Radioactive

Madame?

Madame Curie!

Get an ambulance car!

Madame, what happened?

Hurry. She's very weak.

- This is Madame Curie? - Yes.

Get your morning paper!

Oh!

Duclaux?

Yes.

Are you interested in microbiology?

I'm interested in all science

that confronts prevailing attitudes.

I'm Pierre Curie.

Hello, Monsieur Curie.

Goodbye.

You're with company.

I've intruded.

You have.

Now is your opportunity to tell us why you may have intruded,

Mademoiselle Sklodowska.

Professor Lippmann,

I want to protest in the strongest possible terms.

My equipment was moved again last night.

There's a simple reason for that.

More than simple. It is a distinct lack of respect

by those who share your laboratory with me.

Allow me to posit

an opposing hypothesis, Mademoiselle Sklodowska.

It might be that your equipment takes up too much space.

If a scientist's equipment cannot be kept

in the precise positions in which it was left...

Then we are savages, not scientists.

I couldn't agree more.

Then all I need is your assurance...

And it is for this reason I must ask you

please to leave my laboratory.

Leave?

We cannot keep you in the manner you require.

But I have nowhere else to go.

Then you'll have to set up a laboratory of your own,

Mademoiselle Sklodowska.

I lack the funds.

Then your lack of foresight in presenting me, constantly,

with demands is something that will teach all of us

a valuable lesson.

- Maybe it's because I'm Polish. - Of course not.

Or it's because I'm not a man.

Well, yes, it might be that. But, Marya...

We are in Paris. I have taken the name Marie.

- Your child is crying. - Yes, I am aware of that.

So, shouldn't you assume some sort of motherly disposition?

- Sorry, madame. - Thank you.

There. Shh, shh.

Thank you, Lana.

What if you were to visit him? Apologise?

I came all the way from Poland to study science.

I can't apologise. Science is lost to me!

I'm going to have to become a teacher!

Oh, you are impossibly dramatic.

Your child is dramatic.

Marya...

- Apologise. - No! Never.

I will find my own way.

No.

No.

Most amazing.

Please don't suppose anything by me standing beside you.

It's the woman from the street with the Duclaux. Hello.

I stand beside you

merely because you look as awkward as I feel.

- And I made the... - Do I seem awkward?

...I think, correct assumption

that we will look less awkward standing together...

I don't feel awkward.

...than we might standing apart.

Well, that's a theory I can support.

I'm Pierre Curie.

You do like your name, don't you?

That's the second time you've told me it.

You're Marya Sklodowska.

I don't believe I gave you my name.

She's wonderful, isn't she? The dancer.

Her name is Loie Fuller should you wish to see her again.

Do you make it your business to know everybody's names?

She calls it, this dance, her fire dance.

Why?

I believe it's because she's interested

in the way flames move.

You're right, you didn't tell me your name,

but I do know it for three reasons.

One: you're one of only 23 female scientists

within the department.

A prime number.

Two: I've heard about your run-ins with Professor Lippmann.

They've gained you some infamy.

And three: I read your paper

on the magnetic properties of steel.

It contained some exceptional science.

Thank you.

And as you've been so kind,

I will admit that I have also read your paper

- on crystallisation. - Oh?

Which I enjoyed. Very much.

Hm.

Thank you.

I also heard what Lippmann did, evicting you from your lab.

I am sorry.

I don't need pity, Monsieur Curie.

But if I could be of any assistance...

I will be fine.

Oh!

Just to be clear, I refuse to be grateful

for a scientist offering another scientist a room.

I'm more than capable and my work...

Your ingratitude is entirely correct.

And also I feel it's worth pointing out

that I will not be your mistress.

The thought hadn't occurred to me.

And I won't tolerate meddling.

I will not be told how my experiments

- will be optimised better... - Well, I enjoy sharing science,

and I think that by working together...

I will not tolerate it.

Well, you'll have to learn to tolerate it.

I like collaboration.

I will take an interest in your work

and I'll be interested if you take an interest in mine.

Mademoiselle Sklodowska?

Before you turn your back on the only room

anyone is offering you, will you at least see where I work?

Basic.

Marcel, Andre, Maurice and Paul,

may I introduce Mademoiselle Marie Sklodowska.

Such a pleasure to meet you, Mademoiselle Sklodowska.

- We've heard so much about you. - You have?

The Académie probably dislike me

almost as much as they dislike you.

I've been passed over

for every major advancement, professorship, funding.

Why? Well, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe I bore them,

maybe I scare them, but they do me no great favour, either.

But you're a scientist of some renown.

Well, and I'm asking you to share my renowned,

yet basic, space with me.

Why are you asking?

I have an instinct about you.

An instinct is not a particularly scientific reason.

No, but it's still a reason.

Yes.

Yes, this will suit my needs entirely.

Good.

Good.

You've been frowning at that all week.

I'm observing.

What are you looking for?

I find it easier to observe when I'm not talking.

I measure uranium,

and I discover less radiations than I do in its ore.

The ore is more powerful than the element?

Exactly. And I can't quite work...

There must be some anomaly in the results.

I've run the same test six times. I get identical results.

My instinct is that there is another element

that's skewing the results.

You think you've found an undiscovered element?

- If you're laughing at me... - No, I'm not laughing at you.

That's exciting.

Your measuring equipment is useless.

It's worked perfectly fine for me so far.

If we're to get the figures you need,

we need something that's capable of extreme precision.

There is no "we".

You need something that's capable of measuring

- microscopic aspects of energy. - No, please. No, no...

Yes. And I have an idea. Follow me.

Monsieur Curie.

I'm sorry, I know it's some distance.

The length of our journey doesn't agitate me,

Monsieur Curie. The destination does.

This is one of the finest hospitals in Paris.

There's a piece of equipment...

I choose not to go into hospitals.

But you're a scientist!

'Marya, are you frightened?'

Of what?

Of my illness?

No.

Good.

Because there's no reason to be frightened.

Will you die?

Not if you cure me.

How can I cure you?

You can kiss me.

If you kiss me again, I promise I won't die.

But Bronia says...

Your sister doesn't know everything.

Hmm? Kiss me.

Did you feel that?

No.