Episode 2 The Miniaturist

This is the Seigneur's new wife.

What did Brandt get you for a wedding gift?

"Dear Sir, I have a house of nine rooms on a miniature scale.

"Thank you for the items I requested.

"However, I made no request for a cradle."

You look wonderful.

The feast. Was it his idea?

We agreed it was appropriate you should attend.

Go to bed.

I'm...not tired.

I think you'd better leave, before one of us

-says something we both regret.

-No, Johannes, I know...

Go, get out!

What made you like this?

Nothing made me.

It was in my soul from the beginning.

Do you know what we saw?

How your husband takes his vile pleasures...with a boy.

You have to go. You have to leave now.

What is it? Marin...

No. Aaarh!

My God, Marin. What have you done?

What were you thinking, Marin?

A girl in Assendelft died trying to lose a baby with poison.

How far gone are you?

Six, seven months.

Perhaps more.

How did you hide it?

I let out my skirts and bound my breasts.

Soaked my rags in animal blood so Cornelia wouldn't suspect.

Tell me. Is it Frans's?

He was just angry about the sugar, Marin.

He loves you. Tell him about this.

Once he knows, he will not harm Johannes

because he knows it will endanger his child.

You don't understand.

If he survives, this child will be...stained.

With his mother's sin, with his father's sin.

SHE SOBS

It's a baby. Not a devil.

Animal blood on her rags to fool us. She always was clever.

The crib...

Did you know?

No, of course not.

Then why is the doll of Madame Marin carrying a child?

What are you talking about?

How could you betray us like this? You know how rumour spreads.

I didn't order it. It just came.

Then who is it that is spying on us?

-I don't think she's a spy.

-She?

She sees our lives.

I think she's trying to help us, trying to warn us...

How has she helped us? The Seigneur is gone. Otto, too,

and now Marin carries the shame of the man who wishes to destroy us.

Look.

This was white when it arrived.

This is witchcraft.

She's not a witch.

How dare she send you things like this?

What else does she know?

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Open up!

It's the Militia.

Marin, they cannot see you like this.

Especially Frans. Cornelia!

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Open up!

We've come for Johannes Brandt.

He is not here, Seigneur. He's travelling.

Don't lie. We know he's here.

You don't want to make a fuss on your doorstep.

Good day.

Frans, tell them.

It's out of my hands.

We're here under the jurisdiction of Schout Slabbaert.

A young man has been attacked on the Eastern Islands

and there are witnesses to back it up.

-Now go and fetch your master.

-I said, good day.

I told you. He's not here!

Frans, all of you. You are better than this.

Go and catch your thieves, your murderers.

My husband has helped make this republic great.

What he is, is a sodomite.

And all the money in Amsterdam won't save him.

Now get out of my way. Search the house.

-Frans.

-Search every room!

Frans.

Frans, please.

Listen to me!

Sir! Sir! They found him!

-They found him!

-Where?

On a ship by the docks, about to set sail.

They're taking him to the Stadhuis now!

To the Stadhuis.

Madame, Madame, you cannot!

Let go of me, Cornelia!

-No, I really... I will not hear of...

-You need to stay.

You can't go, Madame, please!

Cornelia's right.

If you follow them, you'll be arrested as well.

Where is your heart, Marin? I would never abandon my brother.

To fight them in the open is to invite certain defeat.

Then I will find another way.

How do I look?

Like a serving girl on an errand.

You really think a disguise is necessary?

If the Burgomasters find out his wife is trying to deal in sugar,

who knows what they will do?

I still don't think you should go to the Eastern Islands alone.

Johannes is in a cell.

And you need to stay here with Marin.

We may be able to bribe Jack to change his story.

I will visit Johannes afterwards, if they let me in.

Is there a message you would like me to send?

There's nothing I can say.

Marin...

Hope is dangerous.

Hope is all we have.

Hope and sugar.

Bribing officials?

We need all the friends we can get.

Thank you. They seem to think food is an option here.

What have they done to you?

It's nothing.

Tell me, was it love?

I don't know.

By telling me lies, he made me see the truth.

The way sometimes a painting is more beautiful than the thing itself.

It was a painting of love.

But I couldn't tell the difference, nor did I care to.

You can fight this, Johannes.

You're powerful, rich.

You said it yourself, the Burgomasters cannot touch you.

They have a name for it. "The unmentionable sin."

Two men together, an act which only God has power to forgive.

To do nothing would be to condone it.

Then we make Frans Meermans change his mind.

