Maelstrom (1985) s01e06 Episode Script

(Gramophone instrumental music) Ingrid? Ingrid! There's no point in hiding.
I know you're here.
I want to talk to you.
(Spooky music) (Sudden gasp) (Opening credit music) (Creaking) Hjalmar didn't tell me about you, you know? But then, when a man has a bastard by another woman he's not likely to let his wife in on the secret, is he? I can see the likeness.
I did from the first moment I saw you, that night on the coastal steamer.
But you're no match for the two girls I had by him, Anna-Marie and Ingrid are far more beautiful than you are.
(Key turns) Open the door! Anna-Marie, please open the door! And there it is again.
Despite the otherwise consistent flow of linkage in the rest of the writing, in each case, the letter N is not connected to the next letter.
And it's the same throughout.
That's the most obvious proof, that and the general pattern of pressures in the structure of the arcades, especially in the earliest entries.
I was right, then? That the diary and one of those signatures was written by the same hand? In my opinion, yes.
But there's more to it than that.
What do you mean? In no way is this diary a calculated forgery.
At the time that the writer made those entries, she was, at that moment, a completely different person.
She'd taken on another identity, become someone else.
It's very clear evidence of advanced schizophrenia.
It's a very rare condition, to that degree, at least.
But not unprecedented? Oh, by no means.
There are a number of well-documented case histories where this form of complete personality transfer has occurred.
You're positive about this, are you, Professor? Like your fingerprints, your hand writing is unique.
No matter how you were taught to write as a child, by the time you're an adult, the way you write is exclusive to you.
Reflecting your character, your personality and, at any given time, it's an indicator of your mental state.
Now of course, anyone can copy someone else's handwriting, but it's extremely difficult to sustain over several pages of text.
Sooner or later, your style will betray you, and that's what's happened here.
This woman needs psychiatric care and help, and quickly.
You mean she's insane? Insanity's not a word that appears in the psychiatric lexicon, my dear Bjornson, but yes.
Perhaps dangerously so.
And not only to herself.
Now look, see the breaks between the N's and the A? (Phone ringing) (Phone ringing) Why did you do that? Why did you lock me in here for all this time? You found my diary.
Yes.
And that man Bjornson read it to you.
Yes, he did.
I know, Anna-Marie told me.
Where is my diary? It's at the farmhouse.
Come back with me and I'll give it to you.
(Giggles) (Humming) (Humming) I saw you get on the plane.
You came back.
Why? What do you want? Don't go.
I don't want you to go.
I have to go.
If I don't get back soon, Anders will come looking for me.
Do you think I'm beautiful? Yes, very.
Jordahl thought I was beautiful.
That's why he married me, to have a beautiful wife to go with all his money.
I was only 19 when we got married.
He was old, too old.
It was a mistake, a terrible mistake.
These are beautiful too, aren't they? Here, feel the material.
Feel it! It 's puure silk.
This one's my favourite, and it's Anna-Marie's favourite too.
- Do you like it? - Yes, it's lovely.
Try this one on.
No thanks.
- Put it on.
- Another time.
I've got to go.
Put it on.
I want to see if it suits you.
All right.
You have a nice body.
Do you like men touching you? I like being touched.
Not by Jordahl though, I didn't like that.
Not at the beginning, even, and then later, I couldn't bear it.
But there are others he didn't know about, of course.
Lots of them, and I liked them touching me.
Kiss me.
If it fits, and you like it, you can have it.
(Thoughtful music) Oh, it looks nice on you.
But you don't like it, do you? Yes, I do.
It's very pretty.
I don't like it.
It reminds me of I don't know what it reminds me of.
Why can't I remember? It doesn't matter.
You can have it.
Thank you, but I must give you something in return.
I'll tell you what, come back with me to the farmhouse and I'll give you the diary.
I've written about you in my diary.
I know.
You shouldn't have come here, you shouldn't.
And it was wrong and wicked of Jordahl to put you in his will.
What right have you to anything of his? It all belongs to Anna-Marie and Ingrid.
You shouldn't have been mentioned, not his bastard, you shouldn't have been mentioned.
Then it would have been all right.
He did it to humiliate me, to humiliate them.
How long was your mother my husband's mistress? Tell me.
I have the right to know.
Anna-Marie, listen to me, stop Do you like music? I love music.
(Gramophone instrumental music) This is my favourite.
It's very old.
When I was a little girl, I remember, I think perhaps it wasn't me.
Oh, it's lovely, isn't it? Why did you burn my paintings? Listen to me, Anna-Marie, you must stop this.
What? Listen, the children, they're crying, we've woken them up.
All this noise, we've woken them up.
I'm coming, my darlings, I'm coming! Oh don't cry, don't cry.
Mama's here, mama's here.
There-there, there-there.
Oh, aren't I lucky to have such lovely children? And they're so good.
