

The other men, it can get rather

wearing, being considered perfect.

I suppose Tito's always made

me feel it's me he wants,

not her.

Her? Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Prima ballerina.

But that is who you are. Absolute.

Margot, marry me?

Rudolf, darling,

you're truly not the marrying kind.

Erik?

I know he's invited you to Canada.

We have arrangements.

All of us.

We are sophisticated people.

I doubt very much

anyone's that sophisticated.

Oh, Rudik, you have the nostrils.

I help little bit,

when I am at school.

With pencils.

Dr Arias was held in solitary

confinement for 72 hours in connection

with the seizure of 1,000 cases

of whisky off the coast of Panama.

The contraband was on a boat connected to

a previous coup attempt made by Dr Arias.

Honestly, Mummy, there's no chance at all Tito

would get himself mixed up in something like that.

What on earth would he

want to smuggle whisky for? Money?

Hello, yes, is that

the international operator?

Yes, that's right.

I've booked a call to Rome.

Yes, of course.

Where are my roses?

Sorry, Dame Margot.

It'll be dirty tricks,

because of the campaign.

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