enjoy the film... :)
I didn't do it!
I swear to God, I didn't do it!
Those women were always good to me.
I'm innocent!
John, you know me.
I have nothing to do with any murder.
I'll kill you!
Please. You must believe me.
Is this the man you saw commit these terrible murders?
It's all right. You're safe here.
- Jesus loves me. - The devil loves you.
Jesus loves me...
Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me...
The State of New Hampshire
versus Louis Wagner.
Call your first witness.
The people call Evan Christenson.
And what did you do when you got to Smuttynose?
When I got to Smuttynose, I went up to the house
- And went right in. - And what did you see?
I saw my wife lying on the floor.
Dead or alive?
Evan! Evan!
Evan.
Your mother looked a little tired.
She can handle it.
If you're not used to having a five-year-old around...
I thought the whole point was to get away.
If you're gonna worry about Billie all weekend...
All right, Thomas.
What?
Nothing.
I'm looking forward to seeing Rich.
It's been quite a while.
A weekend with my brother... that's a rare treat.
I'm a photographer for a magazine.
They're doing an article about the murders.
My brother-in-law has a boat,
and I thought he could take us to Smuttynose Island,
- Where the murders happened. - Hey, there...
We left our daughter with her grandmother.
I thought it would be sort of a vacation.
Jean, this is Adaline.
Adaline, this is my favorite sister-in- law.
- Favorite and only. - Caught on a technicality.
Rich introduced us to his new girlfriend.
- Hi. - Hi.
I didn't know he was bringing anyone.
This is my husband, Thomas. Adaline, wasn't it?
We've met, actually.
Hi. At the writers' dinner, right?
- Yeah. - Oh yeah.
- Hey. - Hey. It's been too long.
Where's all this go?
Old man lays down.
Come on, I'll teach you how to dive.
It was impossible to know that we had 17 hours left.
Or 12... or three.
This is it?
"...the two women were discovered in the kitchen,
strangled and bludgeoned with an axe."
Isn't "bludgeon" a wonderful word?
One of the best.
Oh, this one's good. "The nude body of Anethe..."
"An-nette."
"The nude body of Anethe Christenson
was draped with a cloth as if the killer could not bear
to look at his handiwork while he sipped his tea."
Imagine the psychology of a guy who could sit
and drink tea with two women he's just bludgeoned.
This must be the kitchen, right?
Where they found the bodies.
Yeah, about...
over there and...
here.
Help!
Hello!
Help!
"Although Louis Wagner was convicted of the murders,
the matter has been debated for over a century."
I'm working on the "Oswald 'single axe' theory" myself.
Adaline is hoping you might read something
for us later tonight, Thomas.
Whatever you're working on, you know...
we're not critics.
Many poets can turn a phrase,
but most of them don't have the balls
to tackle the really great themes.
I'm not sure I even know what the "really great themes" are.
Abandonment...
Ioss, castration...
That's never gonna be one of my problems, thankfully.
Chauvinism?
That's tired, don't you think?
What about Yeats?
The celebration of the human imagination.
- The magician. - Melancholy.
It's all melancholy.
"The room swinging with emptiness
like an unswung bell." Valentin Iremonger.
I think the really great ones
use words in such a way you can never take them back.
Yeah, they do.
"To separate from life...
from tantalizing mysteries and salt spray...
from the grave gypsy eyes...
and the sacred, poignant flesh of long-limbed dancers,
unsullied, but not for long."
She's memorized you, Thomas.
I stole "poignant flesh"
from Rich.
- I don't remember saying that. - You were drunk.
I don't think I'd ever use that word.
That's so like you.
You probably read more than anybody I've ever met.
But you always pretend you'd rather be drinking beer
- At a Red Sox game. - Depends on who's pitching.
How did Wagner know the men would be gone?
Sorry. Still thinking about the murders.
But Louis Wagner... the man they hanged...
how did he know the women would be alone?
He's got a 12-mile row back to shore,
why take time to drink tea?
And why cover one woman's face and not the other's?
Axe murderers don't tend to have the most razor- sharp intellects.
Maybe her eyes were open. It was the sight of them,
the accusation.
He couldn't stand to have her looking at him.
So it was an act of passion.
But using an axe requires intimacy.
Think about...
how close you have to be to your victim...
the vibration in your hand,
and the handle as the blade strikes bone.
The spray of blood warm on your face,
and standing over her, her last choking gasps.
If he had gone there with the intent to murder,
he would've taken a gun.
I think the killer was in love with one of the women.
And murder was the only way he could possess her.
I like that.
Wagner... Wagner.
He came into the house.
Wagner?
He took an axe
- And he swung it. - Oh God.
God help us.
Anethe...
Is she hurt?
Evan. Evan.
Is she all right?
- Maren... Maren? - Evan...!
Is she all right?
Evan! Evan!