I have let his anger stew,

-and now he is determined to take his revenge.

-Jack, then.

Nella...

-I'll pay him off.

-Nella!

It won't make any difference.

What if we had a child?

To prove the lie.

And where are we going to get one of those in a couple of weeks?

I'm glad you came, Nella.

I don't deserve you.

I wish I'd been enough.

You have been a miracle.

Rezecki.

I take her everywhere I go.

The red's gone. From the wound.

I don't understand.

Must have worn it off.

What on earth...?

Madame Marin ordered it. It came in a big crate today.

It's the same as the one the Miniaturist sent me.

I know.

DOOR OPENS

Marin, what were you thinking?

If any of the neighbours saw this arrive, what would they think?

The same as you.

I know you want this child for yourself.

Marin, that's not true.

But it would be convenient, no?

Well...

So what if we did pretend the child was mine?

Would that be so awful?

It would prove that Johannes has the same desires as other men.

Don't you want him to live?

This child will be far from convenient.

But no-one will take it away from me. No-one.

It's kicking me.

We'll need a midwife soon.

Do you know the law?

A midwife must write down the name of the father.

If we don't tell her she'll report that, too.

Talk to Frans, Marin.

Tell him about his child.

You speak of things of which you know nothing.

Do you want to know the truth?

Johannes stopped my marriage.

But it wasn't his decision.

It was mine. I told him to.

You?

By the time I was a woman, I ran this household,

and with Johannes away, I was the head of it.

Was I supposed to give up my freedom for a man?

I thought it a kindness to let Frans believe I was forbidden

than to know I didn't love him enough to sacrifice my liberty.

I never meant it to twist this way.

It is his child you're carrying, though.

Isn't it?

I have taken things from my brother I was not meant to take.

Don't let sweet weapons stray.

Hannah!

Hannah!

I hadn't expected there to be so much.

Imagine it transformed into guilders.

Some of it is rotten.

Very little, Madame. A few were refined in Surinam.

But the rest were all refined here, in the city.

How much for the Amsterdam stock?

There are 750 loaves from the city.

At 40 guilders each...

30,000 guilders.

Impossible.

We are bakers of cakes, not sellers of sugar.

Its quality alone will guarantee it sells.

The craving for sugar shows no sign of abating.

The more the Burgomasters forbid it, the more people will yearn for it.

The prices will rise.

100 Amsterdam loaves for 900 guilders.

If it makes a profit, we'll be back for more.

3,500.

1,100.

2,000.

I have other buyers coming this afternoon.

1,500.

Done.

Madame, Johannes is to appear today!

CROWD MURMUR

Look. There's Agnes.

What's she fiddling with?

The sugar, Madame.

We've already promised half the loaves we took this morning.

Arnoud wants to send some to The Hague, where he has family.

I'm sure it won't be long before we come to you for more.

DOOR OPENS

Seigneur, Seigneur.

Good people of Amsterdam.

We have made success for our city.

But we have remained righteous.

We have not wasted ourselves in the surfeit of our fortune.

But here before you is a man who took another path.

He considered that he was above the family, above the city,

above the Church,

above the State.

Above God himself.

You accuse me, Sir.

But the truth of the accusation is yet to be tested.

You deny the charge?

If I am to defend myself I am entitled to know

the specifics of the accusation.

On Sunday the 4th of January,

Jack Philips says that you attacked and sodomized him...

CROWD GASP

..and left him so badly beaten that he could barely walk.

And then you tried to buy his silence.

Is that specific enough for you?

If any such thing happened, it was not me.

My conscience is clear.

Ha!

We have witnesses that are ready to

swear on the Holy Bible that they saw you.

Then they are lying.

-HE SCOFFS

-You are married?

I am.

And what sort of a husband are you?

Well, I'm still in one piece.

LAUGHTER

Are you a good or a bad husband?

My wife is wealthy and secure.

To be wealthy does not mean to be content.

That is a rich man's answer. Try telling that to a poor man.

LAUGHTER

You have no children. Why not?

I have been married but four months.

How often do you lie with your wife?

That is between me and her.

You are late to marry.

She was worth the wait.

You have, over the years, employed many apprentices.

A preponderance of young men...

Are not all apprentices young men?

..more than any other senior member of the Company.

I have the figures here.

I have more money and more business than most of them.

But isn't that why I'm really here?

GASPS

Who will take my business if I drown?

Will it be you, Schout Slabbaert? Dividing it up?

Or will you lock it up in the Stadhuis coffers?

