The Avenging Conscience

Directed by D.W. Griffith •

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The Avenging Conscience or Thou Shalt Not Kill (D.W. Griffith, August 1914) from a story by Edgar Allan Poe, camera G.W. Bitzer, with Henry B. Walthall, Spottiswood Aitken, Blanche Sweet, Mae Marsh and Bobby Harron for Majestic Motion Picture Company ¹.

We are standing at the deathbed of a young woman who has just given birth to a baby. She asks her brother to take care of the child and he promises. The doctor closes the woman’s eyes. At 00:00:38 we see the baby in close-up in his crib. ‘An indulgent guardian. Uncle devotes all his time and money to his beloved nephew.’ We see the boy growing up and in close-up (of the dog from 00:01:31 and of himself from 00:01:35) training a dog. Uncle is a loving caregiver, who tenderly hugs the nephew as they embrace each other. And when the cousin is a little older again, they walk through the fields together. And when the nephew ‘has become an adult man’ he works with the central idea of a great career.’ We will now call the nephew Henry. He sits in the same room where uncle also has an office behind his desk. This shot starts with the aperture centered on Henry (00:03:05) after which the aperture opens and Uncle also comes into view. Uncle is happy with the presence of his cousin and the domestic happiness is underlined by close-ups of the canary and the cat (00:03:40). But in a letter that Henry reads, the disruptive outside influence is announced. Annabel writes to him:

‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow for a garden party (00:04:01). I’m looking forward to a golden afternoon. You poor old busy man. I’ll save you time by coming to your place. She whom you have chosen to name Annabel.’ Henry looks blissfully and then grimly at his uncle. ‘Threatened expectations. For the first time in his life, the young man’s thoughts wander from the path set for him.’

The ‘Sweetheart’, the lovely girl, daydreams about Henry in her room (mental POV 00:04:56). And he reads in the book: ‘The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe / The heart that reveals a hidden matter’ in which Poe describes how the main character is very nervous and, among other things, has started to hear much more clearly (we will see that phenomenon later in Henry):

‘I heard everything in heaven and on earth, and I heard many things in hell. But am I crazy? Hear! See how healthy and how calm I can tell you…’ Henry continues reading:

‘Many years ago, in a kingdom by the sea, lived a girl named Annabel Lee; this girl had no other thought than to love and be loved by me.’

Annabel puts on her hat and swoons over the photo of her boyfriend/cousin on her desk. There are flowers all around the frame, which express her feelings of love (00:05:46). She wraps her arms around the photo frame, thinks of him (mental POV 00:06:19) and folds the frame down. But she changes her mind, puts the frame upright again, gives the photo a kiss and leaves. Considering the fluttering curtain and flowers, this scene was apparently shot in an outdoor studio.

Henry wants to leave his uncle’s house, but uncle says: ‘You can’t just go out! You still have work to do here.’ Uncle taps him on the shoulder, but the cousin has an appointment and doesn’t listen to him. Along the way, Annabel finds a little dog stuck in a fence, which she frees (close-up at 00:07:17 and 00:07:34), lovingly holds and kisses. (the dog symbolizes Henry who must be freed from his uncle’s coercion by Annabel). The text relating to Henry’s feelings continues:

‘And all my days have faded dreamily

‘And all my nightly dreams

‘Are where your black eyes look

‘And where your footstep shines.’

Annabel and Henry meet in the countryside and embrace each other. The uncle peers into the distance from his home and sees them kissing in eyeball POV in a heavily vignette shot (00:09:13) and is not happy about it at all. When the nephew has returned, he is admonished by his uncle: ‘Look! I sacrificed everything for you and now you owe me a few years of gratitude in return.’ But the cousin doesn’t agree and uncle also behaves a bit violently. On the uncle’s desk there is a vase with a limp flower that symbolizes the uncle’s missing love life (00:09:52). To make matters worse, Uncle also throws the vase on the floor, after which Henry puts it back. The cousin’s sweetheart walks up to uncle’s house, bangs on the door and taps it with her shoe. Henry opens the door and says she can’t just come in. But she doesn’t accept that and continues walking. She stands in front of her uncle’s desk, who is initially charmed by her, but then flies into a rage: ‘You’re chasing my boy like a common woman.’ That hits Annabel hard and Henry doesn’t know what to say. Annabel leaves and the nephew is furious with his uncle and follows his sweetheart. He catches up with her at the garden gate, takes his hat inside and leaves with Annabel, who doesn’t really feel like it anymore. The uncle follows them and meets a friend along the way. ‘After the party’, ‘a gentleman we will meet later (the stranger)’ runs into Henry. He immediately doesn’t trust him.

