Sebastien!
Sebastien?
Miss Linh.
Come this way.
Sit down.
I'm Officer Guy Baron. This is Officer Bao.
Do we need a interpreter?
I can understand you.
What is your name and your duty at Sa-Cat estate?
My name is Linh.
I'm a housemaid at Sa-Cat plantation.
"As you know,."
Captain Sebastien Laurent was murdered
last night in his bedroom.
We're questioning all involved.
There's been a string of murders committed around the area.
We know you discovered the captain's body
and you're shaken up. We need your help.
Can you answer some questions?
How long have you been in Sa-Cat?
Speak!
I came to Sa-Cat from a small village in the countryside.
I was searching for work.
There weren't many jobs where I was from.
Much of the countryside was destroyed by the bombings.
What do you want?
I heard that there's a need for a housemaid at the estate.
You may call me â€œMrs. Han."
Mrs. Han.
How do you know of this place?
From the people at the market.
Then you know of Sa-Cat's history.
I'm not from around here.
Thank you.
Have you been a servant at an estate before?
No. Not yet.
I've done housework with my mother on the farm.
Sa-Cat is run like a French estate.
Not like a Vietnamese one.
Of course.
Where is your family?
My family...
they were all killed during an air raid.
Our farm is gone too.
You have no family members at all?
No home?
You walked all the way here from your village?
Yes.
How far is that?
About forty kilometers.
Mrs. Han,
I need a job.
I need a place to live.
This is the only job opening for miles around.
You can stay here.
I'm only hiring you on a trial basis.
If you work hard, you can stay.
But if you're a burden
and the food you eat costs more than your worth,
you will need to find another place.
Is that clear?
Yes, Ma'am.
I won't disappoint you.
You can wear these.
Get yourself acquainted with the manor.
We'll start tomorrow.
Thank you.
You're getting blood on the floor.
Sorry.
Here's some medicine I've made.
Medicine you've "made"?
I practice Eastern medicines and remedies.
Besides being the cook,
I'm a herbalist...
a witch.
Mrs. Han says there are only a few servants in the house.
That's right.
Just me, Mrs. Han and the groundskeeper, Mr. Chau.
Why doesn't the Captain hire more servants?
Most servants won't work here.
Why not?
Stupid girl!
You don't know what you've gotten yourself into.
I don't understand.
Sa-Cat is a place of death.
Hundreds of people have died here on the plantation.
The Vietnamese workers used to be violently abused by the French overseers,
when it was a functioning plantation.
The French recruited from all over the country.
Lied to them about the promise of a good wage and home.
When the poor workers got here...
What happened to them?
Workers were whipped to death.
Women were violated.
Children were torn from their families.
Hundreds of bodies lay buried beneath those rubber trees without gravestones.
Many claim that the plantation was fertilized
by the bodies of these workers.
There are many spirits...
roaming those woods.
Spirits?
I thought I heard something earlier.
You heard the crying, right?
Who is it?
Captain Laurent once had a wife, Madame Camille,
and a child who lived at this estate.
While he was away at war,
Madame Camille went mad with loneliness waiting for the Captain to return.
She never liked Vietnam, which made her insane.
Until one day,
as she was bathing the baby,
she drowned him in the tub.
Madame Camille kept the dead baby
until it rotted and decayed.
Realizing what she had done and consumed with grief,
she took their dead son to the lake...
and drowned herself.
You are afraid of ghosts, aren't you?
My mother said there is no such thing as ghosts.
Oh, they exist.
Ghosts exist.
You start with the windows.
Never look at the Captain or his guests in the eyes.
You must show your obedience and servitude.
Always get the freshest produce.
Even a day old isn't good enough.
And most importantly...
it's forbidden to speak of Lady Camille and Captain Laurent's child.
Understood?
I understand.
Mr. Chau.
This is Linh.
She will be working for us as a housemaid if things work out.
How do you do?
Nice to meet you.
If you run out of wood, Mr. Chau can help you.
On the colder evenings,
Captain Laurent likes fireplaces because they remind him of his childhood.
Thank you but I think I can manage it.
Mr. Chau doesn't live in the manor
but in the shacks close to the plantation trees.
Is Mrs. Han working you too hard?
Not at all.
What's happening?
It happens occasionally.
Power should be back up in the morning.
We are in a war, after all.
Are you afraid?
No, Ma'am.
Good night.
What happened?
Captain Laurent!
What? Captain Laurent!
He's been shot!
Bring him inside immediately.
Quickly!
Watch your step, Sir.
Sebastien, Fighting!
Mrs Han, Hold him steady.
I almost have the bullet.
We need more morphine.
I will take the bullet out.
Sebastien!
Please...
We need to give him Eastern medicine.
