1
Yes?
How long?
Let me help you.
All right.
- I'm not...
- I'm trusting you now.
This is... this is...
you know...
husband and wife kind of...
Look at that.
Look at all this juicy juice.
Cut it all off.
Wait, stop.
Stop smiling for a second.
- Okay.
- I just wanna comb your mustache.
Are you excited
to meet Roger Payne?
Yeah, I'm very excited.
- Real live man, Roger Payne.
- - I'm nervous.
What're you nervous about?
For this week, for tomorrow.
Darling, nobody's expecting you
to be some kind of expert...
You don't expect me.
- No, no...
- I expect them to be.
Why shouldn't they
expect me to be?
Well, they are experts.
You're a writer.
I'm kinda nervous about
the book too, you know.
- Really?
- Well, I mean...
What do most couples do
on a honeymoon anyways?
They stay in their room, right?
All we need is a bed.
Or desk.
Or a chair with a floor.
You know what,
do you want me to go quickly
or do you want me
to do a good job?
I want you to do
a really good job.
- That's what I thought.
- And do it quickly.
Look up.
How's it feel to be married?
January 19th.
Fifty four degrees south.
I swear, Argentina already feels
like the bottom of the world.
But it's where the journey
begins for most explorers.
What draws us here?
For Dr. Payne,
it's the siren call of the whales.
He was the first to hear
their songs as songs.
The first to record them.
We're following
their migration south,
before the Antarctic
winter sets in.
It's mostly scientists,
but there are few others.
Family,
friends,
and us.
Seriously, it's one of
the roughest seas in the world.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Whoa.
- What?
- - There he is.
That's Roger Payne.
He brought
his wife with him too?
Yeah, that's his wife, Lisa.
- Right at the red light.
- Right, right, right.
And then take a left.
Okay.
Follow the arrows.
Don't, don't just
follow the arrows.
- The arrows don't lead directly to the room.
- Oh, this way.
Okay, this looks better.
- Bed and...
- The honeymoon suite.
Bunk beds.
It's bunk beds.
No one gets bunk beds.
Look at that.
Is that another person's room?
Probably not.
Yes, it is.
So we're sharing
the bathroom, huh?
With a stranger.
Very luxurious...
It'll just be you, me,
and a stranger.
I'm so sorry, babe.
It's fine.
But if we are staying
in this room,
then I get the top bunk.
Yeah.
Come here, silly.
Come here.
Gather round, please.
If you could please move a little forward,
that's it, thanks.
Okay, welcome to your life boat.
This will be our baby
in the glaciers
if we need to get off the ship
very, very fast.
Inside, it has food, water,
even sea-sickness tablets.
Everything we need is right here.
Radio transponders
and fishing lines, whatever you can
imagine, is right inside this boat.
Even it has food
and such things.
We have more than enough food
for everyone on board.
If we die when this ship goes down,
it's your fault.
Okay, I'll take
full responsibly.
Just lay on top.
We'll spend a few days,
go out the Beagle Channel
and actually go north,
north east through
the straits of Lemaire.
We're gonna go up here,
come off the continental shelf
into the deep water,
and do about 800 miles
across the southern ocean
towards the very northern tip
of the Antarctic peninsula.
If we can, we'll get
into the Weddell Sea.
This is where
Shackleton got stuck.
This is where
Shackleton got stuck.
The Weddell Sea is the heart
of the largest area of pack ice
that's generated anywhere
around the Antarctic.
The songs of humpback whales
were more beautiful then,
in the same years that The Beatles
were writing songs, than they are now.
They were more evocative.
They brought tears to your eyes.
I don't think
they do that anymore.
But they did that.
Why? Why could that be?
I have no idea.
Isn't it true that if you speed up
the sound of the humpback whale
that it actually sounds
little bit like a birdsong?
It does, it actually sounds a lot like,
if you slow it down, a birdsong.
It says, "Paul is dead."
Hey.
Where are you going?
I'm just going upstairs.
Okay. I'll come
with you.
No. No, stay.
Sleep, sleep.
You look so beautiful.
Go back to sleep.
What are you gonna go do?
I'm gonna go talk to Roger.
Just work stuff.
It's boring.
- Okay.
- Okay.
I'll be back soon.
Love you.
This was a symbolic act to him
because his handkerchief
was one of two things he had that reminded
him that he'd once been a civilized man.
The other thing...
There's something about these
penguin couples that's so domestic.
They groom each other,
they smack each other, they...
