Genre: Drama/Horror
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Mo Buck & Harry Wright
Based on the novel by Gaétan Soucy
Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Viggo Mortensen, Cameron Monaghan, Nicholas Hoult, Merritt Wever, Graham McTavish
Plot :
***This movie has no score, no soundtrack and shot entirely in black-and-white***
It’s 1931. In a small, remote, Canadian village, Patrick (Viggo Mortensen) paints his wooden fence in white. He’s dressed like an old farmer, with his checkered shirt and overalls, combined with old rubber boots and a beige hat. The birds are chirping in the trees. He looks at them, annoyed. He makes progresses by going to the left. He works meticulously, getting sure he doesn’t miss a spot. He reaches an obstacle in his lateral movement. He looks up at the top of a self-made watchtower of about eight feet tall. He sees his son Matt (Cameron Monaghan), picking his nose, his rifle on the ground. He cusses at him and orders him to be more vigilant. Matt says nobody ever comes here and Patrick says that one day he’ll let his guard down and he’ll let the devil take his soul while he was busy picking his nose. He asks him to go and get Max now, he’ll be on watch duty.
Matt enters the old farmhouse in which they live and gets on the second floor. He calls for Max, but Max doesn’t answer. He finally finds Max (Mackenzie Foy), crouched under the bed, reading a book about chivalry and the Middle Ages. Matt runs outside to his father and he tells on Max for reading that damn book again. Patrick throws the rifle on Matt’s chest and orders him to stay here and he’ll be back. As the camera focuses on Matt as he aims at a squirrel, debating whether to shoot or not. He looks away and he sees another one. In the background, you can hear Max screaming, telling Patrick to stop. Matt thinks the numerous squirrels are tempting him to shoot and he decides to do so. He seems satisfied. The nearby animals run away and Matt spots a dog running away. He decides to test his skill and he shoots it in the leg. It gets out of his sight and runs away. The screaming continue inside the house. Matt sits on the chair next to him and falls asleep as the wind blows on his bald head.
Not far away from here, on the village’s main street, Mary (Merritt Wever) hangs up her clothes on her clothesline, when she hears a dog whining. She recognizes her own dog and rushes over to help it. She notices the bullet lodged in its leg. She brings it over to the town’s priest, Father O’Shea (Graham McTavish), who also acts as the doctor. He helps her remove the bullet and he asks where did it come from. She doesn’t know, but she thinks it came from the house in the woods. He says it’s a real possibility and he sends her home with the dog. He’ll pay Patrick a visit.
It’s dinner time by that point and Patrick is eating with Max and Matt. Patrick reminds them that some books are forbidden. He downs his gin glass. He has a distinctive glare in his eyes that Matt has noticed. He’s been drinking all day and it shows. He stops eating and he tells the story about he created his kids out of clay. He made them how he wanted them to be, perfect. Max says he told them this story numerous times in the past and Patrick hits Max on the back of the head for the remark. Max’s face hits the table and it starts a nosebleed, blood dripping in the plate. Matt says it broke his appetite and he stops eating. It’s dark outside and as Patrick gets up to leave the table, he notices a light coming near the barricades. He grabs his rifle and heads outside, ordering Max and Matt to not leave the house.
Patrick goes over to the barricade to meet with Father O’Shea who confront him about shooting Mary’s dog. O’Shea can smell the alcohol in Patrick’s breath. He asks him to get that gun down so they can have a talk. Patrick is hostile and refuses to entertain a conversation with O’Shea. O’Shea asks him what went wrong with him. He was a cornerstone for the community years ago and now he’s reclused and defensive. O’Shea asks him what’s going on in there and Patrick asks him to leave immediately, or else he’ll regret it. Patrick retreats inside as O’Shea prays to God for whatever happens in there.
While their father was outside, Max tells Matt that she doesn’t believe their father’s story about how he made them out of clay. Max says that’s not how people are made, she read about it in a book. Matt says books are forbidden in the house per Patrick’s orders and a punishment is in order. He pushes Max on the ground and drops his pants. It cuts to Patrick entering house as Matt is in a thrusting motion. He grabs him by the collar and he throws him on the ground as Max runs upstairs. Patrick savagely beats his son, as Matt says it’s not the first time he does it. Patrick says it is forbidden and he knows it. Patrick says it’s not the same because he knows what he’s doing and Matt isn’t. Patrick hits him with a wooden stick repeatedly until Matt passes out.