He won't survive without it.
You know that his family forbids it.
Western doctors know nothing of these matters of survival.
This is not your decision to make.
I am the housekeeper.
He'll die before morning!
Stop.
I forbid you to go in there.
I forbid you from leaving the servants quarters
until he is well again.
If he dies,
you will have Madame Camille to answer to.
Are you making breakfast?
Take Captain Laurent's breakfast up to his room.
By myself?
Stupid girl.
I've been banished from his living quarters.
You'll have to do it.
Hurry!
Who are you? Why are you here?
Get out of my home! Get out!
I'm sorry.
There's been an emergency in my family.
I'll need to leave Sa-Cat for a few weeks.
My mother is gravely ill
and I need to travel to Saigon to visit her before she...
How long will you be gone?
I don't know.
Linh.
Yes, Ma'am.
You will be in charge of taking care of Captain Laurent.
Mrs. Han,
she doesn't have the experience to do that.
I don't know if I could do this alone.
It's an order.
Work faster!
No talking!
Do you hear me?
Remember not to put the tree bark down.
You two!
Sir! Sir!
She didn't know!
It's my first time, sir!
Please, sir!
You two.
You know how much that sap is worth?
More than both of you combined!
Sir, please forgive her.
Sir! Please, sir!
Hold her down!
It's my first time! I didn't know!
Put your hand out!
Back to work!
Linh, wake up!
The Captain's gotten worse.
What's happened?
He has an infection and a high fever.
He'll need a doctor.
Who are you going to get at this hour?
What are you doing?
Mrs. Han forbids it.
But what if he dies while on your watch?
The Western medicine hasn't worked.
I made a promise to Mrs. Han.
He could die any second now!
Do you want to be responsible for his death?
Don't stop me.
Captain, drink some of this.
What do we do now?
It's not working.
Were you here last night?
Yes, captain.
I just saw flashes of what happened.
Thought I saw your face.
Mrs. Ngo is the one you should thank.
You speak well.
Not really.
How did you learn?
My aunt was a school teacher.
She taught me and my brother.
It's nice to have someone else in the house
who understands me.
We need to clean your wound..
...from the infection.
I need to bathe you.
How long have you been here?
Just a couple of weeks, captain.
Do you like it so far?
Yes, captain.
Pass me my scotch.
I'm sorry.
Those damn revolutionaries.
Got me in an ambush on my way home.
I'm glad you survived it.
You saw her, didn't you?
Who?
Madame Camille.
Will you show her to me?
I can't show you.
The Captain forbids it.
It's been many years since anyone's been in this room.
What did you see?
A woman in a black dress.
Madame Camille. She never smiled.
These are the very last photos of her.
Captain Laurent?
When he was about seventeen.
He was already in charge of the plantation's operations.
And that's Mrs. Han.
She started working at the estate as an interpreter
before becoming the head housekeeper.
You know,
they never found Madame Camille's body.
The police dredged through the whole lake for a week.
They couldn't find anything...
The captain has an emergency meeting with some high-ranking officers.
Did you know they were coming?
If I'd had known, I would have prepared.
Don't just stand there. Help me.
I have feeling that Giap will want
to confront us should we go
into Dien Vien Phu.
And they will be prepared.
How do you know this?
They almost got me on my way home.
I just think we shouldn't get
too confident.
Tides of war are turning against us.
What do you mean, Laurent?
I mean they've become wise to us.
We didn't think that a small group
of rubber workers were going to make
much of a difference in 30's.
And it resulted in a revolution
that forced us plantation owners
to make concessions.
Let's not underestimate them.
I've been watching you.
I see you looking at me too, right?
No, I don't. No, I don't.
I know you want a big French man like me, yeah?
- Come on. - No, no, please.
Leave me alone. No!
- You will like it. - No!
Please! No! Please.
Leave me alone.
No!
You..
You think you can hurt me?
No!
You deserve it, you god..
No!
Get off of her.
Sebastien, wait, wait!
- Wait! - Get the hell out of my house.
Are you okay?
How long will you and Mr. Chau be away?
About a week.
Through the New Year.
I don't know where Mr. Chau will go for Tet this year.
And you will see your family in Hoa Binh?
I'd invite you
but you'd be too busy being head of the household.
What do you mean?
Now that Mrs. Han left you all this responsibility,
you can't just leave, can you?
I suppose not.
Linh?
You have the whole week off.
I know.
I'm looking for my schedule.
I'll get it for you.
- Oh. - I'm sorry.
No. Don't worry. It's just old files.
Who are these people?
All the workers.
Every single one of them.
From the very beginning of the plantation.
Your schedule.
Happy New Year.
Happy day to you too.
What's wrong?
Holidays are difficult for me sometimes.
