The Murmuring story
Nancy and Edgar Bradley are ornithologists studying bird murmurations and who recently lost their daughter Ava. They go to a remote country home to continue their studies and get away from their grief. Nancy begins seeing ghostly apparitions of a crying boy and a screaming angry woman. Edgar believes these visions are from the strain of her grief, which Nancy's kept inside all throughout. Nancy learns that the former owner, Claudette, drowned her son and committed suicide. During a fight over these visions, Edgar expresses frustration over Nancy never crying following Ava's death, nor wishing to talk about it, and his hopelessness over their strained relationship. Despondent, he leaves for his research site the next morning. Alone, Nancy is chased by Claudette's screaming ghost and hears her son crying that his mother is angry with him. Comforting him, Nancy encourages him to run into her arms. He does, finally passing on. Nancy then witnesses Claudette committing suicide, realizing that her angry screams were in despair over drowning her son. Claudette's spirit is carried by an enormous bird murmuration, which envelops Nancy, allowing her to finally cry and confront her grief. She contacts a relieved Edgar, saying she is finally ready to talk about Ava. Cast: Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln, Hannah Galway Directed by: Jennifer Kent. Story by: Jennifer Kent, Guillermo del Toro.
16 total · 4 choice · 6 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coming to terms with things | choice | Nancy had to let go of Ava on order to move on and mend her relationship with Edgar. |
| coping with the death of a child | choice | Nancy had to let go of Ava on order to move on and mend her relationship with Edgar. Similarly, the ghost boy had to somehow let go of the conflicted attachment he had to his mother that had murdered him, in order to "step into the light" and move on. The mother moved on in the opposite direction, one assumes. |
| ghost | choice | The unnatural behavior of the birds Nancy and Edgar were studying turned out to be due to the birds sensing, or communicating with, two ghosts that inhabited the little island, and specifically the house, where the study was being conducted. |
| letting go of the past | choice | Nancy had to let go of Ava on order to move on and mend her relationship with Edgar. Similarly, the ghost boy had to somehow let go of the conflicted attachment he had to his mother that had murdered him, in order to "step into the light" and move on. The mother moved on in the opposite direction, one assumes. |
| animal behavior | major | A recurring theme alluded to in the title was the "murmuring" behavior, not well understood by science, of certain bird species. |
| catharsis | major | The story builds up to Nancy unbottling her long pent up emotions, stemming from the tragic death of her young daughter. |
| disintegrating romantic relationship | major | Nancy and Edgar were coping with the death of their daughter Ava, and trying to find a way to save their fraught relationship that was teetering on its last strand. |
| haunted house | major | The house where Nancy and Edgar had been put up turned out to be haunted by the ghosts of a mother and the son she had cruelly murdered. |
| husband and wife | major | Nancy and Edgar were coping with the death of their daughter Ava, and trying to find a way to save their fraught relationship that was teetering on its last strand. |
| reconciliation | major | The story concluded with Nancy and Edgar agreeing to finally talk about Ava and mend their all but fatally ruined relationship. |