At the garden party, Henry and Annabel walk among ladies dressed in festive classic dresses. They walk together through a park, where more couples are walking. ‘ Because the uncle is so bothersome, they decide to split up forever.’ The atmosphere is depressed. Henry and Annabel are standing by a fountain:

‘You were all that to me, beloved,

‘What my soul longed for,

‘A green island in the sea, beloved,

‘A fountain and a shrine.’

This is ‘their last goodbye.’ The atmosphere is depressed and they shake hands and both leave with heavy hearts.

‘In contrast: where lovers go together and the grocer’s bellboy courts the maid.’ The bellboy (Bobby Harron) encounters the maid (Mae Marsh) in civilian clothes. He has to deliver stuff to the party. She arrives at the party and moments later stands among her fellow ’s showing off her slim-cut maid’s uniform. ‘Yes, hello, if I don’t conquer that grocer in this outfit!’ The bellboy finds her wildly attractive, but she acts disinterested, haughty and keeps her distance. He goes after her, grabs her and only when he says he loves her does she thaw and kiss him wildly. She is jumping with enthusiasm and he is especially surprised. We see a performance by an Oriental-looking dancer, who performs an act in front of a throne on which a Roman emperor sits. The uncle also arrives at the party ‘amid music and dancing, which do not interest him.’ ‘With a bitter heart, the old man sees that youth is the master of happiness.’ To his annoyance, couples walk by happily and he sees a happy family playing with the baby. After a close-up of the baby and eyeball POV shot at 00:23:28, the uncle walks home disillusioned. It gives him a heavy feeling in his chest. Annabel has come home and is mourning the loss of her boyfriend in her bedroom: ‘The despair of the young woman who has been robbed of her sweetheart.’ Annabel stands with Henry’s photo in her hand and is distraught. In cross-cut’s, the parallel between Annabel’s and the uncle’s suffering is linked (00:24:31, 00:24:39, 00:24:46, 00:24:50 both suffer). ‘His prayer to God to make him walk the right path.’ Uncle comes home and starts praying. Via a cross-cut we go to Annabel who is huddled by her bedroom cupboard, grieving (00:25:46 both are sad).

‘An impression that will only play an important role later.’ When he returns home, Henry bumps into an Italian. He greets him kindly and leaves. Annabel leaves home and walks in a windy garden, thinking:

‘But our love was much stronger

‘Then the love of those who were older than us

‘Or much wiser than we are.’

From the path, Henry watches Annabel (eyeball POV 00:28:03) who is walking aimlessly in the garden and is sobbing. The strong wind enhances the dramatic effect. Annabel’s mother looks out for her, finds her in tears and comforts the girl. Henry sees all this happening and looks for a solution. ‘The birth of an evil thought.’ ‘Nature has an extensive killing system: the spider, the fly and the ants.’ Henry’s eye falls on a spider (at 00:29:45) filmed in extreme close-up in his web that outwits a fly and ants that are busy with a spider on the ground. So murder is an option.

Annabel goes to bed and puts Henry’s photo flat again. The flower falls out of the vase (00:30:57): the chapter of love for Henry is over.

‘For the moon never beams

‘without bringing me dreams

‘of the beautiful Annabel Lee,

‘And the stars never rise but I

‘feel the bright eyes

‘of the beautiful Annabel Lee.’

Annabel stands in front of the window in pajamas and looks at the cloudy sky and cries (the sky has been inserted in this image via double exposure). Annabel crawls into bed in a very windy set where we see her in close-up, shaking her head (00:32:58) and crying.

Henry ‘realizes that his uncle, on whom he depends, stands between him and his happiness’, thinks about the spider (mental POV 00:32:11), sits down in the leather armchair and falls asleep (00:32:36). In essence, the frame story ends here and, as later turns out, we now end up in Henry’s dream.