They hold hands
while they're walking.
Or make babies.
Okay.
What're you trying to say?
Nothing.
We would probably
make cute babies though.
February 3rd.
Sixty two degrees south.
The details of home
fall away.
Out here,
there's no Sunday or Monday.
No balance between
day and night.
A kind of prolonged twilight
sets in the further south we go.
This is it.
The world falls away.
There really is
no second chance.
Oh shit.
We're late.
It's fine, sweetheart.
Well, it's fine, but it's not,
you know, perfect
because they're gonna be
sitting up there waiting for us.
No, I think dinner on this
boat is a very fluid thing.
Hey, relax.
Why don't you go
pull the car around?
Look, I'm gonna go up and I'm
gonna keep them company, okay?
Five minutes, okay?
I'll see you up there.
Me, again.
What do you want?
I want my wife.
Just go up without me, okay?
Don't wait for me.
Okay.
See you up there.
...thing that he can
take from the land.
And also on a bit of
a hunting expedition
which is his pastime.
And while he is there
he is, uh...
confronted by nature and also by
what's left of his capitalist soul.
But I also think that
the explorer represents
someone who is still at least
in touch with the natural world.
And someone who is going out to
cross or to walk to the South Pole
is someone who has the opportunity
to experience something
bigger than themselves.
And that has value.
Don't you think?
But they're always men, I mean,
these people, why is that?
No, no, I don't think
they're always men.
They're almost always men,
I would have to agree
and there is a lot of it that's devoted to
this obsession with geographical prizes.
I find that
a bit tiresome, you know.
Then, you'd need more and more modifiers
to describe what this is a first of.
Would you try to attract media
attention to whale research
and to coral and
acidification of the ocean?
Awareness is important,
very important.
And I've tried to attract it to, in a way
that is concerned with solving that problem.
See you guys later.
And the problem of an that
explorer is to just get there
and then say that
he or she has been there.
And I've never quite understood that fully,
I mean...
I, you know, Columbus didn't...
Going to Antarctica?
Yeah, it's good.
- It's exciting.
- What about our honeymoon?
Well, that is our honeymoon.
To, um...
Adventure Antarctica
and your work.
To writing about a place and then
getting the opportunity to go there.
That's really interesting.
So they actually land or
do they just swoop down...
No, no, they land. They do this
thousands of times, they enlarge wounds
until you get a whale which has,
I don't know, six or eight wounds
- down its middle.
- It's a good way to put it.
Collecting places,
collecting locations.
We're obsessed
with categorizing and...
They will fly down,
land on the back of the whale,
bite a hole in the whale,
and then fly off
with a hunk of meat.
You don't usually accompany Roger
on his trips though, right?
No, no, I don't.
I've been once to Patagonia
where he goes every year.
For his Right Whale study.
And I was feeling miserable.
The sun never shone.
It was windy.
I feel a bit, uh...
You know, out of place.
And, um, all the more so
because Peter seems
very much in his element
and I sometimes feel like
I don't know where to fit into.
But, you know, it's all well and good,
We're having a good time.
Oh, God.
Doctor?
Hello.
Take a seat, please.
Oh.
Relax. Just relax.
Yeah. And is this a path
of where whales feed?
Like, you were pointing out
to me the...
Ah, that's not bad.
I mean, let's face it,
we don't often get a chance to see this.
Hey, there you are.
See the whales?
Yeah, I saw them.
It was beautiful.
Why didn't you come get me?
Babe.
Roger went through an entire
book about Antarctic pattern.
Page after page. What am I gonna do?
Interrupt him in the middle?
I'm glad you're here though.
I'm glad you got to see them.
Um, I wanna sit
at the table with Roger,
before the seat's taken.
Can we go in?
- Can we go in?
- Okay.
Okay, come on.
Yeah?
You know, you go,
save me a seat, though.
- Are you sure?
- Will you save me a seat?
I'll save you a seat.
You think it can make any difference that
the sound was at this end of the boat
and the engines were
at this end of the boat
and the whales were
possibly out here?
The engines are not the source
that makes the loud noise.
It's the propeller itself.
Oh, okay. So, if we were
in a small boat...
I've read that chapter
of your book
and in the 60s, weren't you lying down
in your boat listening to them at night?
Oh, yeah, that's with everything
turned off, and that's a sailboat.
Right.
I think probably they did hear it.
They could have heard
some of which you were doing,
very, very faintly.
The other trouble is,
the moment we're asking to hear it
is just as part of its head
is breaking the surface.
