The Banshees of Inisherin · written by Martin McDonagh · 2022

Padraic follows Siobhan and sees Colm pass with every finger gone.

Scene 121 of 174 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Five-Act Structure: Climax
Padraic
Siobhan *
Siobhan

Act oneAct two

Begins 1:16 into a 1:35 film

The story so farBefore scene 121

In 1923 on Inisherin, Padraic tries to restore his friendship with Colm after Colm suddenly cuts him off, but Colm’s escalating demand for solitude draws their neighbors into a costly feud.

Scenes 1–14
Padraic inhabits an easy routine of animals, home, pub, and daily companionship with Colm.
Scenes 15–40
Colm’s rejection exposes Padraic’s dependence on the friendship and raises the possibility that his easy manner is part of the problem.
Scenes 41–50
Padraic asks the priest to put in a word; Colm then gives Padraic a concrete threat against further contact.
Scenes 51–79
Padraic navigates gossip, violence, loneliness, and attempted apologies while trying to understand Colm’s terms.
Scenes 80–91
Colm’s first missing finger makes his demand for silence undeniable; Siobhan returns the finger and asks what would end the feud.
Just before
Scene 118
Siobhan tells Padraic she is leaving; he follows her from the pub.
Scene 119
In the empty house, Colm approaches through fog and throws an object at Padraic’s door.
Scene 120
Colm throws his severed fingers at Padraic’s empty house.
Scene 121
This scene

121EXT. HIGH LANEWAYS - DAY

PADRAIC following SIOBHAN through the fog as she strides along.

PADRAIC

But what about me?

SIOBHAN *

What about you? *

PADRAIC

I’ll have no friends at all left.

SIOBHAN

You’ll have Dominic.

PADRAIC

Ah here! And he’s gone off me now too.

What kind of a place is it when the

village gom goes off ya? *

(pause)

And who’s going to do the cooking?!

SIOBHAN

That’s your first question, is it?

“Who’s going to do the cooking?”

PADRAIC

Well it wasn’t me first question, was

it? “But what about me?” was me first

question.

She gives him a look, and just then...

OUT OF THE SWIRLING FOG, COLM distantly appears, perhaps in SLOWMO, clambering over walls and thru fields, a strange lonesome figure getting closer to them, but there’s something weird or lopsided about him.

PADRAIC waves & goes to call out but SIOBHAN stops him, as it’s only now that they see the blood pouring from his left hand, all its fingers gone...

SIOBHAN

Oh God, no...!

As COLM clambers painfully over the wall onto the lane they’re on, falls, gets up, approaches... and passes them, without even acknowledging their presence.

And they watch him go, appalled at the fingerless, bloody hand and the blood-trail it’s left, as he gets further away, clambers over another wall, and disappears into the fog, SLOWMO ending.