Commodities The Musketeers

-Drinks for the whole house!

-CHEERING

SHOUTING AND LAUGHTER

Good health to you, sir!

A man who likes to draw attention to himself.

You think he knows he's being watched?

And not just by us.

The tail feather of an Amazonian macaw,

quite the loveliest bird in the jungle,

yet not half so lovely as you.

It matches your eyes perfectly.

Seduced by a feather. Really?

Anyone can tell a woman she's beautiful.

Making her believe it...

..is where the genius lies.

ATHOS: One at the door, one at the table.

One behind us. And who's this?

Our man is certainly popular.

HE CHUCKLES

WOMAN: Emile!

Dear God!

SWORD IS UNSHEATHED

I want to see how this plays out.

I'll kill you!

Darling, calm yourself, I beg you. It's far too early in the morning.

Touch him and you die!

You can stay away too.

-A moment ago you wanted to kill him.

-I have the right. You don't.

Stop!

-Get your hands off me!

-BONES CRUNCH

HE SCREAMS

HE LAUGHS

She just bit me!

Gentlemen, thank you.

Thank you.

I can't thank you enough. Lucky for me you were here.

Not entirely. Emile Bonnaire,

I am Athos of the King's Musketeers. You are under arrest.

We're taking you to Paris to appear before the King.

Er, no... I'm afraid I can't, er, can't travel today

cos I've got important business...

Your business will have to wait.

Right.

-What about her?

-I have a name.

It is Maria Bonnaire.

Gentlemen, my wife.

That explains a lot!

PORTHOS LAUGHS

Any hidden weapons we should know about?

Er, no.

No, I never carry any concealed weapons.

Hmm.

I completely forgot about that one.

Easily done.

I would hate you to lose anything so valuable.

You wouldn't want this to fall into the wrong hands.

Well, gentlemen, Paris it is.

Oh, um, grant me one last favour before we go.

-A few moments alone with my wife.

-D'ARTAGNAN LAUGHS

You must think we're stupid.

Hm.

HE GRUNTS

Terribly sorry, apparently we are.

I must have your guarantee that you won't try to escape, monsieur.

You have my word on it...

..as a gentleman.

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Oh, hey!

Oh, hey!

Bonnaire's admirers have gone.

For now, at least.

What do you think they wanted?

-Probably owed them money.

-EXCITED GASPS AND CREAKING

All traders are slippery as eels.

BONNAIRE GASPS AND GROANS

-BONNAIRE:

-Oh, my love!

I've been so long at sea and all my lust has been scooping!

-MARIA:

-I'm nearly...

-Oh!

-Oh-oh!

-Brrrr! Oh! Ohh! Ohh...

-BED CREAKS

Ohh...

LOCK CLICKS

Uh-huh, uh-huh... Ohh! Ohh!

The far window overlooks the entrance. Thibault will be waiting.

HE GRUNTS

Hurry up, Emile!

Ha-ha! I'd sit up here if I were you.

I'm sure your friend won't mind.

Everything shipshape with the wife?

Two envoys from the Spanish court

have arrived in Le Havre in pursuit of the explorer Bonnaire.

I know. He's under protective custody and on his way to Paris.

To be escorted by the musketeer Athos and his friends?

You are well informed, as always.

Will you be requiring my services in the near future?

I have some personal matters to attend to.

Any notion of a personal life ended

the day I picked you out of the gutter and made you my creature.

But, of course, even assassins should have a holiday now and then.

This personal matter...

It wouldn't have anything to do with Athos?

-In a manner of speaking.

-As of this moment,

he's involved in the King's business.

I trust you have no plans to interfere.

I wouldn't dream of it.

One thing I have learned in politics

is never to let personal issues cloud my judgment.

You would do well to imitate my example.

You know I try to imitate you in everything.

-BONNAIRE:

-I've always admired men of a military disposition.

My father raised me on tales of the great heroism of the Musketeers.

PORTHOS: Who was he? Nostradamus?

The regiment didn't even exist then.

-BONNAIRE:

-I was going to be a soldier once myself, but life...

Life had a different plan for me.

All the things I've done, the places I've been.