Patrick goes upstairs to Max and she’s ready for their nightly routine. She turns around and takes off her shirt off. He cuts her hair, saying it’s too long now, even if it technically isn’t. He reminds her that she isn’t a girl, she’s just a boy whose penis fell off when she was young. Max sits still, silent. He breasts binds her tightly and she complies, just like she learned to do. He reminds Max that she should always listen to her brother , he knows better than her and he’s able to care for her. He places her hands on her stomach and he can feel that she’s pregnant. He kisses her on the head and looks back before leaving the room. Max is crying, with tears rolling down her face.
Patrick heads outside to the barn next to the house. He unlocks the numerous locks and heads inside. The barn isn’t lit, only the moon shines a light from a hole in the roof. He’s carrying a bucket full of meat. He sits on a stool and he starts throwing meat in a corner and we can hear chains rattling. Inside, Matt awakens and goes back to his room. Max isn’t sleeping, but Matt falls asleep immediately. She hears a muffled sound coming from outside. She decides to follow it. She goes outside and she can hear a sort of moaning, but not from pleasure, but rather from pain. She can hear Patrick talk. He leaves the bucket in the corner and he emerges from the darkness. He sees Max in the doorway and he orders her to get away from the barn. She’s not allowed here and nobody ever will, not even Matt. He brings her back inside and he sits next to her until she falls asleep. He gives her a kiss and goes back down to the living room. He sits silently and drinks another glass of gin.
The following morning, Matt wakes up and he goes down to the kitchen. He pours himself a glass of water and drops it when he turns around, a look of horror on his face. Patrick has hung himself in the living room. He finds a note next to his body, but he has never learned how to read. He contemplates burning it in the fireplace, but he figures he’ll have Max read it. He sits in silence, contemplating his father’s body. Tears roll down his face, his father was rough, but he was the only human he ever learned to love, despite everything he made him endure. Max comes down soon after and finds her father too. They share a hug, but Max doesn’t feel warmed by it. She isn’t sad that Patrick died, she believes she will finally be free. Matt passes her the note and she reads it to him. He prevents them from leaving the premises and to be careful not to let anybody in either. He asks Max to listen to her brother, he will take care of her now. He reveals to them what he’s been hiding in the barn. They need to feed it everyday, but they shouldn’t spend too much time with. He calls it the Fair Punishment. He doesn’t go into details on what it is, but they guess they’ll figure it out later. He ends the note by saying he loved them and if they follow his instructions, they’re going to be fine. Matt learned a lot from him in the past few months. He should be fine, he’s a grown man now. They sit in the living room, silently.
A couple of months later, Max is now visibly pregnant. She watches Matt killing a beef and cutting it for its meat. She goes back inside, knowing that Matt will be occupied from quite some time. She opens a book and starts reading. She can feel her baby moving inside her and it makes her uncomfortable. Matt is done skinning the beef and before he heads back inside, he spots a raccoon running. He grabs his rifle and he shoots it before bringing it back inside. Max puts her book down and hides it. She grabs her father’s note as her brother enters the house. She realised he can’t read and she can use it to her advantage. While he cleans the raccoon, she tells him that Patrick wanted to be buried and they should go to the village to buy a coffin so they can bury him. He asks her where she read that and she says it was in their father’s note. He says he’s the king around here now and he decides against it. Max says that’s what Patrick wanted and he allows her to go into town while he cooks dinner.
Max is now on her own and she uses the knowledge she learned in her books. She takes her father’s horse and leaves for the nearby town. She feels sexually stimulated by the horse as it trots, a feeling she has never felt before. As she gets in town, she encounters a man (Nicholas Hoult). He inquires about who she is and she doesn’t answer. He asks her about her living situation and she responds by asking him if he wants to have sex. It’s more of a carnal urge than a sexual favor, as she was probably used with her brother and her father. He doesn’t notice she is pregnant and he surprisingly accepts. He begins following her and when he notices she’s pregnant, he asks her to follow him, saying they could go back at his place. She accepts and the man, who revealed to be named John, leads her to the local church, where service has already started and is about to end. She asks John what they’re doing here and he says he needs to do something first.