-CROWD MURMUR

-Silence.

You insult the city of Amsterdam!

Bring in the plaintiff!

Are you Jack Philips, by trade a delivery boy and a stower?

I am. But by trade an actor.

The others, by necessity.

Hand him the Bible.

Do you swear to tell the truth for us today?

I swear.

And do you recognise this man?

Oh, look at him, boy!

Do you recognise him?

I do.

And what charges do you bring against him?

That he sodomized me against my will, stabbed me in the chest

when I resisted, and offered me money for my silence afterwards.

His attack produced the wound you that bear now?

He only just missed my heart.

And how did he behave before he...seized you?

He was in a frenzy, Sir. I pushed him away.

I told him to leave me alone.

But he took me by my coat sleeves and he pushed me

up against the walls of his warehouse.

And then?

He...

He...used me.

He sodomized you.

Lies, lies. This is all lies.

You said he wouldn't speak to me!

Silence, Brandt. You'll get your chance.

Now, lad, you are entirely sure, and you swear before God,

that the man who assaulted you was Johannes Brandt?

Answer me, boy!

Tell them the truth, Jack.

Tell them.

Enough. Take him away.

Wait! Wait! Show us the wound.

What?

He says this attack happened on the 4th of January.

What difference does it make?

-Six days ago.

-What is your point, Brandt?

If he is telling the truth it will still be fresh.

But if he received it in a different place, at a different time,

a fortnight ago or more, say, it will have begun to heal.

So, show us, Jack.

Show us the wound.

Show us!

HE GASPS

Enough! Guards, get him out, take him away!

He cannot show us because he knows that it would prove he is lying.

Silence, Brandt!

You saw the boy. He's in no condition.

Court is adjourned till tomorrow, seven o'clock.

Go to Marin, make sure she's all right.

I have to talk to the Meermans.

So that's what you were playing with.

Seigneur! Please wait.

Johannes has sold your sugar.

Not all of it, but a substantial amount.

Where did you get that? Just put it away!

It's me, isn't it?

Did Agnes commission a cabinet of your home?

A cannonball would do less damage to my marriage

than those cursed miniatures.

What else did the Miniaturist send you?

Evil hints and vile mockery.

"It's the truth", Agnes kept saying. "It's the truth."

So, I had her cabinet burned,

and went to the Kalverstraat to have the Miniaturist arrested.

The spying little villain had fled.

1,000 guilders?

You think you can buy my silence with 1,000 guilders,

when hundreds of thousands could have been made?

Well, my future's been ruined because of your husband's neglect!

If he is released, he can sell more.

-There are ready buyers...

-I need money. Not promises.

Seigneur, it is time for this to end.

We both know it's not about the money, or about the English boy.

You think Johannes ruined your life.

I know about you and Marin.

I understand your wife might be jealous but...

Be quiet, woman! You keep your vicious imagination to yourself!

It wasn't him. It wasn't his idea.

What do you mean?

It was not Johannes who refused you.

It was Marin's decision.

But she did not want to hurt you and so he agreed to take the blame.

You lie. You lie to save his neck!

If you don't believe me, ask her.

MARIN SCREAMS

Feel it. It's beating so fast.

Her waters. It's starting.

-We have to fetch a midwife.

-No, no.

Marin, we can buy her silence.

We don't even have money for firewood.

We have enough.

I just need you and Cornelia.

I saw my brother and sister born. I think I know what we need.

Clean cloths, hot water, fresh sheets.

And a knife for the cord.

Marin.

Marin, when the pain was bad, my mother used to pace.

Now, please, I need you to stand.

SOBBING

It's coming!

Marin?

Cornelia!

-MOANING

-No!

No...

I can see it.

Marin, it's time to push.

I can't, I can't.

Marin, please, one more try.

You're almost there.

GROANING

Oh, Marin, look.

You did it!

A little girl. It's a little girl.

You did it. You did it, Marin.

GASPING

What's wrong with it?

What's, what's wrong with...

BABY CRIES

Thea. Her name is Thea.

BELLS TOLL

Eight. Eight bells.

Johannes's trial started at seven. I have to go.

You can't leave me, Madame. I don't know what to do.

And Marin...

Find Smit's List.

Bring a midwife, a wet-nurse,

someone who understands what's happening here.

But, Madame, the child...

Give the woman whatever it takes to keep her quiet.

If there isn't enough in Johannes's chest, sell the silver.

Did Agnes Meermans testify?

About seven o'clock, Madame. Trembling and strange, she was.