My friend, you would scarcely believe the stories I can tell!

Yeah? Try me.

Well, there was this one time I dropped anchor near a small island

called Goree...

You know, we could probably walk to Paris quicker than this.

Ditch that wagon and we might make progress.

Bonnaire hopes his exotic gifts will soften the King's mood.

Do you think he's right?

It costs us nothing to humour him.

A calabash.

Grows all over West Africa.

Mm!

I'm guessing your ancestry owes something to those regions.

Maybe.

Did they come to France as slaves?

My mother.

Moved to Paris when she was freed.

-I've known many freed slaves who prospered.

-Yeah?

Well, she didn't.

I was fending for myself since the age of five.

Still, you...

From the streets of Paris to the King's elite regiment?

Quite a journey!

I took to soldering, unlike you.

We're being followed!

By two men dressed in black, about a mile behind.

-The men from the inn?

-Yes.

What are they waiting for?

If we stay off the road, we should lose them.

FAINT CLATTER

What is it?

What's going on?

HORSE WHINNIES

Come out and state your business!

That was very formal.

I like to be polite.

Aramis!

-Ambush!

-Get Bonnaire!

Porthos, stay with him.

Aaargh!

Porthos!

Anyone else?

HE PANTS

Are you all right?

That's enough.

I've no argument with you, only with him.

Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my business partner,

-Paul Meunier.

-On the face of it,

I'd say your partnership isn't going well.

I funded Emile's expeditions for eight years,

and yet I discover his ship has arrived,

my cargo is nowhere to be found,

and he's made no contact with me.

There was no... There was no time, Paul!

I was forced to travel to Paris without warning.

Hand him over and we will be on our way.

I sympathise with your grievances, monsieur.

No doubt your partner is a cheat and a swindler.

However, it is our duty to deliver him safely to Paris, so...

you must wait and seek justice there.

I'm not leaving without him.

That is unfortunate,

because neither are we.

I don't suppose I have a say in this, do I?

Tell your men to lay down their weapons.

I will inform the cardinal of your claims against Bonnaire.

How do I know you won't betray me?

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.

If I see your scouts on the road again, there won't be any second

-chances.

-What scouts?

Two men in black. They've been on our tail since Le Havre.

They're not mine.

I'm not the only man with an account to settle with Emile Bonnaire.

GRUNTS AND MOANS

Will I lose my arm?

No, but you might lose your life.

-That bad?

-It requires needlework and soon.

Will he make it to Paris?

PORTHOS SCREAMS

He won't make it to the next village

unless I get a chance to sew up that wound.

Do you think we should leave the road and look for shelter?

Not here. We will ride on for a few miles and then find somewhere.

Porthos isn't fit to ride anywhere.

Get him on the cart.

Didn't you hear what I said?!

If we don't operate soon, he'll die.

We'll wait till it's dark.

What's the matter with you?!

Don't you care about Porthos?

All right. I know somewhere...

nearby.

Why didn't you mention it before?

WOMAN: Remi! Come and see, quickly!

VOICES AND GENERAL HUBBUB

LOCK RATTLES

-ATHOS:

-Bring him in here.

PORTHOS GROANS

I tell you something.

If this place is for sale, I might be interested.

It's not.

No, you're right. It is a bit dark.

-I don't suppose there's anything to take the edge off?

-There's wine.

-BONNAIRE:

-Oh. Oh, I have something better.

A bottle of rum bouillon.

Colonists makes it out of sugar molasses.

So potent, they call it killdevil.

We'd best get acquainted.

HE PANTS

So, how did you know about this place?

I own it.

You were the Comte de la Fere?

A son of the nobility?

How many servants did it take to run this place?

-No more than 20, including my valet and housekeeper.

-Quite modest, then?

Servants make me uncomfortable.

Look, if you...if you don't mind...

...I'll just go...

wait outside.

The sight of blood makes me feel a bit faint.

-Or I could stay here.

-You must be skilled at this yourself.

Better with sail than skin.

PORTHOS: Fine needlework, Aramis does.

Should have been a seamstress.

Two inches deep, that blade went, but you wouldn't know, would you?

This one I trussed up during a skirmish we had in Poitiers.