‘The plan of a fevered brain.’ Henry comes to his uncle with a letter: ‘If you come to my house on the other side of the hill this afternoon, I will pay you the money I have owed you for so long. Jameson.’ Uncle doesn’t need to be told twice and he sets off immediately. Henry follows him from a distance and pretends to the inhabitants of the village ‘that he wonders where his uncle is going.’ The villagers point to the path over the hill. Uncle walks up the path and is already well on his way. When he disappears over the hilltop, Henry discusses this with the residents on the street. Henry goes into the pub with the residents, while uncle visits the address mentioned in vain. When Henry comes out of the pub with his guests ‘he watches his uncle walk back, hopefully unnoticed.’ Uncle comes home disappointed and sits down in his chair to sleep. ‘The Spider and the Fly.’ Henry comes home to find his uncle sleeping. He takes a revolver from the drawer of his desk and points it at his sleeping uncle. It makes him feel short of breath himself. Outside he hears a wolf howling (00:37:59) and he thinks of Annabel looking at the sky from the window (mental POV 00:38:07). He points the revolver at his uncle’s heart and temple but is disturbed by the noise the drunk Italian and his girlfriend make outside (acoustic coupling 00:38:53, Henry has hyperacusis). The girlfriend walks away and the Italian walks to the uncle’s house. Uncle now wakes up and Henry tells him: ‘Give me money and I’ll leave.’ But that’s out of the question and a scuffle develops between the men. Henry grabs his uncle by the throat and the Italian sees this through a crack under the curtains. Henry pushes his uncle into the chair and strangles him. The Italian looks (in close-up 00:40:57) with interest at what is going on inside and lights a cigarette: this offers opportunities. Uncle has now been strangled, the job is done. Henry sees the crack under the curtain and wonders if anyone could have seen what happened. And then the Italian knocks and shouts that he has seen that uncle has been strangled. Henry opens the door after covering uncle’s body. The Italian wants hush money and Henry is willing to do so: ‘The hush money for the Italian. He promises to pay him well as soon as uncle’s inheritance is released.’ The Italian thinks that’s a good idea, but he makes it clear that if that doesn’t happen, Henry is going to get killed.

Henry picks up his uncle’s body and ‘hides it in the wall of the old fireplace.’ After opening the wall, he puts Uncle in the opening, throws some quicklime over it and ‘replaces each brick so precisely that the human eye cannot detect the deception.’ ‘He cunningly asks the villagers if they know where Uncle could have gone. Uncle’s friend can’t help him any further but is suspicious of Henry.’ The villagers say: ‘We haven’t seen him since we saw him go over the top of the hill.’ ‘Paying the Italian. After the young man’s untarnished reputation has placed him in possession of the inheritance’, the Italian wants to settle the score. And that happens and he will remain silent as the grave. Meanwhile, Uncle’s suspicious friend has informed the stranger of his concerns. Henry thinks there is no problem and the vase on uncle’s desk now has fresh flowers shining (00:48:22): love gets another chance. But there is ‘one false note: his uncle’s suspicious friend introduces the stranger ’ who, as a cover, pretends that he is mainly interested in the roses: ‘You have a picturesque old house here – and the roses – I am a great admirer of roses. And what a uniquely shaped fireplace.’ When saying goodbye, the man appears to be hanging just a little too long, intimidatingly.

‘Congratulations on the inheritance. She whom he has called Annabel visits him with her companion.’ Annabel and her mother are at the door. Annabel goes inside and mother remains seated on the bench in front of the door. While Annabel is talking to Henry, we see the uncle appear in the background in double exposure (mental POV in the form of a psychosis 00:51:04). With hands that turn into claws (00:51:04) he points at Henry and makes a strangulation gesture. The uncle lives in Henry’s mind and Annabel doesn’t know what to think of Henry’s frozen look (00:51:31). ‘She fears that there is more going on than a mental disorder’ and turns away from Henry and leaves, worried. She wants nothing more to do with Henry and leaves with her mother. Henry walks to the bedroom and ‘hopes that sleep will heal his tired brain.’ But that turns out to be a false hope. Because here too the uncle appears in his mind’s eye: the window opens and the figure of uncle appears in double exposure (mental POV 00:54:25) and sits behind the desk. Henry is now awake and uncle is now sitting at his bedside with hands like claws (00:55:24). Henry feels threatened and screams out. At 00:55:51 the apparition has disappeared.

Henry goes to a Sanitorium in hopes of getting relief from the hallucination associated with his mental breakdown.’ A doctor comes to pick him up and the stranger watches him from the bushes. Some time later, Henry ‘returns, apparently healed. He suspects the stranger of being a detective and hires the Italian to keep watch day and night.’ The Italian is happy with the money he gets for it. ‘Extensive precautions’ are taken and ‘the house is barricaded.’ Henry shows the Italian a hatch in the floor of the shed: ‘This leads to an underground tunnel through which I can escape.’ And he shows him a whistle: ‘The whistle is the signal that danger is imminent.’ The Italian completely understands it. ‘Annabel is convinced that Henry’s hallucinations are not caused by guilt.’ She cheerfully walks with him through the garden when he has another hallucinatory attack. That worries her very much. Henry runs away and ends up (in a very close vignette, which depicts his mental state 00:59:00) in a pile of hay.