Me too.
Hello!
Help me, I'm lost!
Hello!
Mister!
Let me go!
It's me. It's just me.
Good morning.
How did I get here?
I put you there.
I slept on the couch.
But, captain..
You don't need to call me captain.
You can call me Sebastien.
I'm going out for a drive.
Would you care to join me?
Get in.
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry. - Keep going. Keep going.
I'm breaking your car.
- It's okay. - I'm sorry.
Ong Chau will fix it.
- Let me. - Okay.
How's your family, Aunt Ngo?
How are your family?
They are doing well, Captain.
Good.
Did you see your children?
I don't have children anymore. My son died years ago.
I didn't know that.
After all these years.
Is there anything else you'd like, Captain?
Yes. There is.
Linh.
Sit and eat with me.
Sit.
I invite you to eat with me.
Please eat.
What are you doing here?
I went to get firewood.
Let me see.
I'm okay.
Where are we?
Years ago...
the overseers,
they used this place
to imprison runaway workers.
They'd shackle them here,
and leave them here for days.
Finally...
many of them would starve to death.
How do you know so much about this?
I was an overseer.
You?
But they were people like you and me.
Wrong!
To me,
they were unappreciative ingrates.
Stay away from me.
Have her take them up to the bedroom.
Why didn't you write to me
to let me know you were coming?
I wanted to surprise you.
But what if I weren't here?
You would have traveled all this way
for nothing.
I wouldn't say for nothing.
I'd have just stayed here until you returned.
Besides, I've missed it here.
Madeleine, I distinctly remember
you calling Vietnam wretched.
You ran back to France
as quickly as possible
after your family sold their plantation.
It's no secret I was homesick.
I missed Paris as much as I missed you, my darling.
Didn't you miss me?
Of course.
You could have given me some notice.
Can't I come and see my fiancÃ©
whenever I please?
So, you're Sebastien's maid?
Yes, mademoiselle.
Has he been faithful?
Sorry?
Has Sebastien been faithful to me?
I wouldn't know, mademoiselle.
Yes, you would.
You're here the whole time.
I don't know.
I don't think he'd cheat on me.
I can't imagine him falling for a crude local.
I guess you'll do.
Pardon me?
You are to be my chambermaid
when I live here.
I don't understand.
Well, Sebastien is obviously
not coming back to Paris
with my family fortune dwindling
I'm gonna have to live in this horrible place.
But I thought that the Laurent family was the one...
You were eavesdropping.
It's okay.
You were in the same room.
Besides, we're gonna have to get to know
each other if you are gonna be my servant.
A woman needs to do things
to secure her future sometimes.
Take my advice.
You'll need to learn that to survive.
Thank you.
Do you have marmalade?
She couldn't find any at the market.
And she has no time to make it, mademoiselle.
Well, I suppose the service here
isn't as good as it is in Paris.
Thank you, Mrs. Ngo.
Perhaps this afternoon, you can show me
the new rose garden.
Sure.
What are you doing in here?
I was just cleaning.
Why are you crying?
I'm not crying.
Mademoiselle.
I'm missing my bracelet.
What have you done with it?
I haven't seen your brace...
It was here on the night stand
and now it's disappeared.
I'm sorry but...
I distinctly remember seeing it there
before we went down to breakfast.
I'm sorry but I do not know
where your bracelet is.
Sebastien, you're not listening to me.
But it doesn't mean that she stole it.
I've seen this before.
My maid was stealing from us for years
and by the time we found out
it was too late, she'd sold everything.
You are jumping to conclusions.
She's the only one that could've been in my room.
I know it was her.
Mademoiselle.
- Please, mademoiselle. - What are you doing?
I know she has it.
Madeleine, stop!
Now do you believe me?
But I didn't take it.
These servants steal from us all the time.
You need to punish her. Make an example of her.
Whip her.
I can't whip her.
Then she needs to leave this house.
I'm not staying in our future home with a thief.
- Madeleine, let's just.. - We have proof.
She needs to leave.
You won't regret that, Sebastien.
I have to do it with our servants
all the time.
It's not a nice thing to do
but it's a necessary burden.
And it's my favorite bracelet.
Look.
You said that you put your bracelets
on the night stand
before you went to breakfast.
That's right.
Then how were you wearing it this morning?
What do you mean?
I remember you wearing
the bracelet at breakfast.
I specifically took note of it.
How was it supposedly taken
from your night stand when you already had it?
What are you saying...
You planted that bracelet in Linh's room.
- Didn't you? - Of course I didn't.
Why would you do such a thing?
Because I know.
What do you know?
Don't try to deny it.
How could you?
With a lowly housemaid?
- I'm not ashamed. - You're not ashamed?