Stitching that's fine enough for the Queen's chemise.

I agree. But perhaps you should save this tour for another time.

If you could prepare the patient.

Porthos...

Dear God. What kind of brutes are you?

It's the best way with Porthos. We've learned from experience.

Notice the intricacy of the rigging, Cardinal.

Your Majesty's attention to detail is remarkable.

Pity it's a Dutch and not a French flag flying from the mast.

A great nation deserves a great navy.

The cost would be unfathomable. Our neighbours spend vast fortunes

supplying their needy little colonies.

Colonies which supply them with sugar, tobacco...gold.

The navy's a sound investment, one might think.

There's always the awkward detail of Your Majesty's treaty with Spain.

Still, it's very tiresome to be instructed to do things,

especially by Spain. I am not a child. I am a king myself.

This Bonnaire - I suppose we shall have to punish him.

The Spanish say he has broken your treaty

and plans to establish his own colonies in the name of France.

Well, that's very wicked of him.

We must respond appropriately.

Explorers really are the most terrible bores.

"I've discovered this", "I've named that".

-No doubt Bonnaire's cut from the same cloth.

-No doubt.

Still, I suppose one might call him a patriot.

Well, that certainly isn't the word the Spanish ambassador used.

Did I ever tell you about my scheme to model the Spanish Armada?

A notable Spanish adventure that ended in...

catastrophe.

Precisely, Cardinal.

Precisely.

But it would be nice, one day, to...

decorate my ships with the French colours.

May I say, sire, you never fail to surprise me.

HE SNORES GENTLY

It is the most perfect room.

And look. They're like a carpet on the grass outside.

Forget-me-nots.

I'll press one for you.

As a memento of a perfect day.

Athos...

swear that nothing will ever come between us.

I swear.

GLASS SMASHES

-BONNAIRE:

-I found my own Utopia,

little piece of heaven called San Christophe.

And I'll farm tobacco there...

and I'll retire...

..fat and oversexed.

Farming's no Utopia, Bonnaire. It's all hard graft, I can assure you.

No. No, labour is cheap.

And I'll manage the whole thing from my porch

with one beauty sitting on my lap...

and another mopping my brow.

Sounds like paradise.

There are opportunities for men like you in the colonies.

You could be rich.

You should join me.

All of you.

Maybe I'll take you up on that.

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

How are you?

Fine and fit.

-ATHOS:

-Can he travel tomorrow?

-ARAMIS:

-If he must.

Then we leave in the morning.

Well, I don't suppose you'll mind spending a night here, hey, Athos?

Must bring back all sorts of memories.

FOOTSTEPS

PORTHOS GROANS

Did someone punch me?

Don't be ridiculous.

I'll go fetch some water.

HE GROANS

Hey.

What happened here?

Vandals, I suppose.

And this? Who's this?

Thomas, my younger brother.

-Everyone's favourite.

-What happened to him?

He's dead.

-D'ARTAGNAN:

-I'm sorry.

What are you doing?

-Just planning my next trip.

-Oh.

And I'm making sure that the load is evenly distributed.

I, er, wouldn't mind taking a look.

-I like teaching myself new things.

-Ah!

So, you're an autodidact?

It means self-taught man.

Like myself, actually.

Mm.

Another time, perhaps. Forgive me, my eyes are tired now.

I'm just...

such a martyr to detail.

-ARAMIS:

-D'Artagnan!

What is it?

Is it Meunier? HE SCOFFS

You'd better take a look.

D'ARTAGNAN: Bonnaire's wife. What's she doing here?

I've still got the scar from the last time I underestimated her.

Stop there.

SHE GROANS

Don't shoot!

I came for you, Emile... as I swore I would.

You've had a wasted journey.

Can't you see she's injured?

I was attacked on the road.

Two men dressed all in black.

SHE GROANS

Let me help you down.

Patronise me one more time and you'll lose your head.

Drop your weapon.

Why, you fooled even me!

My darling!

-BONNAIRE:

-Now, gentlemen...

..fascinating as this episode has been...

..now I must dash.

I was Emile's scout in Brazil.

There's nothing I can't find if I want to.