The Schout grew angry when she would not tell him what he wanted.

Seigneur Meermans,

your wife's reluctance to enter into details is understandable.

But I must ask you to be more forthright.

Now, you have known Johannes Brandt for many years, is that correct?

We worked together as young men.

What kind of a man did you find him to be?

Astute enough.

But always too prone to admire his own philosophies

and disdain those of other men.

He was engaged in selling your stock of sugar.

Were you satisfied with his conduct of the business?

Yes, I was.

CROWD MURMUR

So, there's no reason for you to bear any animosity towards him?

None whatsoever.

So, you would say that, up till now, he has been a good merchant

and a good man.

You are under oath.

A good merchant, perhaps.

Johannes Brandt has always pursued his will with -

or I'd say his desires, - with unbending insistence.

But I did not realise the depth of his defiance,

the merchants he bribed, the debts he grew...

Who are these men? Show them to me!

You know full well who they are, Johannes.

It's for your soul I'm here today.

God has spoken to me.

He has told me my silence is no longer enough.

Seigneur Meermans, tell us what you witnessed

when you came to check your sugar.

As we walked towards the warehouse doors, we heard voices.

When we went around to the back, Seigneur Brandt had pushed

a young man against the side of the building.

The boy's face was up against the brickwork.

Both their breeches were round their ankles, their hats knocked off.

Is that young man in court now?

I could, erm...

I could see the lust in Brandt's eyes.

He, erm...

He scooped up his breeches as we approached and...

He beat him, didn't he?

Frans. You don't have to do this.

Rapidly. And ferociously.

Frans.

And he stabbed him, deep, close to the heart.

Just as the victim testified. Didn't he?

Didn't he?

Yes.

GASPS AND MURMURS

The witness has testified to the truth of the accusation.

The Schepenbank will now consider its verdict.

Surely I have a right to speak in my own defence?

Oh, come now, Brandt. What is there you could say?

Very well, then.

Am I the only sinner in this room?

Am I?

You put on that costume in the morning, Pieter Slabbaert,

as do you, Frans Meermans, and hope we will be

so dazzled by your robes we will overlook your own sins.

I will not apologise for who or what I am.

But the allegations against me are false.

Lies concocted out of envy, jealousy, bitterness.

Citizens of Amsterdam, we are better than this.

I have worked for this city from the moment I was old enough.

I've sailed to lands I never knew existed, not even in my dreams.

I've fought for, and seen men die for this republic

on hot beaches and high seas,

risking our lives for the glory of the land that gave us birth.

Striving, building, never once resting in complacency.

I rescued a slave boy from traders.

I took in an orphan girl.

I sponsored apprentice after apprentice,

but exploited no man's need.

I never perjured myself, or corrupted another with bribes.

I took a wife, and I tried to make her happy, as she made me.

And my reward...is this.

Well...enough.

The purpose of a trial is to discover the truth,

and you deserve no less.

So I will give it to you, in full.

Yes, I know Jack Philips.

Perhaps I even loved him.

GASPS

But I never hurt him, or offered any insult to his body.

Frans Meermans I once considered a friend.

But long ago I caused him great pain,

and he, perhaps rightly, has never forgiven.

If the story he has told here is his manner of revenge,

it does not make it true.

Nor does it prevent me from forgiving him.

CROWD MURMUR

Now that you have heard me...

..you may do with me what you will.

The court must retire to further consider its verdict.

Cornelia! Marin! They couldn't agree a verdict.

If we can get Frans to recant...

What is it?

Marin?

No. It's not possible.

There was nothing I could do. I'm Lysbeth Timmers.

Your maid found me in Smit's List.

You told me to, Madame.

She's a wet-nurse, not a midwife.

I birthed four children of my own.

BABY CRIES

She shouldn't be swaddled like this.

SHE SHUSHES

Dear God, what is this?

I didn't agree to this.

You will be amply rewarded for your help.

A guilder a day.

Four.

Two.

Three. Given the circumstances, I'm sure you'll agree.

We are going to keep Thea, aren't we?

We're already bribing new people to keep our latest secret.

Where will it ever stop?

I'll die before I let anything happen to that child.

Did you know? About Otto and Marin?

I wanted it to be Meerman's.

Why?

She looks peaceful, doesn't she?

A map.

For her travels.

I have come to report a death.

We have yet to announce a verdict.

Not Johannes. His sister, Marin.

Yesterday afternoon.

Oh. A godly woman, despite her brother.

