The House Was Not Hungry Then (2025) Movie Script
1
[birds singing]
[car engine rumbling]
[car doors slamming]
[indistinct chatter]
[lock clicks, door squeaks]
- Come in, come in.
[indistinct chatter]
- Oh, I have to check that.
Anyway, been a long time.
Maybe two or three years.
- Oh, really?
- A lot of historical interest
in this place.
The older section
of the house was built
in Victoria's coronation year.
The plan was a month,
but the parish lines
were redrawn.
The next person to live here
was the son
of one of the local lairds.
- Oh. When was the roof
last replaced?
- Must have been '70.
Well, but it's hard slate,
so should last for 100 years.
Come. In you go
and have a look round.
[ominous music]
[dark piano notes]
- Imagine it without this room.
- Who ever thought
this was a good idea?
- Well, do you think
the fireplaces still work?
- [speaking indistinctly]
- I can't see up this chimney.
Either it's been blocked,
or there's a bird's nest
in there.
- I think it's blocked.
- [speaking indistinctly]
[ominous music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
- Difficult to get the car
up here when it's icy.
[static crackling]
[doorknob rattling]
- Smells a bit, doesn't it?
- Can we stop at the bank
on the way back?
- What did she say?
- What's the asking price?
- Can we stop at the bank?
- [speaking indistinctly]
- Can we stop at the ba--
[static crackling]
[ominous music intensifies]
[thunder rumbling]
- Let me know if you have
any questions.
Hello?
No point in thinking
like that, is there?
Not like anything can be done.
Just the way things are.
[sighs]
All right.
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbling]
[knocking on glass]
[footsteps tapping]
[phone line ringing]
[ominous music]
[doorknob rattles]
- Hello, this is [indistinct].
I'm not available,
but please leave a message,
and I'll call you back.
[phone line beeps]
- Hi, this is Caroline
from across the road.
I'm just--
[sighs]
[static crackling]
Hello?
[rain pattering]
[birds chirping]
- No, no.
No need to worry about that.
That's why I'm here, isn't it?
That's why I'm here.
[car horn honks]
Oh, shit.
[car engine rumbling]
Oh, fuck.
[footsteps thumping]
[door squeaks]
Come in, come in.
[knock at door]
[knock at door]
- Hello?
[footsteps crunching]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[glass shatters]
[lock clicking]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[grunting]
[breathing heavily]
[glass shatters]
[grunts]
[sighs]
[static crackling]
[ominous music]
[wind whistling]
[sighs]
[lock clicks, door creaks]
[dull thumping]
[thudding]
[grunts]
[object scraping]
[door creaking]
[stairs creaking]
[phone line ringing]
- Hello?
- Hi.
Hi, this is Caroline.
- Oh.
- Yeah, hi.
I'm back home, and--
- Oh.
- Well, actually, I'm back
in the area, and I went home--
- Didn't you call first?
- And--
- You haven't spoken to him?
- Where is he?
- He's really not well.
You do know that, right?
- Yes.
- We've been doing
his shopping for him.
- OK.
Where is he?
- He's very ill.
They had to move him.
Look, when was the last time
you spoke to him?
- OK, do you know
where they moved him?
- I'm not--I'm not sure.
To a--well, a facility.
- [sighs]
Do you know which one?
D-do you know which facility?
Oh, shit.
[sighs]
[object clatters]
OK.
[object clicking]
[groans]
[object thumps]
[metallic clank]
[sighs]
[sighs]
[door clicks shut]
[footsteps tapping]
[birds singing]
[car engine rumbling]
[car door clicks open, slams]
[metallic thud]
[indistinct chatter]
[lock clicking]
[door creaks]
- Thanks for making
the time for this.
- Not at all.
So as you can see,
there's a real wealth
of history.
Not many like these anymore.
- Mm.
- Oh, the electricity's
been turned off
to be friendly
to the environment.
- Henry, get your phone out.
- The first part of this house
was built
at the very beginning
of the Victorian age.
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[static crackling]
[ominous music]
Did you tell anybody that you
were coming here today?
[indistinct chatter]
[static crackling]
- We really just want something
more like a home, you see.
[slapping]
Who would want to come and stay
in a holiday let like this?
[static crackling]
- Might be cheaper
to tear this down
and start with a new build.