It was funny the way I found out.
Our daughter was in the hospital.
Jean had...
I guess neither of us had paid enough attention
to an infection that she had.
Next thing we knew, she was barely breathing.
We rushed her to the hospital.
It was pneumonia.
She was tiny... she was six weeks old...
and had tubes going in one end and out the other.
And she was fighting for every breath.
And I think in a moment like that,
you feel hope crossing over into grief.
Nicely put, Thomas.
And they had her in this fucking box...
an incubator... and it looked like a coffin.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Then someone from the committee found me in the hospital.
I got on the phone, they told me I'd won.
Oh, I didn't have any idea. I'm sorry.
Of course, Billie's fine now... tons of trouble.
But it was just so unimportant to me at the time.
I don't think I know what it's like to win a Pulitzer.
Love is never as ferocious
as when you think it's gonna leave you.
Thomas!
What?
Have you done something with the wine
- We're having for dinner? - The wine?
- It's almost time to eat. - I've got it right here.
Open it for me, Thomas. You're the expert.
There was a flesh wound upon the right forehead,
separating the upper part.
The left ear was nearly cut through,
separating it from the head.
In my opinion, a very heavy instrument
had to make those blows.
An axe, in all probability.
The only people who knew
the women would be alone that night
were Emil Ingerbretson... 'cause I asked him
to tell Maren we couldn't make it back...
and Louis Wagner.
When did you arrive in America, Mrs. Hontvedt?
I arrived five years ago with my husband John.
He is a fisherman.
We left our home because we were told
this is a land of opportunity.
This is not it, John.
Surely this is not it?
Hello!
Sit...
and have a rest.
We don't have any money to go back.
We'll make it.
The best cure for melancholy is industry.
And though the winds blew for days, neverending,
and the gulls never ceased their cries,
we drew strength from the rhythm of our labors.
And from God.
My husband and I grew accustomed to the solitude.
I didn't mind the work.
I never complained.
I was brought up for this.
The wind carried off our speech
so we spoke less.
And with work, I suppose, we had less to say.
It is better not to take the chance
of asking an uncomfortable question,
or revealing an affection for another person
that may bring unintentioned pain.
It is wiser, I think,
to keep silent and preserve the bond.
I knew that I would not be able to leave the island.
I had to bite my cheek to keep from breaking into tears,
that once started, might continue forever.
Can you get me a drink, please?
Sure.
Adaline... - Shit! Quick.
Shit!
Jesus Christ. Help!
Can you help?!
Jesus.
- Something blew this way. - Here.
- Thanks. - And here.
Thanks.
Jesus.
Thanks.
What's all the excitement?
Nothing.
Nicely done.
Hah!
Never get it.
There's a certain poetry in photography, don't you think?
You know, putting a frame around the world?
I imagine that's maybe part of the attraction
between the two of you.
You think so, Thomas?
Makes sense.
I always felt it was more of an animal attraction myself.
Two strays sniffing each other in an alley.
You overreached.
I was thinking about what keeps people together
over the long term.
So how did you two meet?
Thomas introduced us at the dinner.
I think actually he was trying to get rid of me,
because I was acting like a groupie
and asking too many questions.
Two seconds after I met him, I was asking him
how he got his scar.
I couldn't help noticing it in his photograph...
you know, the one in the back of "The Magdalene Poems"?
Seemed like it would've been so easy for him to just...
turn away a little so it didn't show.
But he didn't.
What did he say?
I said...
that I had a car accident when I was a kid.
The driver was drunk.
I probably read too much into things,
but I thought it was maybe something we had in common.
'Cause I put my arm through a window once.
- We need more wine. Sure.
I'll be right back.
I'll get a towel.
Oh, help!
Anethe!
Please...
Thomas?
- Thomas? - Hm-mm?
I don't think he did it.
What?
The murders. I don't think Wagner did it.
It was the woman, the survivor... she killed them.
Jean, I just need a few minutes' sleep.
I can't sleep at all on this fucking thing.
Maren.
Yes?
John? What's this?
It's for you. A little company, I thought.
- Do you like him? - Yes.
- I like him very much. - Good.
Thank you.
I'm going to call him "Ringe."
Oh... you have a letter from home.
- Do I? - Yeah.
I thought Evan would never write.
It's from my sister, Karen.
Our father has died.
She's coming to America.
She can't.
We have no other bed and no money for it.
That's all right.
I've been saving some money for the new schooner.
It's fine.
You're seasick. Yes, I am a little.
Welcome.
Be careful with that trunk.
I'm sick from the boat.
I need tea and bread.
Karen... how is our brother?
He's well.
Is that all?
Hasn't he written you?
We had one letter.
One letter in all this time?
I'm surprised.
I thought our brother bore you a special affection.
He's probably busy.
He was not too busy to be a comfort to me.