And she chose to find me. True love is a beautiful thing.

-You're not ready for this yet.

-Try to stop me!

-ARAMIS:

-Don't make us knock you out again.

I knew I'd been punched.

Go inside, Porthos. You're no use in this condition.

Yah!

Maria!

GUNSHOT

Forgive me, my love.

Allow me. Yah!

ARAMIS: Hold your fire! We're the King's men.

Stop or I'll shoot.

Yah!

RASPY BREATHS

La resurreccion de los muertos y la vida eterna.

Quien es usted? Que hace aqui?

Why would Spain send agents after Bonnaire?

Yah! Yah!

-BONNAIRE:

-Come on.

Come on, come on, you useless nag, for the love of God!

It's a classic mistake.

A horse can gallop two miles at most.

If you'd have kept doing a nice, even canter, you might have escaped.

Yes, I suppose if I was a farm boy, I'd know that sort of thing.

Now...

..get down.

You can walk back.

Give that horse a rest.

You lying, filthy swine!

-D'ARTAGNAN:

-No! What are you doing?

-I can explain.

-Get off me.

D'ARTAGNAN: Porthos!

PORTHOS GROANS

There goes my needlework.

Porthos! Enough!

What's going on?

That's Bonnaire's cargo.

Men, women, children.

It's a slave ship.

The drawings make it look far worse than it really is.

Look at this one.

People packed on the deck like fish at the market.

I envied him.

Boasting about his plans to farm tobacco.

Boasted that labour is cheap out there.

It isn't cheap labour, is it, Bonnaire?

It's stolen labour, stolen lives.

I am not a prejudiced man.

This is business.

Strictly business.

The business of misery and suffering.

It's our duty to protect him.

And turn a blind eye to his crimes?

Slavery is cruel and disgusting, but...

..it's not a crime.

I heard stories about those ships as a child.

Oh, hellish stories.

Know why they're shackled? Hm?

To stop 'em jumping overboard.

Yeah, cos...

that's better...

than watching your friends, your family,

your children die of starvation...

and sickness...

..and hopelessness.

You'll get your justice, Porthos.

The King will see to that.

PORTHOS: So, what's it like...

..buying people?

I suppose you have a shopping list.

Actually, I do.

-Makes the whole process a lot easier.

-I'll bet.

It isn't a choice between freedom and slavery.

It's the choice between one life as a slave and another.

If I don't buy 'em, someone else will.

And, believe you me, I'm offering by far the better life.

Men are born free. No-one has the right to make slaves of them.

Yes, but the real world isn't driven by romantic notions of freedom,

is it?

It's driven by commerce.

And I'm a trader. That's all.

I deal in commodities.

A man is not a commodity.

Oh, in Africa, he is.

Poor Maria.

She came here to free me, and this is her reward.

Crocodile tears.

You left her to die.

I owed it to her courage to try to escape.

Forgive me, my love.

You deserved a better man.

HE SOBS

I seem to have forgotten all my old prayers.

Nothing that suffers...

can pass without merit in the sight of God.

Amen.

What are you doing?

There's someone I need to see in the village.

Let me come with you.

You haven't been yourself since we got to this place.

Keep an eye on Porthos. Don't leave him alone with Bonnaire.

At least tell me where you're going.

Just get back on the road as soon as you can.

Get Bonnaire to Paris.

What about my wagon? I have gifts for the King.

The wagon stays here.

We need to get to Paris as quickly as possible.

What do you think he's going to do to me

when he finds out that I don't have a gift for him?

Quite ugly things, I'd imagine.

We should wait for Athos.

He'll meet us when he's ready.

Porthos is right. We should wait.

You should trust Athos to handle his own affairs.

We're leaving now.

ARAMIS: D'Artagnan, let's move.

Remi.

Was it quick?

Did she suffer much?

I never should have involved you in this.

HE COUGHS

You're dead.

I watched you hang.

You didn't watch, did you?

You couldn't stay to see your beloved wife choking on the end of a rope.

-Remi.

-I seduced him.

As soon as you fled, he cut me down and revived me.

But look.

I still carry the token of your love.

-You killed Remi.

-Put him out of his misery.