And that's generating
a lot of noise.
So, I mean the conditions are...
No, no, it's good,
it's good, I like it.
The conditions are
certainly not favorable...
- Yeah.
- ...for the possibility.
If everything was completely quiet and
stopped and we're not moving forward
and we were in some little harbor somewhere
away from the ocean traffic noises...
Lighter trouble?
Pretty much always.
I thought there was
no smoking on this boat.
I didn't hear that.
I'm... I'm Chloe.
Chloe Harrison.
Captain Emerson.
Well,
I probably shouldn't be smoking anyway.
Why is that, I mean,
aside from the obvious?
The black and white
is their camouflage
in this fairly gray,
black-white environment.
And if one adult
walks away from its nest
and leaves the egg exposed,
and a skua comes in,
the immediate birds right next
to it might peck at the skua.
But they're not
getting off their egg.
So, if you were dumb enough to
get off your egg, tough luck.
These guys actually do lay two eggs,
these rockhoppers.
...what attracts them,
and sometimes they just have minutes to eat
then bigger vultures
come and kick them out...
Look at them up there.
Chatting away.
Peter's really enjoying
being here. I can tell.
Probably getting in to practice
for his next big journey.
Good place to start.
You and Roger have
such a great...
rapport.
Yeah, well, that's, um,
'cause we've been married a long time.
You'll be there soon, you wait.
What are you going to do
when, um...
when Peter goes off on this next
big venture he's going to have?
- Which one?
- Oh, the book deal.
Walking to the poles.
Next year.
Book deal?
You know about this, don't you?
Book deal, yeah, it's uh...
It's great.
Um...
I think I'm gonna
go back to the boat.
So I'll see you back there later.
Whoo!
Hey.
Hey. I need to
talk to you.
Um...
Is there any way to
get off this boat?
Uh... no.
We're underway
in about 15 minutes.
I need a... I need a room.
I need a different room.
I need a new room.
We, uh, we don't have
any spare cabins.
Listen,
I'll have a word
with the steward.
Maybe we can
move somebody around.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Chloe?
What the fuck?
Chloe?
Chloe?
What is going on?
Hey, don't ignore me.
What's going on?
Where'd you go?
I come back and
all your stuff is missing?
Why are you
treating me like this?
When were you gonna tell me?
About the book deal?
Were you just gonna wait
until you were already gone
to tell me about it?
I made a mistake.
Do you know what it feels like
to find out about something
like that from somebody else?
I mean, how could you?
How dare you not...
tell me first?
It involves me.
How do you think that you
going away for a whole year
doesn't involve me directly
enough to ask me about it?
Right, no,
that makes total sense.
I didn't wanna tell anyone else.
Lisa and Roger asked me
what my next project...
It doesn't matter.
It's about the fact that you
wouldn't even discuss it with me.
I was gonna discuss it with you.
You were gonna... You know what?
It's too fucking late!
- Yeah, because they asked me...
- It's too late!
You know when you should've
discussed it with me?
Before you told
other people about it.
Well, they asked me what my next
piece of work was gonna be.
What am I gonna say,
"I got nothin' I'm working on."
And you know what,
this really sucks
'cause I was gonna
surprise you with it
because you're gonna be
a huge fucking part of it.
A huge part of it.
Remember Scott, in his last days,
how he wrote letters to his wife.
We were gonna do that.
Scott died in Antarctica.
I don't even factor...
- into your...
- Oh, babe.
Stop. Stop it!
Honey, just stop.
Stop. God! Peter!
You don't even see me!
Yeah, I just don't know
how this is gonna work.
Really?
Really, that's how you feel?
Can I just talk for a second?
Can I just... Can we
just back up?
Because things have gotten
a little bit extreme.
I'm really, really sorry
that you found out about this and that you
feel that I was deceiving you in any way.
But, please...
Chloe, it's not what you think.
I don't know what I want.
I just know that I need space.
Come on.
I need space.
Just give me that.
Chlo...
Chloe.
Oh, yeah, you're right.
Your move?
Yeah, no.
Yeah it is.
Oh, no, no.
Um...
It's your turn still.
You have another, um...
Perfect, perfect.
So I can use that...
Hey.
Hey.
Um... I think you have
another move.
I need to talk to you, okay?
Look.
I'm in the middle
of something right now.
I wanna talk to you too,
but we'll do it later, okay?
Is that your move?
Yeah, that one's blocking...
Hey, Chloe.
Hey.
Did you do that?