- Get out.
- Henry.
- Pardon?
- Get out.
- Henry.
- Get out.
Get out!
- Don't talk like that.
- We don't need you here.
- You can't talk
to us that way!
- Get away!
- Henry!
[heavy breathing]
- Go outside, Sonia.
All right.
You're a small man.
- [sighs]
[whimpers]
[car engine rumbling]
[footsteps tapping]
[sighs]
You shouldn't have this.
I should smash it.
What are you doing?
You've been so hungry,
so hungry, so hungry,
I couldn't keep up.
Why?
Are you full now?
You know, they--you don't know.
You don't understand anything.
They'll gut you.
They'll rip you apart.
They'll--they'll--
they'll turn you
into something without soul.
Something without soul,
something--
strangers coming to and fro.
Or is that what you want?
You want to rot and decay
and turn into rubble?
Turn into a row,
a load of rubble?
[whispering]
I won't let this happen.
I got a letter here.
A CPO.
You know what that is?
They want to take you away.
Take you away from me.
Own you.
Change you.
[sighs]
But I'm going to sort it out.
I'm putting
some money together.
We'll fix you.
That's all they really want.
We'll get them off our backs.
Yes.
Things are hard.
We need to be careful.
We need to slow down.
You...
need me.
[gravel crunching]
[jaunty piano music playing]
[music stops]
- Hello?
Did you put this here?
[sighs]
Why?
You can see me?
And you...understand me?
Where did all these things
come from?
[object clatters]
[wood creaking]
[phone line ringing]
- You've reached
George House Hospice.
We're either busy
at the moment,
or you've reached us
after hours.
Leave your name and number,
and someone
will get back to you shortly.
[phone line beeps]
- Hi, my name's
Caroline Dalgarno.
I am calling to see if you
have someone in care there.
His name is Peter Dalgarno.
If you wouldn't mind,
give me a ring back.
My number is 077-009-00136.
OK, thank you very much.
Bye-bye.
[phone line beeps]
[clears throat, sighs]
Yes.
I was--
I was moving home, actually.
My--my landlord
wanted to renovate,
and there was nowhere else
I could afford, so...
I was hiding everything
by the train station.
I didn't have
anywhere else to put it.
Is that OK?
But I'll leave...soon.
Is he--is he coming back?
Plants...
and clothes
and drawings and some books.
I'm not very good.
I should be better
at perspective,
making things
look three-dimensional.
That's you.
You can just see a little bit.
It's a photograph
taken from the road.
That's your roof.
Yeah, exactly.
They--they take
all these photographs
and put them together
so it feels like
you're walking down the street.
You can go anywhere.
Sometimes when I was at uni,
I would put in my home address
and pretend I was walking
along my road.
It's just a few miles
that way, actually.
I used to come
past here all the time,
but I never came
down this road.
I never knew about you.
[singing]
Familiar places
Familiar people
Always the same
bright sunny day
It's like being a kid again.
We're not--
We're not--
I knew he was ill.
He can be distant.
[phone buzzing]
- Hello, Caroline?
Caroline?
- Yes, hi.
- Oh, hi.
[laughs] Yes.
You all right?
- How are you doing?
- Oh, I'm all right.
Yeah.
I'm all right.
You know, they're--how's uni?
- Yeah, fine. Good.
- Making your wee drawings,
yeah, your wee houses.
I still have that one
from your application,
your portfolio, the--
You keeping safe over there?
- Yeah, of course.
Yeah, everything's fine.
How are you doing?
- I'm all right.
[chuckles] Yeah, I do worry.
I put it out of my head,
of course, but--
I go on my walks,
and I imagine
what you must be getting up to,
going around, living your life.
Did I ever tell you that?
- Dad?
- Sorry, sorry, just had
a wee moment there.
[laughs]
So how are you?
How is uni?
- Yeah, it's fine.
- [laughs]
- It's hard.
- Oh, I know.
You don't have to tell me.
I had an awful time.
I didn't even make it
through a full year.
- I know.
- [laughs]
Remember when we lived
in Auchenblae,
the nice house?
Yeah.
Oh, no, no, that was
before you were born.
[chuckles]
No, Cat was pregnant.
Of course
you wouldn't remember.
