The Banshees of Inisherin · written by Martin McDonagh · 2022

Colm supposes the burned house may make them quits; Padraic explicitly says it does not.

Scene 172 of 174 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act three

Colm
Padraic

Act oneAct two

Begins 1:33 into a 1:35 film

The story so farBefore scene 172

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.
Scenes 129–153
After Jenny’s death Padraic abandons his former gentleness and carries the feud back to Colm’s house.
Just before
Scene 169
Padraic walks his animals above Colm’s smouldering house and follows the dog to the beach.
Scene 170
Colm embraces his dog on the beach as Padraic approaches.
Scene 171
Mrs McCormick watches Colm and Padraic from beside the ruins.
Scene 172
This scene

172EXT. BEACH - CONTINUOUS

COLM lets the dog go, and looks out to sea, the dog slightly confused between him and PADRAIC.

COLM

I suppose me house makes us quits.

PADRAIC

If you’d stayed in your house, that

would’ve made us quits. But you didn’t,

did ya, so it doesn’t, does it?

COLM

(pause)

That finger of mine Siobhan brought

back... just for the laugh I pinned it

back on with a couple of thumb tacks...

COLM reveals his mouldy index finger pinned in place on his hand - it’s black and rotten, & blood seeps painfully from the tacks where it’s pinned. PADRAIC looks at it, blankly, then back out to sea.

COLM (CONT'D)

I only did it for the laugh, like. It’s

already gone rotten.

PADRAIC

(It matches the rest of you, so.)

COLM

(pause)

I’m sorry about your donkey, Padraic.

Honestly I am.

PADRAIC

If you ate that finger, like Jenny ate

your finger, that’d show you were sorry.

COLM

It wouldn’t show I was sorry. It’d show

I was mental.

PADRAIC

G’wan! Eat it, ya lump!

COLM unpins his finger painfully, then tosses it high into the sea, the dog disappointed. PADRAIC remains unmoved.

COLM

(What’s that thing they say about vengeance...?) *

PADRAIC

(I don’t fucking care, you fat ginger pig! *

(pause)

You’re just talk.) *

(pause)

I was nice, before all this. I don’t

know what I am now.

COLM

You’re still nice.