The Princess of Montpensier Page #4

the sincerity of an act

that coincides with your defeat?

Well, as it happens, I believe you.

Come, Prince.

A conqueror invites you to dinner.

Peace is ours as suddenly

as the war resumed.

You'll go home

without drawing your sword.

Come, I've just received

an excellent wine from Ay.

Madame, my absence

has not tarnished your beauty.

Your return restores my radiance.

So the war is over?

It appears so.

Leave us.

- My lord...

- It's not our wedding night.

The labours of war parted us too soon

after our wedding.

We know nothing of one another.

It will take time

not to be the strangers

we are tonight.

I heard you playing.

- Am I disturbing you?

- Never, Philippe.

I was going to read.

I left my wife to rest.

And I'm not sleepy.

Drink.

After the chaos of the camps,

this calm unsettles me.

What do you think of my wife?

Very lovely, very...

I mean as a pupil.

Intelligent, gifted,

eager to learn.

I know nothing about her.

I know the least

about her tastes and moods.

Lovely penmanship!

Even I can read you.

It's not my writing.

"If Life is less

than one day's passing

"In Eternity,

if the year revolved..."

It's poetry.

Her handwriting.

I give her new poems to copy

and learn

to recite them at Court.

- Her?

- Marie.

You call her Marie?

Rarely. And only in her absence.

Even in her absence,

call her Princess.

Did you teach her to write?

- She knew a little.

- Why?

- She asked.

- To reply? She receives letters?

You must tell me.

No letters.

Truly.

I wish she'd write to me.

The Guises are back at Court.

Henri is a great soldier.

He fights well.

We charged side by side.

He was wounded in the face again,

erasing the other scar.

Now he deserves the name

"The Scarred."

Like his father.

As if they were born with the mark.

My lord?

Father requests me in Paris.

The grieving weighs on him.

I know he thinks of remarrying.

He'll present you at Court.

Don't be impatient.

Let me enjoy the peace,

and your company.

I found it! Follow me,

there'll be a ford, or a bridge.

The same as before?

Guise, you're as lost as we are!

Don't listen, cousin.

I'll follow you. So will they.

What a delightful coincidence!

Your detour is forgiven, Henri.

You know that one, Guise.

I believe so.

Who would she be?

Marie de Montpensier.

Philippe's wife?

He spoke of her great beauty.

I want a better look.

La Valette, announce us!

Madame,

the Duke of Anjou wishes to cross

with some of his men.

The King's brother

is welcome on Montpensier land.

The skiff, you dolt!

Ask for the skiff.

We don't know how deep the water is.

Can you help

by bringing the skiff over?

It's your beauty that staggers me,

and, I admit, the unsteadiness

one often feels on water.

If you ride on to the castle,

you shall be my guests.

And the Duke will be glad

of refreshment.

The hunt is a necessity

due to the overabundance of game.

Some say it's a welcome change

from killing men.

They can instead sacrifice deer.

To me it is

an unappealing spectacle.

You are unkind to our cousin

who excels at both carnages.

Never mind,

Montpensier has deprived the Court

of its loveliest ornament.

Reproach him on my behalf.

You can reproach him yourself.

I can hear

that his butchery is over.

I like your home.

My lord, for as long as it pleases,

make it yours as well.

I'm just back from the hunt...

Each battle

produces its conversions.

Our defeats create new Huguenots,

and vice versa,

with the apostates...

Who return to heresy

with Coligny's first victory.

I see nothing amusing

in these reversals.

And you, Monsieur...

What of your experience

with the heretics?

My friend Chabannes...

Let him speak, cousin.

The heretics, as you call them,

show as much grandeur and cruelty

as the Catholics.

I admit I have no complacency

for these battles.

All I see is blood and horror.

I only hear cries of pain.

So I withdrew.

You are a man of feeling.

Our Guise is a man of impulse.

I always have been,

without forsaking my feelings.

I do not reason, I feel,

and obey the impulse of my faith

and my heart,

which has never betrayed me.

What do you think, Madame?

I am too unsure

to venture an opinion,

and what credence

could you give a woman ignorant

of military matters?

Ignorant, really?

It's a subject of learning

that Count de Chabannes spared me.

Fortunate man.

I would gladly convert you

to my passions:

Music,

literature...

These soldiers

know nothing of beauty.

I won't wait for you to dismiss us.

Company, on your feet!

You'll be shown to your quarters.

I had my parents' room made up.

And you?

I shall sleep with my wife.

I would gladly trade places.

That pt was divine.

The parsnip casserole heavenly.

I found Marie de Montpensier

very beautiful.

To the Prince!

The Prince must enjoy himself.

Put a log on.

Joyeuse...

I'm exhausted.

I told you to leave us!

You were weary of the hunt,

but I trust you easily withstood

the buzz of admiration around you.

I spent two long years in abstinence

of worldly pleasures.

An evening of company...

And the skiff on the water...

like a stage for you to perform on.

You're unfair.

- Only by chance...

- Not only chance!

Chance and Guise!

They all joked about his claim

to lead them to Espalion

when he took them

on a 20-league detour.

He knew what he was doing.

He led them to you.

Did he?

And to the skiff I didn't expect

to board two hours before?

I don't know.

In any event, I found you together.

Together!

He didn't take his eyes off you,

caressing you with his gaze.

Yes! And you smiled!

Must I remind you

your husband was at that table?

I have longed for a smile from you.

Foolish hope!

I wish she'd smiled at me.

The whole castle could hear you.

Let me be.

Cousin,

a word with you.

I am in need of a confident.

Yes?

Come.

He came to my door.

I didn't show my face.

I feared more unfair reproaches

like last night,

this unwarranted jealousy.

Did you share

what I confided in you?

Now you're being unfair.

With me.

With him.

The Prince departed

by order of the Duke of Anjou

- who conducts his own affairs.

- What affairs?

I'm not privy to them.

The kingdom,

war, peace,

the Queen, without whom

he decides nothing of import.

I'm anxious for them to leave.

I was glad to host them.

Now I want them gone.

Quickly.

Were you dreaming, cousin?

Or was I, too,

in a reverie suggesting

our melancholy moods were twins?

She's worthy of our common interest.

The Princess of Montpensier.

You know her.

And you both showed

much apparent indifference.

Hence dissimulation.

That which is concealed

always arouses my curiosity.

We knew each other as children.

We were fairly close.

She, Mayenne, my sister, myself,

other cousins.

But I scarcely remember her now.

I saw your emotion when we found her

like an enchantment, on the skiff.

Enchantment, indeed.

That emotion was surprise.

At meeting again, of course.

And... was she prettier

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