That was the best time,
Caroline.
Seeing you on the ultrasound,
so cozy, so safe inside, yeah.
I thought about
that picture of you,
and I wished
you could stay in there
and not go out into the awful,
dangerous world.
Oh.
Oh, dear, oh, dear.
There I go again.
I'm sorry, love.
It's the drugs.
The good shit.
Let me know, and I'll see
if I can hook you up with some.
- I'm gonna come
and see you, Dad.
- Oh, no, no. No, no.
- Yes.
Yeah.
What did they do with all
your composition books?
- No, don't do that.
- No, it's all right.
It's OK.
Where are you?
- No, focus on school,
Caroline.
- Where are you, Dad?
- Oh, I'm just at home.
- You're at home?
- Yeah, I'm sat in the kitchen,
looking out the window.
I've got your little
clay sculpture
here on the windowsill.
Some robins in the bird feeder.
- How many robins?
- Three of them.
- Is it nice there?
- It's beautiful.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I have to go.
Liam at the door.
- OK.
OK, well, I'll see you soon.
- See you soon.
[phone line beeps]
- [sniffles, sighs]
[exhales sharply]
You fixed the window.
[birds singing]
When was that?
Do you remember
a time before that?
You fixed the window.
You can fix yourself.
What do you eat?
Do you know what you are?
Do you know how long
you've been here?
Does--does anyone else
know about you?
What happens to things?
You take them away
and you bring them back.
Where does it go?
[doorknob rattling]
I don't have any money,
but I could walk to him.
It's four hours.
I can do that.
I don't need any of this.
[birds singing]
[soft metallic clank]
[phone buzzing]
This is you.
A slate roof.
Slate ridge tiles.
A lead verge gutter.
Bay window and a French door
up on the gable end.
Top upper windows
with recessed window reveals,
Scottish style,
set back in the cavity
to keep out some of the rain.
In good shape, all in all.
[chuckles]
See how I put lines in
for perspective?
This is the vanishing point...
where it all comes together
and ends.
To the house without an occupant
from the girl without a home.
Thank you.
[door creaks]
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbling]
[birds singing]
[gravel crunching]
- Just go and open the door.
- Here we go.
[lock clicks, door creaks]
- Want to have a look in here?
Come on, let's have a look.
Wow.
So big.
[gasps]
Can we see
what's out the window?
[baby fussing]
Oh, it's OK.
OK.
It's OK.
Look at the flowers.
[gasps] Wow.
Look at the flowers.
So pretty.
So pretty.
[speaking indistinctly]
Hon?
Can we get a picture?
You OK? Oh.
[baby fusses]
[baby fussing]
You're OK.
Hon, you got my phone?
- Huh?
- You got my phone?
- I don't have it.
- Thank you.
Oh, should we go back?
[gasps]
Can you take it?
- Yeah.
Let's go.
- Go on.
Say cheese.
- Cheese!
[camera shutter snaps]
- Go on, give us a smile, then.
Aw, he's a grump now.
- [sighs, speaks indistinctly]
[baby fusses]
Yeah, I know.
I know. I know.
I know.
[indistinct chatter]
[car engine rumbling]
[rain pattering]
[car door slams]
- Hiya.
- Hi. Are you--
- I'm an officer of the court.
You're the owner
of this property.
- I am the estate agent.
- No, you're the owner,
the inheritor.
You're Duncan Patterson.
I've come about the CPO.
You wrote to the minister
and the council
objecting to the CPO, yeah?
- Said I have 21 days.
- That's right.
You objected to the CPO.
You said you had
fixed the property up...
- That's right.
- And you had
an interested buyer.
- That's right.
- If you do actually
have a buyer,
then that's something
the court needs to know.
That's good news.
- Yes.
- Who is it?
Who's the solicitor
they're working with?
- I need to send it to you
in writing.
- We've sent numerous notices.
I myself have been here several
times trying to track you down,
but you're nowhere to be found.
- Well, I'm here now.
- Yes, you are.
And I'm here to see
if what you said is true.
And clearly, it isn't.
- What are you gonna do with it?
You gonna tear it down?
[ominous rumbling]
- It's uninhabited
and derelict.
- It's not derelict.
- People have reported
vandalism,
broken windows, squatters.
- What?