‘Bitter remorse.’ Henry comes home, falls to his knees and starts praying: ‘I have seen everything in heaven and on earth and I saw many things in hell.’ As he prays in exaltation, a figure of Jesus appears in double exposure in the corner of the room (00:59:35). To visualize the distressed mental state, only the bottom right corner of the image is not covered by a vignette at 01:00:04. A sign appears with the command: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Henry is ecstatic. At 01:00:50 and 01:02:07 we see him in an unusually strong close-up, after which he rolls on the ground sobbing. ‘Assuming that he can extract a confession, the detective places his men on guard around the house.’ At the same time, the Italian gathers a group of drunkards with whom he can carry out the agreed surveillance. The detective comes to visit Henry and brings another rose with him: ‘I have an hour, which if you have no objection, I can spend on going over a few questions with you. He sits down at uncle’s desk and says: ‘ It was recently reported that a scream was heard here on the night your uncle disappeared.’ The interrogation continues and Henry is already feeling quite short of breath while the detective is taking notes. Meanwhile, one of the detective’s guards goes into the shed, where he finds the escape hatch. ‘the Italian is also on guard’, but in his case that means he takes a nap. While the detective continues his interrogation, the detective’s colleague nails the hatch closed. The detective (acoustic coupling 01:05:27) and Henry (01:05:30) hear this. The close-up of his hands shows that Henry is nervous (close-up 01:05:49, 01:06:56). And the ticking of the clock irritates him (close-up 01:05:54) and even more so does the tapping of the pencil on the table by the detective (close-up 01:06:06). It reminds him of ‘the beating of the dead man’s heart.’ Henry tries in vain to stop the detective’s pencil tapping with his hand. The detective deliberately uses this weapon to disrupt Henry. And to make matters worse, the detective now also starts tapping his shoes (close-up 01:07:32).

Henry hears the sound of an eagle owl and sees the similarity between the bird’s eyes and the detective’s searching eyes depicted in a small circular black vignette (extreme close-up 01:08:02). We now see him in an extreme close-up aswell (01:08:07).

‘The conscience overloads the heart that reveals a hidden matter.’

‘They are neither man nor woman,

‘They are neither animal nor human,

‘They’re ghosts!’

Henry now sees (mental POV 01:08:48 - 01:10:41) half-animal spirits crawling around in the smoke in a kind of psychosis. He gets up in a trance and sees them in the room and after opening the door also outside. The detective is satisfied: he has broken Henry mentally. Henry is tied up in ropes next to a clothed skeleton and now (mental POV in double exposure 01:11:11) the spirit of the deceased uncle is in the room. Henry is terrified and sees in his mind’s eye how he strangled his uncle (01:11:21). His face is disfigured in anger and his hands are turned into claws (01:11:32). The detective stands up and gestures: Now you have pleaded guilty! And Henry indeed shakes his head: Yes, I strangled him, knocks the detective down and flees. Henry, armed with a gun, hides in the shed and blows his whistle (01:12:19). The Italian’s auxiliaries come running (acoustic coupling 01:12:22), while Henry shoots from the shed. The detective, who is now outside, helps one of his men who was hit by Henry’s bullets. Meanwhile, Henry tries to escape through the floor hatch, but it is boarded up and his chisel breaks off. Henry blows his whistle again, but the ‘Italian does not dare to come closer with his men’ and Henry’s bullets have run out. Whistling doesn’t help anymore.

‘Annabel is informed.’ She learns of Henry’s confession and of the desperate situation in the valley.’ She stands there with her hands raised to heaven and rushes to the barn. The detective’s men storm the barn and Henry tries to hang himself (01:16:13). The detective’s men use a pole as a battering ram and save Henry from the noose when they enter. Annabel sees this through a small window as the wind blows through her veil. She walks to a cliff on the coast where the wind is blowing hard through her clothes (01:16:51) and jumps down. The blowing wind enhances the drama in this scene. The detective sees this and finds Annabel dead at the bottom of the cliff.