He spent the last five years waiting for you to show up

and discover his crime. He was half-dead already.

-I'm dreaming.

-Drunk, perhaps.

But not dreaming.

Why are you here?

To erase the past.

To destroy it completely.

I'm glad you came back.

It's right you should die with this house.

The house...

where you murdered my brother.

-I killed Thomas to save our love.

-You killed him...

because he discovered the truth.

That you were a criminal...

who lied and tricked your way into my life.

He was a fool and a hypocrite. He deserved to die.

I thought you would understand that.

-(WHISPERS)

-Anne...

Perhaps it's best it ends like this.

Do it.

Do it.

-D'ARTAGNAN:

-Athos!

Athos, can you hear me?

-ATHOS:

-D'Artagnan.

Athos!

Athos!

HORSE WHINNIES

Athos!

Athos! Athos!

Athos.

It's me. It's d'Artagnan. Come on, get up. Get up!

What happened? Who was that woman?

Since we arrived, I felt her presence everywhere.

I thought I was imagining it.

-Who? Who?

-My wife.

She died five years ago now, by my orders.

She was a cold-blooded murderer,

so I had her taken from the house and hung from the branch of a tree.

Look at me. Look at me!

Are you saying the ghost of your dead wife tried to kill you?

She's not dead, d'Artagnan. She survived.

-This was her revenge.

-It was my duty.

It was my duty to uphold the law.

My duty to condemn the woman I love to death.

I've clung to the belief that I had no choice.

Five years learning how to live in a world without her.

What do I do now?

I refuse to arrive at the palace on an ass,

and I'm within my rights to demand a fresh set of clothes.

PORTHOS: What rights?

The rights of every man to some fair treatment.

Justice, dignity. A little dignity.

You do know how ironic that sounds coming from a slave-trader?

Yes, I've been thinking about that.

I'm out of the slavery business.

Thank you for inspiring a new...

Emile Bonnaire.

You'd say just about anything to save your own skin.

Well, of course I would.

Who wouldn't?

BOTH CHUCKLE

Tell your master I have come about material for a new dress.

My husband is away at present.

I am Madame Bonacieux. Can I help?

You're his wife? You are so young, I thought you must be the maid.

-You are very pretty.

-So are you.

-What does that have to do with your dress?

-And spirited.

Some might say rude for a common merchant's wife.

If you just tell me what you require, madame.

You have a lodger named d'Artagnan.

-Yes.

-He's handsome.

Are you attracted to him?

-I am a married woman.

-Oh, don't look so shocked.

What could be more natural than for a married woman to take a lover?

I think you should leave now.

D'Artagnan and I have some acquaintance.

One might say we are intimate friends.

Are you his mistress?

I have a maternal interest in him.

You're not old enough to be his mother.

Well, perhaps maternal isn't... quite the right word.

As your husband is away, I will come back another time.

I'd prefer it if you didn't.

I don't think your husband would agree.

I understand he is...

badly in need of money.

How could you know such a thing?

Inform your husband Milady de Winter called.

And tell d'Artagnan too, if you wish.

So pretty.

ATHOS: Our Spanish friend.

Leave him to me.

D'Artagnan, say nothing to the others of what happened.

You have my word.

There was a woman here while you were away.

She said her name was Milady de Winter.

-She seemed to know you...quite well.

-Milady de Wi...

I don't know any Milady de Winter.

Dark hair, green eyes.

Very beautiful.

What did she want?

She's offering my husband work.

That's good.

My husband wouldn't approve of you receiving women alone in the house.

In case you intended to.

She frightened me, d'Artagnan.

I suggest you put that down so we can talk.

HE SIGHS

It appears you had quite an adventure on your way here.

Some adventures a man can live without.

I'm curious.

How would you define a good adventure?

Where the potential rewards outweigh the risks, I'd say.

So, reneging on your deal with your business partner, Meunier,

that was a risk worth taking?

Meunier's a man of low reputation.

He's dishonest to boot.

Nothing the man says can be relied upon.

And what is the King to make of the rumour

that you were setting up tobacco plantations in the New World

and importing slaves to work them,

in direct contravention of our trade pact with Spain?

