12 Years a Slave · written by John Ridley and Steve McQueen · 2013

Epps drags Patsey into the field, assaults her, then beats and whips her when she refuses to respond.

Scene 143 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:33 into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 143

After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.

Scenes 1–29
Solomon lives freely in Saratoga as a husband, father, worker, and musician.
Scenes 30–65
Kidnapped and held under the imposed name Platt, Solomon must preserve his life and identity.
Scenes 66–123
He enters plantation life under Ford, passes through Tibeats’s violence and the near-lynching, and is transferred to Epps.
Scene 124
Solomon is transferred to Epps’s plantation and placed among Patsey and the enslaved workers, opening the harsher final plantation phase.
Just before
Scene 140
Epps chases Solomon, who runs from him; Solomon later recounts the episode to Mistress Epps.
Scene 141
Henry collapses in the field from the heat; Edward throws water on him instead of letting him drink, and Henry is sent back to work.
Scene 142
Epps wakes the enslaved workers at night and silently singles Patsey out; Phebe begins to cry at what she knows is coming.
Scene 143
This scene

143EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - NIGHT

WE MAKE A HARD CUT TO THE FIELD. Lit by moonlight, the cotton sets off an otherworldly glow. Into this space Epps is dragging Patsey. Far out into the field, he stops, stands as if gathering his manhood, then he's all over Patsey. He is rough and clumsy. It looks like something between an awkward rape and a virgin attempting his first sexual encounter.

Patsey does not respond in any way other than to continually turn her head from Epps, but otherwise remain as still as possible. If there is such a thing, she is vicious with her passive aggressiveness.

Epps's frustration mounts until - as the Mistress Shaw had cautioned - he crosses the line from passion to violence. He begins slapping Patsey to get a response from her. When that fails, he punches her which only leads to him taking up his whip and lashing Patsey MERCILESSLY. Still, she gives him nothing. Beaten, Patsey sits in the dirt among the cotton, Epps deep breathing above her. The desire for sex now having left him.

Epps heads from the field. Patsey is left where she is.