The boys, we're going to get some lunch.
Alan Turing Yes?
I said we're going to get some lunch.
Alan Turing Yes?
Alan Turing Yes.
I said we're off to get some lu- [pause] This is starting to get a little bit repetitive.
Alan Turing What is?
I had asked if you wanted to come have lunch with us.
Alan Turing Uhm, no you didn't, you said you were going to get some lunch.
Have I offended you in some way?
Alan Turing Why would you think that?
Would you like to come to lunch with us?
Alan Turing What time's lunch time?
[frustrated]
Christ Alan, it's a bleeding sandwich.
Alan Turing What is?
Alan Turing Oh, I don't like sandwiches.
Alan Turing What if... what if I don't fancy being with Joan in that way?
Because you're a homosexual? I suspected.
Alan Turing Sh-should I tell her that I've had affairs with men?
You know, in my admittedly limited experience, women tend to be a bit touchy about accidentally marrying homosexuals. Perhaps not spreading this information about might be in your best interest.
Alan Turing I care for her, I truly do, but... I-I just don't know if I can pretend...
You can't tell anyone, Alan. It's illegal. And Denniston is looking for any excuse he can to put you away.
Alan Turing I know.
This has to stay a secret.
[Alan, Hugh, Joan and Joan's friend, Helen, are having a conversation about workplace romance]
So who do you agree with? Alan or myself?
Helen Well, Alan, of course.
Alan Turing [stammering]
I'm very flattered really, but I... I don't think that... [Joan kicks him under the table]
Helen Well, I work beside a man every day, and I can't help but have developed a bit of a crush on him.
Well, who is this man? So I can kick his arse.
Helen Oh, there's no need to worry, it's been chaste. We've never even met. He's a German.
Now I really want to kill him.
Alan Turing [Helen chuckles]
Er... How... How do you mean you work alongside a German?
Helen Well, each of us intercepts messages from a specific German radio tower. So we have a counterpart on the other side, who's tip-tapping out the messages. Everyone types a touch differently, so you get to know the rhythm of your counterpart. It's strangely intimate. I feel as if I know him so well. It's a pity he has a girlfriend, but that's why I disagree with you, Mr. Alexander, because I'm in love with a coworker of sorts and we've never even met.
Well, allow me to buy you another pint and I'll tell you why you're wrong.
Helen Let's.
[They get up and head to the bar. As they order, Alan sits completely silently, in a daze - having come to a realisation]
In case you were wondering, that's what flirting looks like.
Alan Turing [loudly]
HELEN!!
[slightly embarrassed, as his shout has drawn attention to them]
Alan!
Helen Yes, Alan?
Alan Turing [gets up and faces her]
Why do you think your German counterpart has a girlfriend?
Helen It's just a stupid joke. Don't worry about it.
Alan Turing No, no, no, no, no, tell me.
Helen Well, each of his messages begins with the same five letters. C-I-L-L-Y. So I suspect that Cilly must be the name of his amore.
Alan Turing [By this point, Joan, Peter Hilton and John Cairncross have begun to catch on]
But that's impossible. The Germans are instructed to use five random letters at the start of every message.
Helen Well, this bloke doesn't.
Love will make a man do strange things, I suppose.
Alan Turing In this case.... Love just lost Germany the whole bloody war!
[He rushes off, barging into Hugh and causing him to spill the pints he has just bought on Helen. John, Peter and Joan rush off after him and Hugh, realising what has happened, apologises and dashes off after them]
My God, you did it. You just defeated Nazism with a crossword puzzle.
There are five people in the world who know the position of every ship in the Atlantic. They are all in this room.
Oh, I don't think even He has the power that we do right now.
[getting closer to map]
No. There's going to be an attack on a British passenger convoy. Right there.
God, you're right. Those U-boats are only twenty, thirty minutes away.
JC Joan Clark
Civilians. Hundreds of them. We can save their lives.
And knock out a whole German fleet in the process.
I'll phone Denniston's office so that he can alert the Admiralty.
Alan Turing No.
Do you think there's enough time to save them?
There should be. If we can get a message to that convoy—
[into phone]
Commander Denniston's office please, it's urgent—
Alan Turing No, no! [grabs and hangs up phone]
What the hell are you doing?
Alan Turing You-you can't call Denniston. You-you can't tell him about the attack.
What are you talking about?
We can have air support over that convoy in ten minutes.
Alan Turing Let the U-boats sink the convoy.
Look, it's been a big day, maybe you're suffering from—
Alan Turing Oh, shut up—
[tries to grab phone back]
We don't have time—
Alan Turing No!
[Alan smashes the phone on the ground. Hugh punches him in the face, knocking him down]
Oh, Hugh! Hugh! Stop! That's enough!
