12: Birth of a Forsyte

Birth of a Forsyte

Synopsis

Soames tries to force Irene and Young Jo apart, but Irene lies and tells him they're already lovers. Soames snarls that he only hopes she treats Jo the way she treated him, and rages out. James is waiting for him at Park Lane, anxiously standing at the top of the stairs in his dressing gown. Soames goes up to him. James thinks Soames should get a divorce. Soames tells him: you're right. I am getting a divorce. James announces that he shan't live to see his grandson.

That evening, Jo gets a telegram from South Africa informing him that Jolly has died of enteric fever.

As the day of the divorce approaches, Winifred is Soames' consolation. He's going to retire from the law, after receiving this insult from it. He will concentrate on his collection of paintings. Meanwhile, Jo and Irene are in Italy, and seeming very happy. Soames goes to court, and it's over in half an hour: his marriage to Irene has ended. He goes to see Madame Lamotte to let her know, but meets Annette instead. His head is spinning. He talks to Annette of his interest in her, and discovers that she has already read of his divorce in the papers. He admires her discretion.

It is February, 1901. Soames and Annette have just married in Paris. He takes her back to London. Victoria has died, and the nation is in mourning. We see archival film footage of her funeral procession. The Forsytes are watching, from their vantage points around the Park in London. Uncle Nicholas saw her crowned and saw her married, and wants to see it all end with her funeral. James, all dressed up to meet Annette, struggles to stand when his Queen passes by. Soames and Annette stand in the crowd on the street to watch. So do Jolyon and Irene. Soames sees them, and cannot stop himself from looking at Irene. Annette notices, and asks Soames who that lovely woman is. Nobody, he says. Attend to the passing of the age. He then takes her to the Forsyte 'Change to meet his Aunts and then to Park Lane to meet his father.

Jolyon Forsyte, called Jon, is born to Jo and Irene in the summer. George calls Jo the "three-decker" on account of his three different families.

It is November. Annette has gone into labor prematurely. The doctor explains one of those novelistic medical dilemmas to Soames: either he operates and kills the child but assures the mother's life, or he lets the birth proceed and risks the mother's life but likely assures the child's. No children afterward in either case. Soames agonizes, drinks whiskey, smokes. While he's trying to decide, Winifred appears to ask why he hasn't answered their mother's telegram. Telegram? He's seen nothing for two days. Yes, telegram. James has caught a cold, and it's gone to his lungs. He's dying. Soames explains his dilemma to Winifred. "How can I decide?" he asks. "You have decided, haven't you?" says Winifred. "I'm on your side. I always have been." She assures him that his wife would risk his life to save her baby, too. He tells the doctor his decision, paces, waits. It's over: his child is born, his wife has lived.

It's a girl.

He immediately leaves to go to his father. He encounters Uncle Nicholas, on his cheerful way out the door after paying his respects to James. He rushes upstairs, pausing to straighten his clothing. "What news?" James asks. "Good news, dear, the best," Soames says. "Annette has had her child, and it's a son, father." James dies.

Soames returns home and tries to screw up his courage to see his wife and daughter. "To show emotion is bad form," Annette explains to her angry mother. Eventually he appears, and talks to Annette. "How I suffered!" she says. She is glad she won't have any more. Soames knows at that moment that he will never be close to Annette. He goes over to see his daughter. "Ma petite fleur," says Annette. Soames, elated, names the girl "Fleur".


Jo comforts Irene after the angry scene with Soames.	Driven away afterward, Soames is numb. He has finally lost.	James, frantically waiting for Soames.	James advises Soames to get a divorce. James is right.

Jo and Irene are very happy in Italy.	Winifred tries to console Soames, who is unhappy about the upcoming divorce. Worse to be the cuckold than to be the seducer.	Soames in court, getting his decree.	Soames' head is spinning. He is divorced!

Annette has read the papers. She is discreet.	Soames looks at Annette with such hope.	Archival footage of Victoria's funeral.	Nicholas reminisces about seeing her crowned, and seeing her married.

The anti-Victorians watch the passing cortege.	Soames muses on the passing of an age.	Soames shows off his new wife at Timothy's. Quite an ordeal, as he once said.	Soames amuses Annette with bad French.

The doctor explains the problem: baby dead or maybe wife dead.	It's never easy for Soames.	Winifred interrupts with bad news: James is dying.	Winifred is on Soames' side. She always has been.

Pacing, waiting for the news.	Uncle Nicholas has paid his respects.	Soames tells his father he's had a son. James dies, finally having been told.

Annette tells Soames how she suffered.	He falls in love again, this time with his baby daughter Fleur.