How did it happen?

A fever. She'd been ill for some time.

I wondered why I hadn't seen her the last few weeks.

However, if you have come to bury her here,

I'm afraid that is impossible.

Why? A godly woman, you said so yourself.

You know why.

Johannes is innocent. But even if he were not...

The men at Sint Athonis will help you. I have no room.

I will not have her buried beyond the city walls.

She was a woman of Amsterdam. She worshipped here.

You have a duty to bury her.

Not for myself, you understand.

There is a small space in the east corner of the church.

Room for a modest slab, no more.

And the finest elm for the coffin.

On the slab, do you wish for an epitaph?

"Things can change."

Johannes Brandt, you are charged on three counts.

On the first, that of assault on the boy Jack Philips,

I, Pieter Slabbaert, Schout of Amsterdam

and these four members of the city Schepenbank, find you...

..not guilty.

And on the second count, attempted bribery, we find you...

..not guilty.

And finally, on the charge of sodomy,

the court finds you

guilty as charged.

CROWD MURMUR

Your punishment shall be to be weighted down at the neck

and to be drowned in the sea, this Sunday.

And may God have mercy on your sinning soul.

I mean you no harm, I just need to know.

I am done with you, do you hear?

I have had enough!

SHE WHIMPERS

-ECHOING VOICES:

-Are you saying I shouldn't marry him?

My husband threatens to stop this, but then I cannot bear to live...

How did you know? I feel a madness creeping in...

Peebo!

He came in through the window.

I thought you were a ghost.

Or a sorceress.

You were angry with me.

I heard you downstairs.

Please. You have the answers. I know you do.

I have to save my husband.

How?

How do I save him from this?

I'll pay you. Whatever it takes.

This...is why I hide.

I don't understand.

Nobody does.

Everyone thinks I am the one who can tell them what to do.

That I have a third eye.

I am just a maker of small things.

No. Marin's baby. You knew.

I knew because I have eyes.

The woman, I saw how she walked.

How she bound her breasts.

The sugar in Agnes's hand.

It went black, just like the Meermans'.

Because it was real sugar.

The cradle.

There's no way you could have known what Marin would order.

Neither did she.

She saw what I had made,

and she liked it enough that she ordered a copy.

Rezecki, the dog. The wound.

There's no way you could have known.

There's no way anybody could have known.

Sometimes...things come into my head.

It's like a voice you hear carried on the wind that you can't make out.

It's just a word, here or there.

It's things,

people,

sometimes dogs.

Everyone wants answers. But I have none.

Sorry.

I know it is not what you want to hear.

You should take him back.

He would not like the journey to Bruges.

You're leaving?

Tonight. With my father.

You wrote me notes.

So many of them.

Please.

You have to help me.

My father tried to teach me to make clocks.

But the ones I made would never keep time.

They would either tick too slow or too fast.

I would take them to him, and he would make them perfect.

Eventually I said to him, "Please, I beg you,

"teach me what you do to make the clocks keep time."

He laughed and said, "I haven't done anything for months now.

"Your clocks keep better time than mine."

You had learned how to do it without even knowing it.

Things can change, yes.

But they have already changed because of things you've done.

HE WHIMPERS

Nella.

It's so good to see you.

But you wore your own clothes...

I am not ashamed to be here.

Nor can they make me ashamed of you.

Tell me, how are you? How's Marin?

Oh, you know...

Too many herring dinners?

Tell her not to come.

I don't think I could bear it.

SHE SOBS

Come now.

Don't drench me with your tears.

Did you bring my best clothes?

Nella.

I mean it.

Don't be sad.

The secret in life, as in business, is not to care too much.

Always be prepared to lose.

KEYS JANGLE

How much did you give him this time?

Five guilders.

To stay until dawn.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for thou art with me,

thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table in front of me in the presence of mine enemies,

thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

CROWD GASP

He was one of our best merchants.

We're fools.

This will bring the Burgomasters no friends.

Otto!

He's gone.

He's really gone.

Let's go home.

Cornelia, I... I was going to write a...

BABY FUSSES

Cornelia, bring her down.

BABY CRIES

Sugar corn...

What's it called?

Her name is Thea.

Marin said it would be a boy.

Where is she?

Where is Marin?

I'm sorry, Otto.

Truly, I'm so sorry.

She worsened so quickly, there was nothing we could do.

But you saved the child.

She gave her life for this one.

That's why I had to come back, because I had to see what he...

..what she would be.

KNOCK ON DOOR

You can do this.