Peter Hilton John, the attack is in minutes.
[rushes to Alan's side]
Are you all right?
Alan Turing Yes, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine. [to Hugh] Do you know why people like violence, Hugh? It's because it feels good. Sometimes we can't do what feels good. We have to do what is logical.
Alan Turing The hardest time to lie is when the other person is expecting to be lied to.
Alan Turing If someone's waiting for a lie, you can't just, uh, give them one.
Peter Hilton What?
Alan Turing What would the Germans think if we destroy their U-boats?
Peter Hilton Nothing. They'll be dead.
No. No, you can't be right.
Alan Turing So our convoy suddenly veers off course... a squadron of our air bombers miraculously descends on the coordinates of the U-boats... what will the Germans think?
The Germans will know that we have broken Enigma.
They'll stop all radio communications by midday, and they'll have changed the design of Enigma by the weekend.
Alan Turing Two years' work. Everything we've done here will all be for nothing.
There are 500 people in that convoy. Women. Children. We're about to let them die.
Alan Turing Our job isn't to save one passenger convoy, it is to win the war.
Our job was to crack Enigma.
Alan Turing Oh, we've done that. Now for the hard part. Keeping it a secret.
Peter Hilton Carlisle.
Peter Hilton [points to the map]
The convoy you're about to... it's, uh... The HMS Carlisle is one of the ships. We can't act on every piece of intelligence? So fine, we won't. Just this one.
Peter, what's the matter with you?
Peter My brother's... well, he's on the Carlisle. A gunnery ensign.
Alan Turing I'm... I'm so sorry.
Peter Hilton Who the hell do you think you are? This is my brother. He's my big brother, alright, and you have a few minutes to call off his murder.
Alan Turing We can't.
Peter Hilton Alan. Joan. Hugh. John. Please, I... the Germans, they won't get suspicious just because we stopped one attack. No one will know. I'm asking you. As your friend. Please.
Alan Turing I'm so sorry.
Peter Hilton You're not God, Alan. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies.
Alan Turing Yes, we do.
Peter Hilton Why?
Alan Turing Because no one else can.
[Alan and Joan meet with Menzies to tell him about keeping the decrypted Enigma intercepts secret]
Why are you telling me this?
Alan Turing We need your help, to keep this a secret from Admiralty, Army, RAF, uh...as no one can know, that we've broken Enigma, not even Dennison.
Who's in the process of having you fired.
You can take care of that.
Alan Turing While we develop a system to help you determine how much intelligence to act on. Which, uh, attacks to stop, which to let through. Statistical analysis, the minimum number of actions it will take, for us to win the war - but the maximum number we can take before the Germans get suspicious.
And you're going to trust of this all to statistics, to maths?
Alan Turing Correct.
And then MI6 can come up with the lies we will tell everyone else.
Alan Turing You'll need a believable alternative source for all the pieces of information that you use.
A false story, so that we can explain how we got our information, that has nothing to do with Enigma, and then you can leak those stories to the Germans.
Alan Turing And then to our own military.
Maintain a conspiracy of lies at the very highest levels of government. [Lights a cigarette]...Sounds right up my alley.
Alan Turing I have something to tell you... [long pause] I'm a homosexual...
Alan Turing No no, men Joan! Not women!
So what? I had my suspicions. I always did. But we're not like other people. We love each other in our own way, and we can have the life together that we want. You won't be the perfect husband? I can promise you I harbored no intention of being the perfect wife. I'll not be fixing your lamb all day, while you come home from the office, will I? I'll work. You'll work. And we'll have each other's company. We'll have each other's minds. Sounds like a better marriage than most. Because I care for you. And you care for me. And we understand one another more than anyone else ever has.
Alan Turing ...I don't.
Alan Turing Care for you. I never did. I just needed you to break Enigma. I've done that now, so you can go.
[slaps him]
I am not going anywhere. I have spent entirely too much of my life worried about what you think of me, or what my parents think of me, or what the boys in Hut 8 or the girls in Hut 3 think, and you know I am done. This work is the most important thing I will ever do. And no one will stop me. Least of all you. [pause] You know what? They were right. Peter. Hugh. John. You really are a monster.
Alan Turing [explaining the Turing Test]
"The Imitation Game."
Detective Nock Right, that's... that's what it's about?
Alan Turing Would you like to play?
Detective Nock Play?
Alan Turing It's a game. A test of sorts. For determining whether something is a... a machine or a human being.
Detective Nock How do I play?
Alan Turing Well, there's a judge and a subject, and... the judge asks questions and, depending on the subject's answers, determines who he is talking with... what he is talking with, and, um... All you have to do is ask me a question.