There's no--
[rumbling continues]
Do you see any broken windows?
- Not currently.
- Or squatters?
- Houses like this
are sitting empty
while people are desperately
needing somewhere to live.
The waiting list
for council housing is full.
- Not here.
Nobody wants to live here.
They want to visit.
They don't want to live here.
- If I'm not able to go--
- Go inside and have a look.
- I'm not here for that.
- Go inside and have a look.
There's nothing wrong with it.
- No.
- Go inside yourself.
[dull thudding]
- Sir.
[panting]
Do not touch me.
- I told you to--
[metallic clatter]
[footsteps tapping]
- [breathing heavily]
[door creaks]
I--I'm so sorry.
No, I'm really sorry.
I just need to get
my--my phone.
- Hiya.
- [gasps]
[breathing heavily]
- It's all right.
I just want to talk to you.
Come outside, please.
What have you been
doing in there?
- Oh, no, I haven't--
I just saw
the door was open.
I'm sorry.
[laughs nervously]
- It's all right.
Well, come out now.
You've been staying in here,
haven't you?
I'm the owner.
But that's all right.
- I need my phone.
- Your phone?
- Yeah.
I just--I just need to get
my phone, and then I'll go.
- You can use my phone.
What do you need?
Do you need a lift?
- No, no.
- I've got money.
It's all right.
- [laughs]
- I just want to help.
I can help you get
whatever you want.
[growls]
- [panting]
[grunts]
[static crackling]
[panting]
[ominous rumbling]
- [grunts]
- OK.
- [groans] Stop! Stop!
Be quiet!
[both grunting]
[static crackling]
- [whimpering]
[both panting]
[rumbling fades]
- [mumbling]
Don't listen.
Please.
Don't listen to it.
Please.
- [whimpers]
[static crackling]
What more could I have done?
Please.
Please.
Please!
- [breathing heavily]
- Hello, love.
Sorry to call you again
like this.
It's just, well...
there are a lot of things,
a lot of things
I thought I wanted to say.
When I finally heard your voice,
oh, it was so nice.
I couldn't think
of how to say it.
[chuckles]
I was afraid. I was.
I was.
Ever since you were born.
And it made me--
My own father, you know,
he wasn't a very good father.
I don't think his father
had been a very good father.
And I tried to be different.
I chose coldness, distance.
And I think--
I think that was wrong too.
I think about you
living your life,
and it's like
being young again.
It's like being born again.
And I'm not afraid now.
Not at all.
I'm not in here.
I'm out there,
out there living.
You're me, aren't you?
Oh, I'm telling you,
Caroline, these drugs, oof,
they're something else.
I've been feeling
a little poorly.
I've been--
well, the nice people here,
the nice people
who have been helping me,
they think I could stop
all the medication,
the pills,
just sort of...rest.
Sedation is what it--
palliative sedation.
I've been thinking about it,
but I wanted to,
you know,
just one last time, well--
yeah, so I might not
be able to speak again.
[chuckles]
Oh, dear, oh, dear.
I wish I'd been closer to you.
Just a silly man.
- [sobs]
- You'll figure it out,
won't you?
[chuckles]
So lovely to hear
your voice earlier.
Hope all's well.
[line beeps]
- A vanishing point...
where it all
comes together...
and ends.
Where do people go
when they disappear?
I could stay.
I have nowhere else.
No one will miss me.
Let me stay.
Let me go inside.
Please.
[sighs]
[door clicks open, creaks]
[footsteps tapping]
[door creaks]
[playful music]
[somber music]
[train rumbling softly]
- This is the 5:02 service
to Edinburgh Waverley.
Calling at Carnoustie, Dundee...
- Tickets, please.
- Cupar, Haymarket,
and Edinburgh Waverley.
- Wee project, eh?
- Yeah.
I am an architect student.
- All right.
Tickets, please.
- He's right.
I do this thing with my eyebrows
when I know I need
to acknowledge
what someone's saying
but I don't want to engage
and I have nothing to say.
Just like him.
All these little
bits of our lives
through the darkness
of history.
We're repositories of millions
of lives and stories
reconstructed
into something that thinks
it's new and unique.
And maybe that's it.
Maybe that's all.
An old ghost in a new house.
That's him.
Are you comfortable?