You're cheating on your fiancÃ©
with a primitive, common whore and you're not ashamed!
She's not a whore!
You love her, don't you?
Sebastien, you're sick.
You're becoming one of them.
- I won't stand for this.. - No, this is..
This is proof why you need to leave here.
I'm not leaving.
You are.
I mean it.
Leave.
Now!
Just you wait till I tell your family about this.
That you've risked their good family name
on a common harlot.
Yeah. Go tell them.
Go tell all of Paris.
See if I care.
Linh.
Linh, listen..
How could you believe her?
I told her to leave.
She's gone.
I'm sorry.
Hit me.
Hit me again.
Harder. Harder.
Harder!
I want you to hurt me.
What was that?
Oh, God!
Oh, no.
Hello?
Oh, God! Hello?
Oh, God!
I, uh..
I couldn't see you there. What are you doing?
Oh, God.
Hello?
Why has the kitchen been rearranged?
The pantry is completely out of order.
It was me.
I made those changes.
What?
Linh has brought it upon herself to make changes to the household.
Who gave you the authority?
Sebastien has.
You don't need to be upset, Mrs. Han.
Linh has only been here for a few months.
She doesn't know.
Nobody knows Sa-Cat like you do.
But I think it'd be best to have... a new vision
for the house.
No, thank you, captain.
Please, take it.
Mrs. Han..
...Linh has displayed the hard work
and dedication I want for the future
of the Sa-Cat.
Do you have a problem
with taking her instruction?
I do, Captain Laurent.
Then perhaps it might be best
to return to your home
to take care of your mother.
She needs you more than Sa-Cat
does right now.
Can I take you to the train station?
No, thanks.
I can go by myself.
Mrs. Han.
I'm sorry that it had to come to this.
I'm sure this was your plan all along.
What do you mean?
I know many girls,
who would spread their legs to get ahead.
You're no different.
I'm the lady of the house now.
Don't bother ever coming back.
Understood?
You can pretend to be the lady of the house,
but we all know who you really are.
You.
A lowly peasant.
Madame Camille.
Please!
I've been a good servant to you all these years.
Please!
I'm still an informant for the French.
I swear.
I didn't betray you.
I swear I didn't betray you.
The war has escalated and the French army
is worried about losing the Gulf of Tonkin.
I have to return to battle.
Now?
Tomorrow.
I've recovered from my injuries.
I must return to my post.
You mustn't go back. You'll be killed.
They're ordering me back.
I have to fulfill my duty.
I'm leaving in the morning.
Make the Captain a special dinner tonight.
He's heading out in the morning.
As you wish, Ma'am.
Don't call me that.
What shall I call you then?
A storm's brewing.
An omen of things to come.
Where did you bury them?
They're in the woods!
Betrayer!
Don't kill me!
Venison.
He'll need a knife for the meat.
Don't worry about the Captain.
In the end, it might be all for the best.
I promise I'll return.
This has happened before.
You leaving someone here in Sa-Cat
while you were away at war.
It's like..
...history is repeating itself.
I'll come back to you.
Sebastien.
You are mine!
No!
Stop haunting me!
You are mine!
Stop haunting me!
Stop!
Stop haunting me!
Sebastien!
His blood was everywhere.
It was horrible.
And you didn't hear anything in the night?
No.
No one.
Just the ghost.
I saw her with my own eyes.
But why would the ghost of his dead wife
want to kill him?
If she couldn't have the Captain...
then nobody else could have him.
We don't have enough to keep you here
so we're letting you go.
But we'll need to interview you again,
once everyone involved has been questioned.
Thank you.
Don't go too far.
We're still not done with you.
How did I do?
Did the detective believe me?
Hurry! Hurry!
There they are!
Go get them!
Faster!
I know it was difficult for you going back...
but they would have recognized me.
Drag him here!
Hurry UP!
Let us go!
They were trying to escape!
You know what we do to plantation workers who try to escape?
You turned us in?
You need to be more careful about who you talk to.
How could you?
We trusted you!
Where are the two children?
Where are they?
Bastard!
Let's start.
Get up!
Go ahead!
Ready?
One.
Two.
Three!
We did this...
for the workers.
She was still an informant for the French.
I'm still an informant for the French army!
I didn't betray.
He ordered the deaths of our parents.
He has to die.
We have to do this.
I can't.
Forgive me.
No.
No!
Are you sure you know where our parents are?
Mom and Dad would have been proud of you.
I didn't recognize you at first,
You haven't changed much since you were little.
You and your brother were lucky enough to have escaped.
Your parents weren't so lucky.
I'm sorry about the Captain.
I'm sure it wasn't easy for you.
Why did you kill Madeleine?
She was already leaving.
I didn't kill her.
Then who did?