He took me on a holiday over Easter.
And to the theater. And to supper.
And we stayed in a hotel.
He's prospered wonderfully.
And put money by.
No doubt he will soon meet a young woman
to turn his head.
Perhaps he'll come to America.
Don't be absurd.
A man who prospers in his own country
has no need to flee.
He's well, though?
And happy?
Oh yes, Maren.
Never better.
We found Karen a domestic position
early that spring at the Appledore Island Hotel.
I hoped the work might occupy her.
- Hi. - Hi.
- You sleep well? - Yeah.
Guess I'm the last one up.
- Hi. - Hi.
I thought we could call Billie later.
I just did.
Oh.
Oh, you could have told me.
They were going to the park. I said you'd call later.
- Is she all right? - She misses us.
She said that?
I could tell.
But it doesn't matter. We're gonna be back tomorrow.
"Hi. We're unable to take your call right now,
so please leave a message, and we'll call you back."
Hello, John.
I brought a mate from Portsmouth
to board with us.
He has some rheumatism, and it needs nursing sometimes,
- But he's a good hand. - It's so cramped as it is.
Come in, Louis.
Louis Wagner, madam.
From Germany?
I hope I won't be a burden to you.
It's no burden. What's one more?
Louis, let me show you your room.
Come.
Sorry to be so stiff.
I'm afraid you will soon be looking after me
and my rheumatism.
Do you mind the extra work?
I never mind work.
May I see your hands?
They're strong. That's good.
Sometimes it helps to have my joints massaged.
Would you do that for me?
If my husband has no objection.
If he doesn't know, he can have no objection.
They're waiting for you on the boat.
It's coming on again. I can feel it.
Would you help me to the bed?
Please?
Thank you.
All right. Ease me down, Thomas.
"Dear Mr. Plaisted,
I will be in Portsmouth on April 15th,
and would very much appreciate it
if I could meet in your chambers that afternoon.
Please respond by return post.
Sincerely, Mrs. John Hontvedt."
Aren't you hot?
Do you want to swim or something?
Take a look at this. Tell me what you think.
What is it?
A letter Maren Hontvedt wrote to the prosecutor.
- What do you think? - Not much to it, is there?
- Look at the date. - April 7th, 1875."
That's two years after the trial.
What reason could Maren have for meeting the prosecutor then?
Okay, I give.
Louis Wagner was hanged three weeks
after she wrote this letter.
Maybe Maren couldn't live with the guilt
and she wanted to confess before an innocent man died.
Confess?
I thought you were snapping a few photographs,
- Not re-opening the case. - Aren't you curious?
Yeah.
I want to go back to the mainland for a few hours,
Iook around the courthouse in Portsmouth.
Maybe there's a record of this meeting.
We are running a little low on wine.
Thomas is outdoing himself, hmm?
Hey...
you all right?
So I thought...
Never better.
"And in that day they shall roar against them
like the roaring of the sea,
and if one look unto the land,
behold darkness and sorrow,
and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof."
You're a good cook.
I'm not.
You're right. It's dreadful.
I must be a fool to keep eating it.
I think you are feeling better.
A miraculous recovery, I think.
You are a "sister of mercy."
Are you lonely here?
No. Of course not.
I have my dog Ringe.
Yes, your dog.
Is he enough?
I have my husband too.
Dog first, husband second...
that is the usual order of things.
Should keep such observations to yourself, Mr. Wagner.
I'm lonely too, Mrs. Hontvedt. That's why I asked.
You're too young to be a married woman.
John doesn't deserve such a beautiful wife.
I have made some konfetkake.
- Would you like some? - Konfetkake? I don't think so.
You are the only confection that interests me.
Perhaps I could have just a little "taste"?
Mrs. Hontvedt, don't be offended.
I only tease you. You've not been teased much.
Am I correct?
You should go.
As you wish.
I would do anything to have you.
And did the defendant cease his unwelcome overtures?
He did not.
Women's motives are always more concealed than men's.
So you think Jean's right about it being the woman?
It's always the woman.
I can't see a woman using an axe.
- Lizzie Borden? - She was acquitted.
Because 12 men on the jury couldn't see a woman
using an axe.
Maren must have used an axe every day chopping wood.
But why would she kill them?
When a woman kills, it's generally a spouse.
For obvious reasons.
But her sister and sister-in-law?
It doesn't make much sense.
It is remotely possible they hanged the right guy.
Come on, Rich. What's the fun in that?
Excuse me, but aren't you that writer?
Yeah... William S. Burroughs. A pleasure.
I read "The Magdalene Poems" for my class.
What'd you make of them?
Good. Really good. Thomas Janes, right?
What are you working on now?
An infomercial, but don't tell anybody.
That's my brother, Rich, the handsome one.
Can I go to the courthouse with you?
It's not necessary.
I want to go.
All right.