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Downton Abbey: A New Era · 2022 — Chapter 5 of 18 · 1'44" · C1

Dinner at the Villa of the Doves, Explained: eye someone up

The Crawleys dine at the villa they have inherited, and the family who lost it makes every courtesy sound like an accusation. "So you're only taking back what is yours by right?" one of them asks, and dinner never recovers.

What happens

At the Villa of the Doves in the South of France, the Crawleys sit down to dinner with the French family whose late patriarch left them the house. Lord Grantham trades talk of the Riviera's history, Lady Hexham mentions her magazine, and Lady Bagshaw arrives late after falling asleep. Under the small talk, the hosts keep pressing on who really owns the villa.

Family dinnersSmall talkConfrontingComplainingRivalsC1fastbritishClean
IMDb ↗

Listen for

yours by rightcatching onfor as long as I can remembereye someone up

00:00 / 01:44
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Phrase of the scene

eye someone up

打量；觊觎（带着心思地看）

别墅晚餐上，法国遗孀一方语带讽刺，说格兰瑟姆一家嘴上做客，实际在打量家具、测量窗帘。

He spent the whole party eyeing up the host's vintage car.

Also in this scene

  • yours by right

    理当归你所有

  • catching on

    开始流行；被人接受

  • for as long as I can remember

    从记事起一直

Everything marked in this scene

24 notes across 36 lines

Phrase · B1be familiar with somethingAre you familiar with the South of France?
Soundfamiliar with

liaison

Are you familiar with the South of France?
Phrase · B2make something fashionableI know Lord Brougham first made it fashionable in the 1830s when he was chancellor.
Phrase · B2something is yours by rightSo you're only taking back what is yours by right?
Grammar · B2what is yours by right

nominal clause with what

So you're only taking back what is yours by right?
Soundyours by right

liaison

So you're only taking back what is yours by right?
Grammar · B2I do see why

emphatic do

I wouldn't say that, but I do see why you find it upsetting.
Phrase · B2eye up someone/somethingBut here you are, eyeing up the furniture, measuring the curtains.
Soundeyeing up the

liaison

But here you are, eyeing up the furniture, measuring the curtains.
Phrase · A2would like to knowBut I suppose I would like to know why your husband did what he did.
Phrase · A2enjoy your stayUntil then, I hope you'll enjoy your stay.
Phrase · B2stand downBut he can stand down if you prefer.
Phrase · A2belong to someoneWhy, when the villa already belongs to your granddaughter?
Phrase · B1that was itI laid down for five minutes, shut my eyes, and that was it.
Phrase · A2come here a lot- You must come here a lot. - We do.
Phrase · B1or ratherOr rather, we did, before you entered our lives.
Phrase · B2for as long as someone can rememberAlways in the winter for as long as I can remember.
Phrase · B2catch onBut now coming in the warmer months is catching on.
Phrase · B1more of a somethingMore of a journalist, I'm afraid.
Phrase · B2take back control of somethingI have a magazine, and I'm taking back control of it.
Grammar · B2got the hotels to stay open

causative get

All the people that got the hotels to stay open in July.
Phrase · B2Might that be possible?Might that be possible?
Grammar · B1before you use them

time clause with before

If we can see the images before you use them.
Phrase · A2not the first someoneAh, you're obviously not the first journalist he's met.

Dinner at the Villa of the Doves, explained

What's really going on

This is a dinner where good manners are the weapon. Nothing rude is said outright, and that is the point: the French family have lost the villa to English relatives they barely know, and they keep the grievance alive through civility. One of them asks Lord Grantham whether the Crawleys are simply "taking back what is yours by right," a question that is really an indictment. Another sketches them as buyers already at work: "But here you are, eyeing up the furniture, measuring the curtains." The unkindest line is the quietest, when a host corrects a pleasantry about how often they used to visit with "Or rather, we did, before you entered our lives." The Crawleys answer with politeness and lawyers, and the audience watches inheritance turn a holiday house into a battlefield of manners.

Theme

ClassOld families on both sides measure worth by lineage and property, and manners become the field of battle.
Family conflictTwo branches tied by one dead man's will cannot share a table without old grievance surfacing.

What you'll learn

  • 'eyeing up the furniture' carries more than its dictionary gloss.
  • 'eye up' changes the pressure of the reply.
  • The surrounding lines set the social temperature.

Listen for

  • familiar with — liaison
  • yours by right — liaison
  • eyeing up the — liaison
So you're only taking back what is yours by right?

A polite-sounding question that accuses the Crawleys of grabbing the villa on a legal technicality rather than by any fair claim.

Always in the winter for as long as I can remember.

A host recalls a long family habit of wintering at the villa, quietly underlining that the house has a history the new owners never shared.

I laid down for five minutes, shut my eyes, and that was it.

Lady Bagshaw explains her late arrival: she meant to rest for a moment and slept through the start of dinner.

Ah, you're obviously not the first journalist he's met.

A teasing remark that the late Marquis knew how to handle reporters, so Edith should not expect an easy yes.

Questions about this scene

Why are the Crawleys at the villa?

They have inherited the Villa of the Doves from the late Marquis, a French nobleman, and have come to see the house and meet the family he left behind.

Why are their hosts so cold to them?

The French family feel the villa was taken from them by the will, so they treat the Crawleys as intruders even while staying polite.

What is Edith planning to write about?

An article on the people, such as Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda and Coco Chanel, who made the Riviera's hotels stay open into the summer.

Why does Edith ask to publish pictures of the villa?

She wants photographs for her magazine article, and the answer is yes as long as the family can see the images before they are used.

Downton Abbey: A New Era · 18 chapters

All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 6in a wayTom and Lucy Inherit the Villa
Chapter 1who are we to argueViolet Gives Sybbie a French VillaChapter 2take a dim viewJack Barber Pitches Filming at DowntonChapter 3wouldn't hear of itHollywood Comes to DowntonChapter 4frighten the horsesThe Family Dines with Myrna DalgleishWatching · Chapter 5eye someone upDinner at the Villa of the DovesChapter 6in a wayTom and Lucy Inherit the VillaChapter 7perform miraclesMary Saves the TalkieChapter 8On an impulseMolesley Pitches His Own EndingChapter 9trouble in paradiseMary Talks About Her MarriagesChapter 10more than capableRobert Learns Cora Is IllChapter 11in your handsMyrna Walks Off the SetChapter 12washed upThe Maids Talk Myrna DownChapter 13had in mindViolet Says Goodbye to TomChapter 14await developmentsGuy Offers Barrow a Hollywood JobChapter 15an object of desireBarber Asks to Kiss MaryChapter 16a fool for loveViolet Tells Mary the TruthChapter 17what the blazesMolesley Proposes to BaxterChapter 18last the courseViolet's Deathbed Goodbyes
Chapter 5 of 18 · about 28 min to go