(A Movie Review – last of 3 parts)

PART 1

PART 2

The primary conflict – Will Ben and Phillip succeed in diminishing the role of James in the creation of the OED and in striking out William as a contributor? –  is categorized  as “man against man.”  Conversely, what I consider as the secondary conflict – Will Eliza forgive William? – is classified as “man against himself.” This conflict gives the movie a semblance of drama and romance.

While the challenges James and William had to overcome stem from the selfish motives of two members of the OED project’s oversight committee, Eliza’s struggle comes from within her. She had to choose to forgive the man who killed her husband or not.

Anyone seeking forgiveness needs to show repentance and a willingness to make amends, even when not asked to do so. William did both.

William could have just disregarded the crime he committed and hidden his guilt under the rug of his condition, declared by the judicial and health authorities as insanity. But he did not. Guilt pricked his conscience to no end, knowing fully well the severity of his crime – killing the husband of a wife and the father of 6 children. Already tormented by flashbacks to the American Civil War (in which he served as a surgeon in the Union Army), William also had to bear that guilt.

Thus, he asked that his army pension be given to Eliza. Deep inside, William is a good man with a brilliant mind (when lucid). Such goodness and brilliance were ruined by a mental disorder.

Mr. Muncie, a guard at the psychiatric hospital,  recognizes the goodness in William. Eventually, a friendship developed between them. Same with William and James, they became very good friends too.

The story exemplifies what people are willing to do for their friends. Mr. Muncie tried to defend William against the abuses of Dr. Brayne, and James did everything he could to secure his release from the psychiatric hospital. James had a very good friend in  Freddie, too. How remarkable are Freddie’s attempts to save James from getting booted out of the OED project by lying to the oversight committee that he was responsible for the missing words that were supposedly included in volume 1 of the dictionary? Freddie went as far as using his connections to secure the royal seal of patronage for James, acknowledging him as the primary mover of the OED, rendering moot and academic all of the efforts of  Ben and Phillip “to ease the gentle Scotsman off his little perch.” And that is the resolution of the main conflict.

What about the secondary conflict – Will Eliza forgive William?

Mr. Muncie, upon William’s bidding, visits Eliza to discuss the financial assistance William proposes to give. Eliza, at first, refuses. After a while, seeing how difficult life has been for her and her children, Eliza tells Muncie, who visited them again one Christmas Eve, that she will accept William’s offer, but that is only after seeing the killer of her husband in person to find out if she could stomach accepting the money.

The meeting between Eliza and William happened. Eliza finally agrees to accept the money, but at the end of that encounter with her husband’s murderer, she says that her accepting William’s offer doesn’t make things right. William may not have received the forgiveness he was hoping for. Still, somehow, a certain portion of his guilt went away when Eliza accepted the financial assistance he offered.

Eliza visited William a second time, brought him a book, and thanked him for the money. He also informed William that things were better for her and her children. In that conversation, Eliza said that it wasn’t right for her to continue receiving William’s money, to which the latter replied that his life belongs to Eliza and what is his is hers too… and all that started the night he killed her husband.

Those words perhaps melted Eliza’s heart and vaporized whatever hatred she had for William.

That visit led to more, and when William discovered that Eliza could not read, he begged her to allow him to teach her how to… if only so she could teach her children to read as well.

William explained to Eliza the importance of reading this way – “ [Reading] is freedom. I can fly out of this place on the backs of books. I’ve gone to the ends of the world on the wings of words. When I read, no one is after me. When I read, I’m the one chasing. Chasing after God.”

Eliza accepted William’s offer. Each time she visited, William would teach her how to read. The way she looks at Eliza betrays how he feels towards the widow of the man he murdered.

Eventually, Eliza learned to read the words written in the pages of books. There’s something else she learned to read – the innate goodness of William. Eliza came to know who and what William really was.

On the day Eliza brought her children to the psychiatric hospital for them to meet William for the first time, Claire, Eliza’s firstborn, couldn’t refrain from expressing her anger towards her father’s killer. Eliza apologized to William for her daughter’s outburst, and after kissing him, she told him that she had already forgiven him.

Eliza’s forgiveness paved the way for William’s redemption. At that point, the question – Will Eliza forgive William? – was answered. But instead of the  “falling action” (at least for that subplot) following that, there was a heightening (rising) of the action instead. Eliza, aside from forgiveness, gave William something else… love.

On one of James’ visits, he saw the portrait of a woman that William had painted. When asked who that woman is, William replied, “The impossible.”

Indeed, it is seemingly impossible for Eliza to forgive William, her husband’s killer. And what is more, it is impossible for Eliza to end up loving William.

But as James said when William referred to her as “the impossible” – “the more impossible, the greater the love.”

And what happened to the note Eliza gave William – “If love, then what?”

William, with that unstable mind that he had, responded to it unexpectedly. It brought back the guilt that he felt after killing Eliza’s husband. Eliza falling in love with him is like killing her husband for the second time. To Eliza’s question, “If love, then what?” William responded, “There’s no chance of redemption.” That guilt worsened William’s paranoid delusions, prompting him to “punish” himself.

That day, Eliza gave William that note and asked him to open it when she was gone. William said, “I’m sorry, Eliza.” Eliza responded, “But what if I’m not?” Then they kissed.

That, for me, is the most beautiful part of the movie. What followed thereafter are the darkest parts of the story – particularly William “punishing” himself and the monsters – Ben, Phillip, and Dr. Bryne – rearing their ugly heads.

The ending may be formulaic – the good triumphs over evil – but what I would like to remember the movie by is Eliza’s answer to her own question.

“If love, then what?”  L O V E.

If you are in love, just love… no ifs… no buts.