Sex, Lies & Photographs: Making 'A Very British Scandal'

Hollywood Journal

Episode 1 - Power and the Patriarchy

Transcript

00:00When you're a public figure, what I'm realising is basically you're not in charge of how you're

00:04portrayed.

00:05And you have very little control about trying to say, no, but I'm not really like that.

00:11The court now calls Margaret, Duchess of Argyle.

00:15But I think in her way, she thought that she was in charge of the narrative, and that was

00:20basically her downfall.

00:22Yes, it's me.

00:25I think her motivation was, I haven't done anything wrong, this is not the way things

00:29should be, and thinking she could change the system.

00:31But ultimately what she found out was that she can't beat the system, and the system's

00:34completely against her and against all women.

00:49Welcome to Sex Lives and Photographs, making a very British scandal.

00:53I'm Boyd Hill and I'm joined by the stars of the show in person, Claire Foy and Paul Bettany,

00:58and virtually Sarah Phelps, the showrunner.

01:01This show is about an extraordinary woman, Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyle.

01:06It's a powerful and timely true story about the Duchess and the Duke, their tumultuous relationship,

01:11and the public scandal that followed.

01:13When you first read about her, Claire, in the script, what did you make of her?

01:16I thought she was unbelievable, really.

01:20I thought that she was incredibly vivacious and exciting, and did a lot of things that

01:25I wish I had the bravery to do.

01:27I think you can't bear it that I've succeeded where you've failed.

01:31Well, quite a lot of the time she's absolutely appalling, completely appalling.

01:36I'm gonna chop your fucking hands off!

01:38Jesus fucking hell!

01:40She was kind of naughty and terrible and behaved in such a childish way.

01:45But yeah, there was something about her that I just thought would be great fun to have a go at and try and capture.

01:50Do you think she's an inspirational figure in many ways?

01:54Err, no. I don't really think she is, only because I know her basically from the inside,

01:58and I think that in order for that to be the case, the thought behind her actions would have to be deliberate,

02:03and so much about her is not, and so much of it is motivated about her own gain

02:07and for what she can get out of situations.

02:11And Paul, do you think that the Duke at the time was, he was a kind of,

02:15just went along with the kind of general social attitudes towards women at the time,

02:19or do you think there was something particular about him and his personality

02:22that ended up with the way that he treated the Duchess?

02:25I think that he was a misogynist in a misogynistic world.

02:32You wouldn't know a serious academic work if it came up and bit you on your fanny.

02:38I think he sees the contract, which is your money, my access to the final hurdle

02:46of her sort of social climb into the aristocracy.

02:49But also, I think there was real attraction between them,

02:53and that she wouldn't behave in the way that he found dull in other people.

03:00Do you think our interest in fame and celebrities still, I mean, it's even greater now possibly than it was back then?

03:05Yeah. I mean, I think that this is the thing is that they lived their life in the public domain

03:10and so therefore the demise of their marriage became public because they engaged in it and they sort of...

03:17Courted it.

03:18Courted it, yeah. And they used it to get to each other and to communicate with each other.

03:22So if there are parallels with now that you hope to God that people watch it and go,

03:27people don't really deserve to be picked apart. What's the point? It's pretty cruel.

03:33You see what it does now, that kind of glare, that devouring glare,

03:40that is not going to be happy until your splintered bones.

03:43You see what it does to Britney Spears, to Meghan Markle, to so many women.

03:48Absolutely destroys them.

03:51I think it's the beginning of the end of that sort of reverence of don't touch.

03:55You know, the portrayal of that sort of weird pact that there is about keep up our appearance of who we are

04:01because it sells your newspapers.

04:03And I think that was the beginning of the end of the press's kind of stepping back from people of that social class

04:11and letting them basically live their lives and printing what people want to read as opposed to what's actually going on.

04:16But unfortunately it did happen with the bringing down of a woman who just wanted to not be married to a very, very mean person anymore.

04:29My version of him was sort of sadistic and enjoyed the power that he had over her.

04:39You've got to be weak of other women.

04:41It's not right.

04:42You've been with some other woman, then you come back to me in this stint.

04:44All right.

04:45It's bourgeois wine, it's so fucking boring!

04:48And enjoyed the game that he thought they were in together.

04:52And I think he was sort of bereft when the game ends and she chooses not to be in that dynamic anymore with him.

05:02You frighten me sometimes, Ian.

05:06And you hurt me.

05:11And I think she wanted to change that dynamic between them.

05:15And in the end she has to opt out of it.

05:20Your Grace, your husband alleges that you have had adulterous liaisons with over 80 men.

05:29Have you ever been unfaithful to your husband?

05:32There was so much at stake and she wouldn't back down.

05:36She set fire to an entire kind of class rather than back down.

05:40Even after reduced to rubble and tears, she got up, she stuck her chin out and she kept going.

05:48And if that isn't worth a lift of the hat, then I don't know what is.

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