Did you imagine I would take no interest in a matter

that directly concerns the King himself?

With so much at stake...

I can only suppose the rewards of your enterprise must be very great.

Riches beyond dreams, Your Eminence.

Indeed.

I'm a patriot.

I'm a true son of France.

And it hurts me to see opportunity squandered.

Opportunities for France... or for yourself?

Both.

If I might...

be permitted to, er...

lay out my plans in detail?

By all means.

Explain them as if your life depended on it.

HE CHUCKLES

Which, incidentally...

it does.

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

Execution?

-Imprisonment?

-Whipping?

Wh-pssh!

Not quite, no.

No, the cardinal and I have set up a joint stock company together.

He's agreed to invest...

..10,000 livre of his own money,

and I'm to set up tobacco plantations across the Antilles.

These plantations...

they'll be worked by slaves?

Yes.

Yes, of course they will.

I'm actually off to Le Havre to...

charter a ship.

LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

I thought you were out of the slavery business.

Circumstances, my friends.

Adapt to circumstances.

It's really all you can...

do.

Please, if you wouldn't mind.

-D'ARTAGNAN:

-Bonnaire has more lives than a cat.

If only those Spanish spies had taken his last one, hm?

Or I had.

What did they want with him, anyway?

The Spanish King wrote to Louis demanding he put a stop

to Bonnaire's activities.

The spies were sent to make sure he didn't escape en route

and to shoot him if he did.

Oh, we should have let them.

-ARAMIS:

-Bonnaire's in business with the cardinal.

He won't be punished?

Rewarded.

Well, here's to us dying together on some forgotten battlefield

while Bonnaire ends his days old and fat and rich.

That man...

..will go on to destroy thousands of lives...

and there's not a damn thing we can do to stop him.

Tonight, my friends, the drinks are on me.

The drinks are on me.

For tomorrow, I set sail to a new and disgustingly prosperous life.

Sante!

MEUNIER: We had a deal, Bonnaire!

Paul, is that you?

Yes, I have a new business partner now, Paul.

You lay one finger on me, you'll have the cardinal to answer to.

Er... Well, I'm sure that we can settle this like men of honour,

and we should.

Attack Bonnaire and you attack the King.

Why are we doing this? He's scum. He's a slaver.

He's under our protection.

Protection be damned!

We have our orders. We obey them.

-I'll kill you too, you get in my way. ARAMIS:

-Oh, yeah?

-Gentlemen!

-ARAMIS:

-Come on!

-PORTHOS:

-Bonnaire, there's a ship waiting for you in the harbour.

D'Artagnan will show you. Hurry and you might live.

The captain will see you on board.

Do drop in any time you're near the Caribbean.

I'm sure to be home.

Welcome, Monsieur Bonnaire.

So good of you to join us.

HE CHUCKLES

Wait.

Admit it. I frightened you.

Ahhh(!)

I was quaking in my boots.

-PORTHOS LAUGHS

-The key to Bonnaire's warehouse.

Everything in it is rightfully yours.

If I were you, I'd move it before the cardinal takes an inventory.

No-one must ever know of this.

Technically, we're both guilty of treason.

My lips are sealed.

So, as far as the cardinal is concerned,

-the Spanish kidnapped Bonaire.

-And spirited him away.

Embarrassing. But there's not much he can do about it.

Godspeed, Bonnaire.

May your time in a Spanish prison be long and uneventful.

Let's see him adapt to those circumstances.

HE CHUCKLES

Thank you.

Oi! Mind my wound.

Mind my needlework.

If only all wrongs were so easily corrected.

-Is this a good idea, Cardinal?

-That rather depends on the outcome.

Damn Richelieu.

We are tied together by decisions we took five years ago.

It was the Duke of Savoy that killed our friends.

-ATHOS:

-Have you both completely lost your minds?

-DUKE OF SAVOY:

-You wanted to kill me. I saw it in your eyes.

Be careful, Aramis. You're in dangerous territory.

If France will not guarantee our security, Spain will.

MME BONACIEUX: No-one could know, especially not my husband.

Leave now and we'll say no more about it.

Who betrayed the Musketeers?