Once service is over, Father O’Shea walks down the aisle and he points out that John was late today. John takes O’Shea with him and get away from Max. John says he found this child in the village and he believes she’s pregnant. Mary, who was eavesdropping, glances at Max and she confirms that the child is pregnant. She says that poor child seemed mistreated because she doesn’t look healthy. They debate whether they know who it is, but they have no idea, they’ve never seen this child before. O’Shea smells something fishy about it, so he orders some men in attendance to take Max with them and bring them in Mary’s barn. They carry Max to the barn and she offers next to none resistance, her father taught her well.
Once she is tied up in Mary’s barn, they leave her with Father O’Shea and Mary so they can have a good look at her. They find out that she is indeed pregnant over her ample clothes and that she’s a girl. Max says she’s not a girl, she’s just a boy whose penis fell off when she was young. They ask her where she learned that and she says her father kept reminding her. They ask her who’s her father and she says his name is Patrick, but he’s dead now and she came here to get a coffin so they can bury him. She says he’s been dead for a while now and she’s just living with her brother. They want to know if her brother’s penis fell off too and she says it hasn’t, she has seen it numerous times. O’Shea tries to touch her again, but Max is quick to react and she bites his hand. Mary helps him getting away from her and they leave the barn in a hurry. O’Shea nearly lets out a curse word, but doesn’t. They go back in Marys house, where she helps him with his bitten hand. They both say that they didn’t know Patrick had a girl. They had met Matt before, but they never saw a girl, nor did he mention any. O’Shea says Patrick used to be a valued member of the community, but he reclused himself completely all of a sudden all those years ago. They don’t know what they’ll do about this.
When he notices that both O’Shea and Mary are inside the house, John decides to enter the barn and untie Max, because she has suffered enough and she doesn’t need to suffer again just for being an outcast, or different. Max, who has no outside world knowledge outside her chivalry books, ask John if he’s a knight and John laughs it off, saying he isn’t, he’s just a mine inspector who happens to live in town. He asks her if it’s true that she’s Patrick’s daughter and she nods. He says Patrick taught him how to ride a horse when he was little and his father seemed like a good man. Max thanks him for untying her and she asks him if he wants to have sex now. He says he’d rather not and he leaves her alone in the barn.
Max runs back home, but her progress is slow and painful her pregnancy definitely not helping her. Back in town, Mary and Father O’Shea find out that Max ran away and organize a search party to look for her. Mary asks if it would be smarter just to go back to Patrick’s house to get her, but O’Shea says she mustn’t have gone too far, she’s really pregnant. They discuss whether they think this is Patrick’s or Matt’s child and they both say they have no idea and either of them could have impregnated the poor girl. Back at Patrick’s house, Matt is wondering where Max is, pacing around the house. He knows he shouldn’t have let her go in town. It’s nighttime now and he decides to head out to the barn to feed the thing that lives in there. Matt has been rigid and serious for a long time now, but when he enters the barn, he feels intimidated and vulnerable. He walks slowly, on a methodical pace. He hears the chains rattle and he stops dead in his tracks. He takes meet out of his bucket and he throws it in the corner. He hears something eat the meat and he throws some more, wishing that this is all over. He’s surprised when Max enters the barn. He uses the occasion to leave the barn, relieved that this daily experience is over. He grabs Max by the arm and he brings her back inside, reminding her that she can’t enter in the barn.
Max sits on a chair while Matt cleans his hands and he asks her where she has been all day. He says that since she came back so late, she can’t leave the house anymore. She says she’s afraid people are going to come here and he asks her what did she do while she was in town. She says she met a man and they went in some big building where they listened to someone talk and they sang songs. Then they carried her to a barn where a man and a woman asked her questions. Then, the man she met untied her and she ran away. She notes that no one wanted to do anything with her and they were bizarre. Matt hugs her and he says that she’s better here. She says people seemed to know their father. He kisses her on the cheek and he says that if people are coming here, he better go and welcome them. He asks her to stay inside and read tonight. She has earned the right to read after what she went through. As Matt heads outside, he grabs his rifle.