Henry wakes up at 01:17:39 in the chair in which he fell asleep at 00:32:36. He feels his throat and looks around in a daze. Did he dream all that? His uncle is also in the room and he gently touches him to determine that it is not a ghost. ‘Oh, what a dream!’ And he says he dreamed he was strangling Uncle. He is happy and embraces his surprised uncle. We find Annabel at 01:19:17 in the bed where she had laid down at 00:32:58, mourning. She is now cheerful and stands up. ‘Her mind is now free of resentment and she can’t wait until morning to tell him that, uncle or no uncle, she can’t live without him.’ She puts Henry’s photo upright again (01:20:00) and runs to her boyfriend. ‘A much more welcome visitor.’ Annabel arrives at Uncle and Henry’s house with her mother. Uncle now acts much friendlier and Annabel strokes his hair and embraces him.

‘The epilogue. He quotes from his successful book.’ Henry and Annabel are sitting by the water, while the top third of the screen in split screen is taken up by a cloudy sky. He says: ‘In your voice I hear Pan playing in the woods while the whole world listens to him.’ We see a Pan figure covered in flowers leaning against a tree and playing his flute, while all the fairies decorated with flowers appear and listen to his playing. A few wild animals and two rabbits also hear his play.

‘Neither the angels in heaven above

‘Nor the demons down under the sea

‘Can dissever my soul from the soul

‘Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.’

‘Finis.’

The film is based on the story ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and the poem ‘Annabel Lee’ by Edgar Allen Poe. A tell-tale is a signal generator that reveals something hidden. The structure of the film is a frame story: Henry sits down in the leather armchair and falls asleep (00:32:36). Here the frame story ends and, as later turns out, we now end up in Henry’s dream. Henry wakes up at 01:17:39 in the chair in which he fell asleep at 00:32:36, after which the frame story continues. Bobby Harron, who plays the grocery clerk is 21 years old here. Georg Siegman, the Italian, plays Silas Lynch the mulatto Deputy Governor in ‘Birth of a Nation’(D.W. Griffith, 1915) and the corrupt German soldier von Strohm in ‘Hearts of the World’ (D.W. Griffith, 1918)

Eyeball POV:

Annabel and Henry meet in the outdoor area and embrace. The uncle peers into the distance from his home and sees them kissing in eyeball POV in a heavily vignette shot (00:09:13) and is not happy about it at all.

After an eyeball POV shot of the baby at 00:23:28, the uncle walks home disillusioned.

From the path, Henry watches Annabel (eyeball POV 00:28:03) who is walking aimlessly in the garden and is sobbing.

Mental POV:

The ‘Sweetheart’, the lovely girl, daydreams about Henry in her room (mental POV 00:04:56).

Annabel wraps her arms around the photo frame, thinks of Henry (mental POV 00:06:19) and folds the frame down. But she changes her mind, puts the frame upright again, gives the photo a kiss and leaves.

Henry ‘realizes that his uncle, on whom he depends, stands between him and his happiness’ and thinks about the spider (mental POV 00:32:11).

Henry thinks of Annabel looking at the sky from the window (mental POV 00:38:07).

While Annabel is talking to Henry, we see the uncle appear in the background in double exposure (mental POV in the form of a psychosis 00:51:04). Henry ‘hopes that sleep will heal his tired brain.’ But that turns out to be a false hope: the figure of Uncle appears again in double exposure (mental POV 00:54:25) and sits behind the desk. Henry feels threatened and screams out. At 00:55:51 the apparition has disappeared.

Henry now sees (mental POV 01:08:48 - 01:10:41) half-animal spirits crawling around in the smoke in a kind of psychosis. He gets up in a trance and sees them in the room and after opening the door also outside. Henry is tied up in ropes next to a clothed skeleton and now (mental POV in double exposure 01:11:11) the spirit of the deceased uncle is in the room. Henry is terrified and sees in his mind’s eye how he strangled his uncle (01:11:21).

Relational cross-cut:

Annabel stands with Henry’s photo in her hand and is distraught. In cross-cut’s, the parallel between Annabel’s and the uncle’s suffering is linked (00:24:31, 00:24:39, 00:24:46, 00:24:50: both suffer).

Uncle comes home and starts praying to make him follow the right path. Via a cross-cut we go to Annabel who is huddled by her bedroom cupboard, grieving (00:25:46 both are grieving).

Aperture and vignette:

Henry is sitting behind his desk in the same room where Uncle has his office. This shot starts with the aperture centered around Henry (00:03:05) after which the aperture opens and uncle comes into view.