[tranquil piano music]
[birds singing]
[car engine rumbling]
[car doors slamming]
[indistinct chatter]
[lock clicks, door squeaks]
- Come in, come in.
[indistinct chatter]
- Oh, I have to check that.
Anyway, been a long time.
Maybe two or three years.
- Oh, really?
- A lot of historical interest
in this place.
The older section
of the house was built
in Victoria's coronation year.
The plan was a month,
but the parish lines
were redrawn.
The next person to live here
was the son
of one of the local lairds.
- Oh. When was the roof
last replaced?
- Must have been '70.
Well, but it's hard slate,
so should last for 100 years.
Come. In you go
and have a look round.
[ominous music]
[dark piano notes]
- Imagine it without this room.
- Who ever thought
this was a good idea?
- Well, do you think
the fireplaces still work?
- [speaking indistinctly]
- I can't see up this chimney.
Either it's been blocked,
or there's a bird's nest
in there.
- I think it's blocked.
- [speaking indistinctly]
[ominous music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
- Difficult to get the car
up here when it's icy.
[static crackling]
[doorknob rattling]
- Smells a bit, doesn't it?
- Can we stop at the bank
on the way back?
- What did she say?
- What's the asking price?
- Can we stop at the bank?
- [speaking indistinctly]
- Can we stop at the ba--
[static crackling]
[ominous music intensifies]
[thunder rumbling]
- Let me know if you have
any questions.
Hello?
No point in thinking
like that, is there?
Not like anything can be done.
Just the way things are.
[sighs]
All right.
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbling]
[knocking on glass]
[footsteps tapping]
[phone line ringing]
[ominous music]
[doorknob rattles]
- Hello, this is [indistinct].
I'm not available,
but please leave a message,
and I'll call you back.
[phone line beeps]
- Hi, this is Caroline
from across the road.
I'm just--
[sighs]
[static crackling]
Hello?
[rain pattering]
[birds chirping]
- No, no.
No need to worry about that.
That's why I'm here, isn't it?
That's why I'm here.
[car horn honks]
Oh, shit.
[car engine rumbling]
Oh, fuck.
[footsteps thumping]
[door squeaks]
Come in, come in.
[knock at door]
[knock at door]
- Hello?
[footsteps crunching]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[glass shatters]
[lock clicking]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[grunting]
[breathing heavily]
[glass shatters]
[grunts]
[sighs]
[static crackling]
[ominous music]
[wind whistling]
[sighs]
[lock clicks, door creaks]
[dull thumping]
[thudding]
[grunts]
[object scraping]
[door creaking]
[stairs creaking]
[phone line ringing]
- Hello?
- Hi.
Hi, this is Caroline.
- Oh.
- Yeah, hi.
I'm back home, and--
- Oh.
- Well, actually, I'm back
in the area, and I went home--
- Didn't you call first?
- And--
- You haven't spoken to him?
- Where is he?
- He's really not well.
You do know that, right?
- Yes.
- We've been doing
his shopping for him.
- OK.
Where is he?
- He's very ill.
They had to move him.
Look, when was the last time
you spoke to him?
- OK, do you know
where they moved him?
- I'm not--I'm not sure.
To a--well, a facility.
- [sighs]
Do you know which one?
D-do you know which facility?
Oh, shit.
[sighs]
[object clatters]
OK.
[object clicking]
[groans]
[object thumps]
[metallic clank]
[sighs]
[sighs]
[door clicks shut]
[footsteps tapping]
[birds singing]
[car engine rumbling]
[car door clicks open, slams]
[metallic thud]
[indistinct chatter]
[lock clicking]
[door creaks]
- Thanks for making
the time for this.
- Not at all.
So as you can see,
there's a real wealth
of history.
Not many like these anymore.
- Mm.
- Oh, the electricity's
been turned off
to be friendly
to the environment.
- Henry, get your phone out.
- The first part of this house
was built
at the very beginning
of the Victorian age.
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[static crackling]
[ominous music]
Did you tell anybody that you
were coming here today?
[indistinct chatter]
[static crackling]
- We really just want something
more like a home, you see.
[slapping]
Who would want to come and stay
in a holiday let like this?
[static crackling]
- Might be cheaper
to tear this down
and start with a new build.
- Get out.
