Question about the ending
It stormed & I lost satellite signal. I was at the part where 3 policemen had just come in. One officer was explaining about his interest in psychic research. What happens after that? Thanks.
shareThe officer who was explaining his interest in psychic research was Superintendent Walsh and with him were Detective Bean (the officer who had come in to look through the house and ask Myra questions a few days before), and the plain clothes detective who was assigned to the money drop. Walsh's question to the officer, something like "Do you believe we can get radio reception?" really meant "Can you identify him?" The officer kept looking at Billy but wasn't sure and told Walsh he just couldn't be sure. (In the book, Billy recognized the officer from his green hat and was terrified.) Walsh sent the officer to wait in the car.
I'm pretty sure Walsh was just humoring Myra about being interested in psychic research--he probably found out just enough about it to convince her he was sincere. He asked Myra if she would hold a seance to try and get more information on the child's disappearance.
At the seance, Myra starts to go into a trance. It seems completely different from previous seance scenes. She begins by speaking in a little girl's voice, protesting to her mother that she doesn't want to go downstairs to do her "party piece." Then she brings Arthur into it, saying she wants to stay with Arthur, then asking Arthur why he's waiting alone under the tree. Billy is extremely nervous by this point--his facial expressions are all over the place. He seems surprised by Myra knowing that the little girl is not with Arthur.
Then Myra implicates them both by saying something like "She was in Arthur's room....she saw Billy's face...I told you she had to die..." Kim Stanley was so wonderful in her portrayal of a broken woman who lost a baby at birth and was not allowed to hold the baby or see it.
Walsh asks Billy where he hid the money. Billy tells him, then asks "Is she all right? I put her where the scouts could find her." Walsh coldly nods his head, indicating the little girl is okay.
Myra and Billy hold hands and look lovingly at each other. She asks her husband, "Did I do it right?" He says "Yes, dear." The End.
Thank you very much for your reply. I thought I would probably have to wait months or longer. This is great because the movie is still on my DVR and a quick look refreshed my memory of where it ended for me.
So do you think Myra was a little psychic after all since she 'knew' Billy didn't kill the girl? Maybe I should rephrase that. Does the movie imply that?
I don't personally believe in psychics so I would think she just knew her husband was incapable of murder.
Sorry this reply took so long -- I watched the movie again and came back & saw your message. In the book, Myra was good at mind reading. She had learned some tricks from a teacher, and used methods like visiting people who attended her seances to find out more about them. She considered her skill a "gift." Billy believed in her gift. What she really wanted to do was to be able to truly contact the dead. So the ending seance seems to indicate that she was able, finally, to contact the dead. The book is quite different (a great read), but it helped fill in some blanks with the movie, which I think is a masterpiece!
share(My response is just about the movie version, not the book.)
Myra had lived with and manipulated Billy for years. She was therefore likely to notice if he was lying to her about something, even if she only noticed it subconsciously. So it seems to me that she could tell from his body language that he had failed to carry out their plan.