The uncle peers into the distance from his home and sees Henry and Annabel kissing in a heavily vignette shot (00:09:13).

Henry runs away and ends up (in a very close vignette, which depicts his mental state 00:59:00) in a pile of hay.

To visualize the distressed state of mind, only the bottom right corner of the image is not covered by a vignette at 01:00:04.

Flowers as a sign of love:

Annabel swoons over the photo of her boyfriend. There are flowers all around the frame, which express her feelings of love (00:05:46). She wraps her arms around the photo frame, thinks of him (mental POV 00:06:19) and folds the frame down. But she changes her mind, puts the frame upright again, gives the photo a kiss and leaves.

Annabel goes to bed and puts Henry’s photo flat again. The flower falls out of the vase (00:30:57): the chapter of love for Henry is over. At 01:20:00 she puts Henry’s photo upright again: she can’t wait until morning to tell him that, uncle or no uncle, she can’t live without him.

On the uncle’s desk there is a vase with a limp flower that symbolizes the uncle’s missing love life (00:09:52).

Henry thinks there is nothing to worry about and the vase on uncle’s desk now has fresh flowers shining (00:48:22): love gets another chance.

Close-up:

It seems as if Griffith has discovered the close-up here, in any case he uses it lavishly, such as with the image of the baby (00:00:38), of the nephew (from 00:01:35), of the dog (from 00:01:31) and of the dog stuck in the fence (close-up on 00:07:17 and 00:07:34). These images look very natural and timeless.

Uncle is happy with the presence of his cousin and the domestic happiness is underlined by close-ups’s of the canary and the cat (00:03:40).

After a close-up of the baby at 00:23:28, the uncle walks home disillusioned.

Henry’s eye falls on a spider filmed in extreme close-up (at 00:29:45) in a spider web that outwits a fly and ants that are busy with a spider on the ground. So murder is an option.

The Italian looks (in close-up 00:40:57) with interest at what is happening inside.

At 01:00:50 and 01:02:07 we see Henry in an unusually strong close-up.

The close-up of his hands shows that Henry is nervous (close-up 01:05:49, 01:06:56). And the ticking of the clock irritates him (close-up 01:05:54) and even more so does the tapping of the pencil on the table by the detective (close-up 01:06:06). Henry tries in vain to stop the detective’s pencil tapping with his hand (01:07:09). And to make matters worse, the detective now also starts tapping his shoes (close-up 01:07:32).

Henry sees the detective’s searching eyes depicted in a small circular black vignette (extreme close-up 01:08:02). We now see Henry in an extreme close-up (01:08:07).

Acoustic coupling:

Henry aims the revolver at his uncle’s heart and temple but is disturbed by the noise the drunk Italian and his girlfriend make outside (acoustic coupling 00:38:53).

While the detective continues his interrogation, the detective’s colleague nails the hatch closed. The detective hears that (acoustic coupling 01:05:27) and Henry (01:05:30).

Henry hides in the shed and blows his whistle (01:12:19). The Italian’s auxiliary troops then come running (acoustic coupling 01:12:22).

Wind and waves:

From the path, Henry watches Annabel walk aimlessly in the garden and sob (00:28:03). The strong wind enhances the dramatic effect.

Annabel sees Henry’s suicide attempt through a small window as the wind blows through her veil. She walks to a cliff on the coast where the wind is blowing hard through her clothes (01:16:51) and jumps down. The blowing wind enhances the drama in this scene.

Hands like claws:

With hands that turn into claws (00:51:04), uncle points at Henry and makes a strangulation gesture.

Henry is now awake and uncle is now sitting at his bedside with hands like claws (00:55:24). Henry feels threatened and screams out.

Henry’s face is disfigured in anger and his hands are turned into claws (01:11:32).

Symbols:

Along the way, Annabel finds a little dog stuck in a fence, which she frees (close-up at 00:07:17 and 00:07:34), lovingly holds and kisses. (the dog symbolizes Henry who must be freed from his uncle’s coercion by Annabel).

Annabel wraps her arms around the photo frame (00:06:14), thinks of Henry and folds the frame down (00:06:29). But she changes her mind, puts the frame upright again (00:06:38), gives the photo a kiss and leaves. This symbolizes her doubts about the relationship with Henry.

When Annabel goes to bed she puts Henry’s photo flat again. The flower falls out of the vase (00:30:57): the chapter of love for Henry is over. At 01:20:00 she puts the photoframe upright again: she can’t wait until morning to tell him that, uncle or no uncle, she can’t live without him.