- Henry.
- Pardon?
- Get out.
- Henry.
- Get out.
Get out!
- Don't talk like that.
- We don't need you here.
- You can't talk
to us that way!
- Get away!
- Henry!
[heavy breathing]
- Go outside, Sonia.
All right.
You're a small man.
- [sighs]
[whimpers]
[car engine rumbling]
[footsteps tapping]
[sighs]
You shouldn't have this.
I should smash it.
What are you doing?
You've been so hungry,
so hungry, so hungry,
I couldn't keep up.
Why?
Are you full now?
You know, they--you don't know.
You don't understand anything.
They'll gut you.
They'll rip you apart.
They'll--they'll--
they'll turn you
into something without soul.
Something without soul,
something--
strangers coming to and fro.
Or is that what you want?
You want to rot and decay
and turn into rubble?
Turn into a row,
a load of rubble?
[whispering]
I won't let this happen.
I got a letter here.
A CPO.
You know what that is?
They want to take you away.
Take you away from me.
Own you.
Change you.
[sighs]
But I'm going to sort it out.
I'm putting
some money together.
We'll fix you.
That's all they really want.
We'll get them off our backs.
Yes.
Things are hard.
We need to be careful.
We need to slow down.
You...
need me.
[gravel crunching]
[jaunty piano music playing]
[music stops]
- Hello?
Did you put this here?
[sighs]
Why?
You can see me?
And you...understand me?
Where did all these things
come from?
[object clatters]
[wood creaking]
[phone line ringing]
- You've reached
George House Hospice.
We're either busy
at the moment,
or you've reached us
after hours.
Leave your name and number,
and someone
will get back to you shortly.
[phone line beeps]
- Hi, my name's
Caroline Dalgarno.
I am calling to see if you
have someone in care there.
His name is Peter Dalgarno.
If you wouldn't mind,
give me a ring back.
My number is 077-009-00136.
OK, thank you very much.
Bye-bye.
[phone line beeps]
[clears throat, sighs]
Yes.
I was--
I was moving home, actually.
My--my landlord
wanted to renovate,
and there was nowhere else
I could afford, so...
I was hiding everything
by the train station.
I didn't have
anywhere else to put it.
Is that OK?
But I'll leave...soon.
Is he--is he coming back?
Plants...
and clothes
and drawings and some books.
I'm not very good.
I should be better
at perspective,
making things
look three-dimensional.
That's you.
You can just see a little bit.
It's a photograph
taken from the road.
That's your roof.
Yeah, exactly.
They--they take
all these photographs
and put them together
so it feels like
you're walking down the street.
You can go anywhere.
Sometimes when I was at uni,
I would put in my home address
and pretend I was walking
along my road.
It's just a few miles
that way, actually.
I used to come
past here all the time,
but I never came
down this road.
I never knew about you.
[singing]
Familiar places
Familiar people
Always the same
bright sunny day
It's like being a kid again.
We're not--
We're not--
I knew he was ill.
He can be distant.
[phone buzzing]
- Hello, Caroline?
Caroline?
- Yes, hi.
- Oh, hi.
[laughs] Yes.
You all right?
- How are you doing?
- Oh, I'm all right.
Yeah.
I'm all right.
You know, they're--how's uni?
- Yeah, fine. Good.
- Making your wee drawings,
yeah, your wee houses.
I still have that one
from your application,
your portfolio, the--
You keeping safe over there?
- Yeah, of course.
Yeah, everything's fine.
How are you doing?
- I'm all right.
[chuckles] Yeah, I do worry.
I put it out of my head,
of course, but--
I go on my walks,
and I imagine
what you must be getting up to,
going around, living your life.
Did I ever tell you that?
- Dad?
- Sorry, sorry, just had
a wee moment there.
[laughs]
So how are you?
How is uni?
- Yeah, it's fine.
- [laughs]
- It's hard.
- Oh, I know.
You don't have to tell me.
I had an awful time.
I didn't even make it
through a full year.
- I know.
- [laughs]
Remember when we lived
in Auchenblae,
the nice house?
Yeah.
Oh, no, no, that was
before you were born.
[chuckles]
No, Cat was pregnant.
Of course
you wouldn't remember.
That was the best time,
Caroline.