Yeah.
That's beautiful.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, looks just like Jaime.
- You think?
- Yeah, I do.
He must've been thrilled.
Yeah, I think he liked it.
I think I'm gonna
give it to him.
Good. Good.
Anyway, I have to go.
Okay.
Small.
Backwards?
Yes.
Good job.
Who's next?
John's next.
- Farm boy?
- Yeah, farm boy.
Landlocked.
That's right.
Landlocked farm boy
ends up at sea.
Well, I shouldn't think it was
the first time it's happened.
Hmm.
Ever married?
Yeah.
I was, once.
What was her name?
Doesn't really matter,
does it? I...
Not anymore.
I can't...
Come in.
It's me. Can I still come in?
Sure.
- Can I sit down?
- Yeah, what's up?
Just wanted to chat.
About what?
Just missed you.
- Is everything okay?
- Yeah, everything's...
Everything's fine.
- I feel I owe you an explanation.
- Okay.
Things got a little bit
out of control earlier.
It was just
a big misunderstanding.
To be honest,
I think you over reacted before I
had a chance to really explain.
Look, Peter, did you come here to
apologize or tell me how to behave?
Chlo, can we just cut through
some of these problems
and deal with them
when we get home?
No.
Why not?
Well...
Because it's not
just about the book deal.
- Okay, I mean...
- Is that what you thought?
Oh, my God, Chloe, okay.
So what else is it about?
- Come here.
- Peter, come on.
- Come here.
- Stop it. Peter. Stop.
- Baby, I miss you so much.
- Peter!
I'm sorry, it doesn't
work like that.
I mean, let's be honest,
you didn't come in here to apologize.
You didn't come in here to say,
"Oh, I feel terrible,
I want to know what you're going through."
You think I'm being childish,
you think this is a game.
You aren't going to trek
across the poles anyway.
What do you mean?
- What do you mean?
- You're a writer, Peter.
- So?
- You won't be able to write about the poles.
- Fuck you!
- Crossing them yourself? I mean...
You don't think I see you,
you don't think I'm a good husband,
you don't think I can go
to the North or South Pole,
you don't have any fucking faith in me.
So what is this about?
Are you leaving me?
Is that what this is about?
Are you leaving me?
Just be honest? Just, what's...
They want me to go to Antarctica
for a few weeks, maybe a month.
And I said,
"That's simply unacceptable,
I won't go anywhere
without my wife."
You said that?
Yeah.
Can I come in?
Chloe, are you okay?
Hey, come on, it's okay.
You're gonna be okay.
Let's go inside.
You're going to be sick.
Bathroom? Bed?
- Bed.
- Okay, here we go.
Okay, here.
Here, let's get this off.
You pass through it,
you get on the other side,
and things
are different. I...
You're just different.
Seems kind of lonely
out here. That's all.
Sometimes.
Do you ever get homesick?
You know, I do. I do.
But at some point,
you have to choose what's important to you.
And I made my choice.
From the point down to the end,
you can see the wind.
- Yeah.
- There's another pair of binoculars
Beautiful scenery, breathtaking.
It is.
You never get tired of it.
You ever trekked through
a country like this?
Yeah, it can be tough.
What's the weather forecast,
the next few days?
It's good, it's nice.
Though I don't trust
the forecast.
It's like anything in life,
I guess, always changing, right?
Yeah, I suppose so.
So, what are we going to do? We're going to
go out through this passage, right here?
Yeah, right this way and around.
We don't want to hose ourselves
into any new problems.
Yeah.
I trust that you will
steer clear of any danger.
I will.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What's up?
- It's a good movie.
Brought you an apple.
You brought that for me?
I don't know,
I just brought it with me.
Um...
Thanks for taking care of me
the other night.
You're welcome.
You're feeling better?
Yeah, I feel much better.
You look great.
Thank you.
Well, I'm going to let you get
back to Life In The Water.
- You okay?
- Yeah!
Everything's fine.
I'm just going to go.
Peter? Peter!
I'm here, Chloe.
Peter?
The Poles have pulled at me
for as long as I can remember.
Ever since I was a kid,
reading about the great explorers.
Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott.
They were all drawn here.
I don't know what
I was hoping to find.
But it's not out here.
It's inside.
Just between us.
It's her.
It's us.
There's no book.
No walking to the poles.
It was just me
wanting to be something more.
And she's right.
I really didn't see her.
But I want to.
February 23rd.
Sixty eight degrees south.
Antarctic summer.