Silk
Steaming water.
Strange trees.
Laughing children.
Her skin...
those eyes.
Why should I tell you about it?
Why now?
Maybe I just need
to tell someone...
and maybe it's you.
I guess it all began
when I came back home
on leave from the army...
when I first saw Helene.
When are you going?
I leave Thursday.
And when will you be back?
One day, I'll have
hundreds, thousands.
To make her happy,
and started planting
a garden that very day.
Oh.
But I had
My father insisted.
Things are heating up in Austria.
I think it will come
to a head by summer.
The outcome is inevitable.
They won't know what to do when
they're faced with
our military forces.
They will crumble like
What do you think, son?
More fish, dear?
The Austrians are fools, hmm?
I remember,
when I was in the military,
I couldn't stop thinking about her.
We used to say that
if the Austrian's ever
decided to attack,
we'd finish our lunch...
Then, someone came along
to solve my problem.
Can I help you?
Please, sir!
I'm sorry, your honor.
You may leave us.
What can I do for you,
Baldabiou?
You know
what this is?
Woman's stuff.
Wrong.
It's money, a man's stuff.
Really?
And why do I need to hear this?
I'm going to repair the silk mill.
The mill?
Where will you find the money?
That's my problem.
Just make sure no one
gets in my way.
Baldabiou repaired
the old silk mill in six months,
be careful.
or so I was told,
as I was still in the army.
Careful.
By the time I returned
the following year...
there were three more mills...
and more money than our town
had ever seen.
You know what that is?
Money.
Wrong. It's proof
that I was right.
Congratulations.
And what do you
want me to do now?
Nothing. You'll be the mayor
of a very rich town.
Marry me, Helene.
Mr. Baldabiou.
Herv.
I hear you would
like to speak with me.
Yes, but not here.
Do you play?
Uh, no.
Why me?
I need a young man,
a clever man.
Yes, but I'm
not looking for work.
It's not work I'm offering you.
I'm offering you a life.
A strange illness
has entered into the sheds.
Half the silkworms
are either sick or dead.
It's the same in Lyon,
The same everywhere,
as far as Turkey.
What is it?
Nobody knows,
but the clock is ticking.
but we can get round it.
We have to. Otherwise,
this town will starve.
I need you to go
and get healthy eggs...
In Africa.
Africa?
I wish I could,
but my-my leave is up
in two days.
Uh, I have to return
to the barracks.
Who says so?
My father.
Your father?
I'll take care of him.
And he did.
In nomine patris,
Et filii,
Et spiritus sancti.
Amen.
Amen.
Two weeks
later, I gave up my uniform...
and I started a new life.
I thought love
would always be that easy.
What are you writing?
Nothing.
Nothing?
I just spoke
with Baldabiou.
I leave a week from tomorrow.
How long?
Weeks...
Maybe months.
Make it weeks.
That was 1862,
the year of the Great Snow.
I set off to Egypt
to get the eggs.
It took me a month
to find them...
and a little less to come back.
or how it was made.
All I new was that
I had to keep those tiny eggs
away from heat,
keep them clean,
and bring them back
before they'd hatched.
That's all I knew.
But back at the village,
someone else was about to hatch-
Ludovic Berbek.
Beatrice was so proud
to show off her baby that day.
Give me a child.
How was Africa?
It was beautiful.
Tired, but...
but very beautiful.
I have bad news.
I found dead worms.
Only a few, but, still, too many.
Seems the pbrine got
pbrine?
They've given it a name.
I need you to go to Japan.
Japan?
Where is that?
It's that way.
Just keep going
to the end of the world.
Let me show you.
They make the most
perfect silk there.
I held some in my hand once.
It was like holding nothing.
They've been making silk for over
a thousand years,
and they've never even heard
of a diseased egg.
It'll be a longer journey
this time.
Much longer.
Before I speak to the others,
I have to know that
you're ready for this.
But there's a risk.
The journey's long and dangerous,
And it's forbidden to travel
inland beyond Japan's harbors.
No Westerner has done it.
And, yet, a place
where no English broker
disease can enter.
And why should we succeed
where others have failed?
There's no evidence
that we will succeed,
But I have it from
a trustworthy source
That the Japanese are trading
their silk on the black market.
We're interested in making silk,
not buying it.
I want to send Herv
to trade for eggs, not silk.
But there's still no guarantee,
no matter how good the plan.
How much?
At best, 10,000 francs.
And at worst?
His life.
What is it?
I can't do this.
I cannot go.
But you've already said you would go.
I wasn't thinking...
about us.
I don't want you to give
this up because of me.
It's better than you going off
You'll be back by spring.
Don't forget.
meet you in Vladivostok.
Yes.
And her letters for him.
He'll help you find
the village.
All you have to do
is bring back the eggs.
That's all?
Good luck.
I'll always love you.
I will always love you.
And so, I headed off
to the end of the world.
Then I journeyed through
Europe.
I traveled by train
from Vienna...
Through Moravia...
And on to Kiev.
I hired a caravan
Three thousand miles
of ice and storm.
I had my Christmas dinner
at Lake Baikal,
And I thought of Helene...
always.
Then I followed the Amur River
along the Chinese border...
Until I reached the ocean.
in Vladivostok,
Where a Japanese guide
handed me my disguise.
on a smuggler's ship.
And, finally,
I reached the port of Sakata.
Strange...
and haunting.
The Mogami River.
The snows of Yamagata.
I climbed
the mountains of Shinobu,
Where new guides
were waiting for me.
And for the next three days,
we continued through the peaks.
Then, after countless freezing
days and sleepless nights...
I reached my destination.
Sakata, yes, yes.
I came...
Four.
Who are you?
My name is Herv Joncour.
I know that.
I am a man of trade.
That is not who you are.
That is what you do.
I am the man you see before you.
That is all.
I was born in a village
in a country
you've never seen.
I grew up like any child.
I was clothed and fed, educated.
I joined the army.
I left to marry
the woman I love.
And none of this is who I am.
The eggs you were given
are eggs of fish.
They are worth nothing.
I know that.
Is that why you paid
for them with fake gold?
I paid for what I bought.
When you leave here,
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"Silk" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Oct. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/silk_18145>.
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