Seeing you on the ultrasound,
so cozy, so safe inside, yeah.
I thought about
that picture of you,
and I wished
you could stay in there
and not go out into the awful,
dangerous world.
Oh.
Oh, dear, oh, dear.
There I go again.
I'm sorry, love.
It's the drugs.
The good shit.
Let me know, and I'll see
if I can hook you up with some.
- I'm gonna come
and see you, Dad.
- Oh, no, no. No, no.
- Yes.
Yeah.
What did they do with all
your composition books?
- No, don't do that.
- No, it's all right.
It's OK.
Where are you?
- No, focus on school,
Caroline.
- Where are you, Dad?
- Oh, I'm just at home.
- You're at home?
- Yeah, I'm sat in the kitchen,
looking out the window.
I've got your little
clay sculpture
here on the windowsill.
Some robins in the bird feeder.
- How many robins?
- Three of them.
- Is it nice there?
- It's beautiful.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I have to go.
Liam at the door.
- OK.
OK, well, I'll see you soon.
- See you soon.
[phone line beeps]
- [sniffles, sighs]
[exhales sharply]
You fixed the window.
[birds singing]
When was that?
Do you remember
a time before that?
You fixed the window.
You can fix yourself.
What do you eat?
Do you know what you are?
Do you know how long
you've been here?
Does--does anyone else
know about you?
What happens to things?
You take them away
and you bring them back.
Where does it go?
[doorknob rattling]
I don't have any money,
but I could walk to him.
It's four hours.
I can do that.
I don't need any of this.
[birds singing]
[soft metallic clank]
[phone buzzing]
This is you.
A slate roof.
Slate ridge tiles.
A lead verge gutter.
Bay window and a French door
up on the gable end.
Top upper windows
with recessed window reveals,
Scottish style,
set back in the cavity
to keep out some of the rain.
In good shape, all in all.
[chuckles]
See how I put lines in
for perspective?
This is the vanishing point...
where it all comes together
and ends.
To the house without an occupant
from the girl without a home.
Thank you.
[door creaks]
[rain pattering]
[thunder rumbling]
[birds singing]
[gravel crunching]
- Just go and open the door.
- Here we go.
[lock clicks, door creaks]
- Want to have a look in here?
Come on, let's have a look.
Wow.
So big.
[gasps]
Can we see
what's out the window?
[baby fussing]
Oh, it's OK.
OK.
It's OK.
Look at the flowers.
[gasps] Wow.
Look at the flowers.
So pretty.
So pretty.
[speaking indistinctly]
Hon?
Can we get a picture?
You OK? Oh.
[baby fusses]
[baby fussing]
You're OK.
Hon, you got my phone?
- Huh?
- You got my phone?
- I don't have it.
- Thank you.
Oh, should we go back?
[gasps]
Can you take it?
- Yeah.
Let's go.
- Go on.
Say cheese.
- Cheese!
[camera shutter snaps]
- Go on, give us a smile, then.
Aw, he's a grump now.
- [sighs, speaks indistinctly]
[baby fusses]
Yeah, I know.
I know. I know.
I know.
[indistinct chatter]
[car engine rumbling]
[rain pattering]
[car door slams]
- Hiya.
- Hi. Are you--
- I'm an officer of the court.
You're the owner
of this property.
- I am the estate agent.
- No, you're the owner,
the inheritor.
You're Duncan Patterson.
I've come about the CPO.
You wrote to the minister
and the council
objecting to the CPO, yeah?
- Said I have 21 days.
- That's right.
You objected to the CPO.
You said you had
fixed the property up...
- That's right.
- And you had
an interested buyer.
- That's right.
- If you do actually
have a buyer,
then that's something
the court needs to know.
That's good news.
- Yes.
- Who is it?
Who's the solicitor
they're working with?
- I need to send it to you
in writing.
- We've sent numerous notices.
I myself have been here several
times trying to track you down,
but you're nowhere to be found.
- Well, I'm here now.
- Yes, you are.
And I'm here to see
if what you said is true.
And clearly, it isn't.
- What are you gonna do with it?
You gonna tear it down?
[ominous rumbling]
- It's uninhabited
and derelict.
- It's not derelict.
- People have reported
vandalism,
broken windows, squatters.
- What?