Mary and Father O’Shea both realise that they won’t be able to find her and come to the conclusion that she may have in fact ran back home. John helped them with the search and he says it wouldn’t be reasonable to go at Patrick’s house in the middle of the night so they should wait for the morning before heading into the woods. O’Shea says it would also give them time to contact the authorities. John suggests himself to go to the next village to get the police with them. He takes off in the middle of the night on his horse.
Matt spends the night outside, looking at the forest in front of him in case people are coming. He sits on top of the platform his father built before he died, his legs tangling below, his rifle laying next to him. No matter what happens, he will protect Max and the estate, just like his father taught him. The muffled scream coming from the barn sends a shiver down his spine. His hand squeezes on his gun all night, but he will not have to use it. In the early morning, he gets back in the house, only to find Max sleeping in her chair. He lets her sleep peacefully, but he takes his father’s corpse and drags it across the living room and outside. He grabs a saw and tries to dismember the body. Tired from his night shift, he gives up and drags the body back inside, saying he’ll do this tomorrow. He sits Patrick on chair facing the window. He rests next to Max and falls asleep instantly.
When he falls asleep, Max opens her eyes, as if she was waiting for this moment and heads outside. She heads for the barn and stops midway as she gets a cramp. She’s careful as she enters the dreaded barn. The shining sun lights up the barn like never before, allowing Max to see what’s been living next to them for years now. A girl, about her age, disfigured, bandaged from head-to-toe, with black skin falling from the cracks between the bandages. In the corner, a skeleton is kept in a glass case. Max is so scared that she tries to run away. She slips on something and falls. She passes out on impact and the fall causes her water to break.
Father O’Shea, Mary and a couple of police officers are behind the fences in front of Patrick’s house and are trying to get it open. The police screams and it awakens Matt, who quickly gets up, grabbing his rifle and heading outside. He goes to the fence to meet with them and he asks what brings them along. They ask to speak with Patrick and Matt says Patrick is dead. The police says they can see him through the window, but O’Shea and Mary quickly catch up, it’s Patrick’s corpse. O’Shea asks him how long has Patrick been dead and he says it’s been a couple of months. They ask if they can come in and Matt doesn’t allow them. He goes back inside and the police say they will break in if they need to.
Still unconscious, Max remembers that when she was young, there was another child her age in the house. They used to play together all the time, life was good. There was a tall woman too. She seemed close with Patrick. She was about as old as that lady in town who tied her to a pole. She can remember the girl was her sister and the lady was her mother. They used to play together in the barn all the time with the horses. On that day, Max had been hiding from her mother and sister. In her hands is a pack of matches. She was amazed when they lit up after she scratched them on the side of the pack. She had fun trying to throw them as far away as possible. As she throws more and more matches, we see them pile up on a stack of hay. It catches on fire and it spreads quickly. As her mother calls for a young Max’s name, Max runs out of the barn, but her twin sister and her mother remain inside. Patrick runs inside the barn, but it’s too late for his wife. He grabs his daughter by the hand and carries her out. She’s badly burned and unconscious, but she’s still alive.
Max is wakes up and realises the “creature” is in fact her twin sister and the skeleton in the glass case is presumably her mother. She woke up because she’s dragged by a man, who turns out to be John. He says things are about to get ugly here and she deserves a better life. He hoists her up on his horse and he rides away. Matt, from inside the house, hears John’s horse. As he passes in front of him, he shoots John and he falls off the horse. Max holds on to the horse, but Matt shots it too. Max falls on the ground behind the horse. Out front, after the police heard the shots, they break the barrier and they start shooting at the house. Matt shoots back at them and he hides in the house. Mary, who also has her rifle, duck behind the fence, waiting for it to be all over. Max walks back inside the house as Matt is shooting at the police out front. She goes to her room and packs books in a bag. On her way out, she sees a pack of matches. She lits one, for old time sakes, and throws it out the window. The matches land on the dry grass and it catches on fire. She heads out back and goes in the forest, marching over John’s body. As she enters the forest, she looks back one last time at the house and it’s starting to catch on fire.
Matt is still in a shootout, but when he realises that the house is on fire, he surrenders. O’Shea and Mary get up and get closer to see Patrick’s rotten body. Matt is arrested as they look for Max. O’Shea and Mary head to the barn. They see the creature and the skeleton and run away. Not far away from here, her house burning in the background, Max is in labour in the forest.
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