The Banshees of Inisherin · written by Martin McDonagh · 2022

Padraic stacks fuel around Colm’s house and lights it, leaving the dog outside.

Scene 153 of 174 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Climax

Act oneAct two

Begins 1:28 into a 1:35 film

The story so farBefore scene 153

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.
Scenes 92–128
The cost accumulates through more self-mutilation, Padraic’s cruelty, Siobhan’s departure, and the feud’s growing consequences.
Scene 129
Padraic finds Jenny dead after Colm’s thrown fingers reach the house, making the feud’s cost intimate and irreversible.
Scene 137
After Jenny’s death, Padraic rejects Colm’s offered truce and promises to burn his house, choosing retaliation.
Just before
Scene 150
Padraic rides away with the animals watching as Siobhan asks him to come.
Scene 151
Padraic passes Mrs McCormick by the lake while Siobhan’s letter continues.
Scene 152
Padraic pauses above Colm’s smoking cottage, then rides down.
Scene 153
This scene

153EXT. COLM’S HOUSE - DAY

COLM’s dog is outside on the grass, as PADRAIC gets down from the cart and WITHOUT EVER LOOKING IN THE WINDOWS, pulls all the wood from the cart, stacks it at the door and under the windows, and splashes paraffin over it and up the walls to the thatched roof.

He lights all four oil lamps that are still on the cart, then notices COLM’s dog looking up at him, confused...

So he lifts the dog onto the back of the cart... then takes the first lit lamp and SMASHES IT at the door, which goes up in flames, SMASHES the second under the window, and SMASHES THE REST against the other windows and under the thatch, all of which also go up...

The dog is standing staring on the cart now, agitated and confused, as the house is engulfed in flames. PADRAIC pats the animals to reassure them, and is about to lead the cart * away, when... *

The sound of the clock inside the house CHIMING TWO is * heard...

...and PADRAIC stops, ponders a moment... then goes and looks * in one of the burning windows for the first time...