There's no--
[rumbling continues]
Do you see any broken windows?
- Not currently.
- Or squatters?
- Houses like this
are sitting empty
while people are desperately
needing somewhere to live.
The waiting list
for council housing is full.
- Not here.
Nobody wants to live here.
They want to visit.
They don't want to live here.
- If I'm not able to go--
- Go inside and have a look.
- I'm not here for that.
- Go inside and have a look.
There's nothing wrong with it.
- No.
- Go inside yourself.
[dull thudding]
- Sir.
[panting]
Do not touch me.
- I told you to--
[metallic clatter]
[footsteps tapping]
- [breathing heavily]
[door creaks]
I--I'm so sorry.
No, I'm really sorry.
I just need to get
my--my phone.
- Hiya.
- [gasps]
[breathing heavily]
- It's all right.
I just want to talk to you.
Come outside, please.
What have you been
doing in there?
- Oh, no, I haven't--
I just saw
the door was open.
I'm sorry.
[laughs nervously]
- It's all right.
Well, come out now.
You've been staying in here,
haven't you?
I'm the owner.
But that's all right.
- I need my phone.
- Your phone?
- Yeah.
I just--I just need to get
my phone, and then I'll go.
- You can use my phone.
What do you need?
Do you need a lift?
- No, no.
- I've got money.
It's all right.
- [laughs]
- I just want to help.
I can help you get
whatever you want.
[growls]
- [panting]
[grunts]
[static crackling]
[panting]
[ominous rumbling]
- [grunts]
- OK.
- [groans] Stop! Stop!
Be quiet!
[both grunting]
[static crackling]
- [whimpering]
[both panting]
[rumbling fades]
- [mumbling]
Don't listen.
Please.
Don't listen to it.
Please.
- [whimpers]
[static crackling]
What more could I have done?
Please.
Please.
Please!
- [breathing heavily]
- Hello, love.
Sorry to call you again
like this.
It's just, well...
there are a lot of things,
a lot of things
I thought I wanted to say.
When I finally heard your voice,
oh, it was so nice.
I couldn't think
of how to say it.
[chuckles]
I was afraid. I was.
I was.
Ever since you were born.
And it made me--
My own father, you know,
he wasn't a very good father.
I don't think his father
had been a very good father.
And I tried to be different.
I chose coldness, distance.
And I think--
I think that was wrong too.
I think about you
living your life,
and it's like
being young again.
It's like being born again.
And I'm not afraid now.
Not at all.
I'm not in here.
I'm out there,
out there living.
You're me, aren't you?
Oh, I'm telling you,
Caroline, these drugs, oof,
they're something else.
I've been feeling
a little poorly.
I've been--
well, the nice people here,
the nice people
who have been helping me,
they think I could stop
all the medication,
the pills,
just sort of...rest.
Sedation is what it--
palliative sedation.
I've been thinking about it,
but I wanted to,
you know,
just one last time, well--
yeah, so I might not
be able to speak again.
[chuckles]
Oh, dear, oh, dear.
I wish I'd been closer to you.
Just a silly man.
- [sobs]
- You'll figure it out,
won't you?
[chuckles]
So lovely to hear
your voice earlier.
Hope all's well.
[line beeps]
- A vanishing point...
where it all
comes together...
and ends.
Where do people go
when they disappear?
I could stay.
I have nowhere else.
No one will miss me.
Let me stay.
Let me go inside.
Please.
[sighs]
[door clicks open, creaks]
[footsteps tapping]
[door creaks]
[playful music]
[somber music]
[train rumbling softly]
- This is the 5:02 service
to Edinburgh Waverley.
Calling at Carnoustie, Dundee...
- Tickets, please.
- Cupar, Haymarket,
and Edinburgh Waverley.
- Wee project, eh?
- Yeah.
I am an architect student.
- All right.
Tickets, please.
- He's right.
I do this thing with my eyebrows
when I know I need
to acknowledge
what someone's saying
but I don't want to engage
and I have nothing to say.
Just like him.
All these little
bits of our lives
through the darkness
of history.
We're repositories of millions
of lives and stories
reconstructed
into something that thinks
it's new and unique.
And maybe that's it.
Maybe that's all.
An old ghost in a new house.
That's him.
Are you comfortable?
[tranquil piano music]