Well, most of the time.
Not always though, Anna-Marie's quite naughty sometimes, aren't you my darling? She killed her father, you know? That was extremely naughty of her.
But then, he deserved it.
Hjalmar Jordahl was a bad man.
He said wicked things to her.
Threatened to have her shut away somewhere, said she wasn't well.
Told her she took after me, and that I was mad.
But that's not true, that was never true.
And of course Anna-Marie was angry about that, and frightened.
So she hit him with an oar.
And she took him out on the fjord in a storm and overturned the boat.
Everyone thought he'd been drowned.
It was extremely naughty of her, wasn't it? But very clever, don't you think? (Creaking of rocking chair) Damn! (Boat engine) Help! Help! Help! Help! Please! Help! (Footsteps in heels) (Doorbell) (Ingrid) Catherine? Catherine? (Anna-Marie) That's it.
Go on, swim.
You can make it.
Go on, swim, it's the only way.
Don't be afraid.
You can do it.
Go on, swim, you can do it.
No? Doesn't matter.
Anyway, it's time for tea.
(Crying) (Gramophone instrumental music) There you are.
No, you can't have tea, Anna-Marie, it's not good for you.
Only grown-ups drink tea.
Drink your milk, there's a good girl.
What's that you said, Ingrid? Yes, you're right.
It's very rude of her to keep staring at you.
It's very rude to stare.
Then she thinks you're crazy.
That you painted that picture of her, and that you want to hurt her.
Yes, she does, she really does.
- Cake? - Thank you.
Look, I really must go so on, I'm afraid.
Erm.
Can you take me? Yes.
Of course I will.
But it's early yet.
And it's midsummer's eve.
We must build a bonfire! (Phone ringing) Come on! Bigger pieces than that! We want a really good bonfire, don't we? (Rattle of pills) - What are they? They're to help you to sleep.
This business has upset you.
And you don't get enough rest as it is.
- I'll give them to Gerda.
- I'm not a child.
(Doorbell) Who's this? (Anders) I have to see Miss Linderman.
(Gerda) I'm sorry, you can't - Oh, I know that car.
- (Anders) It's very important.
Well, I'll ask if she's in.
No, you mustn't! I told you, you can't come in! I'm sorry, Miss Linderman, but I have to talk to you.
I told him you had someone with you.
You're the young man who drove Catherine Durrell here the other day, aren't you? Yes.
Good evening, Dr Albrigsten.
Good evening.
- You know him? - Yes.
Mr Bjornson works for Sunnmorsposten.
- You're a journalist? - Yes.
But I'm not here on behalf of the paper.
What do you want? It's a private matter.
Well in that case, unless you want me to stay? No, don't go, doctor.
This concerns you too.
Well? Catherine brought this diary to you, and you identified the handwriting as Freya Jordahl's.
I've nothing more to say about that.
Nothing, to anyone.
Please go away.
I don't think you realise what's been happening to Catherine since she arrived in Alesund.
Almost from that first day, she's been persistently harassed.
Twice she has seen a woman masquerading as your dead niece.
An attempt was made to kill her.
She said nothing to me about this.
Or to me.
At the outset, I didn't believe it either but I'm quite certain now.
And that same woman tried to murder her.
And now we all know that it can't have been Freya Jordahl.
Just as we know that that is not Freya's diary.
But to make sure, I took it to Oslo and showed it to the leading clinical psychologist in Norway.
He is convinced, that Anna-Marie wrote all that in her mother's handwriting.
And she's a dangerous schizophrenic.
Oh dear God, dear God.
You surely don't expect us, or anyone else, to give any credence Professor Solberg is prepared to testify if necessary.
I knew it.
I knew it.
It's happening all over again.
What is? What's happening all over again? Nothing.
Miss Linderman has been under considerable stress for some time now.
She's confused.
She meant that Anna-Marie is suffering from the same kind of mental breakdown her mother had, didn't she? - You knew about that? - Yes.
Oh yes, of course, Catherine told you, didn't she? In strictest confidence.
Look, can't we discuss this somewhere else? At some other time, perhaps? No, I'm afraid we can't.
There is a very important question that has to be answered.
And I think there's a good chance Miss Linderman may be able to do that.
It's clear from the diary that Anna-Marie's hatred for Catherine stems from her belief that Catherine is Hjalmar Jordahl's illegitimate child.
Is she? How could Miss Linderman possibly be expected to know that? She's more likely to know the truth than anyone else.
She and Jordahl lived through the tragedy of his wife's illness together.
If he confided in anyone, it has to be her.
- Does it really matter? - Yes, of course! Catherine has to be told unequivocally one way or the other.
And if it isn't true, and if somehow Anna-Marie can be made to accept that fact, well then, perhaps that might be the beginning of a successful course of treatment for her.
Well, Miss Linderman? Is it true? No, it isn't true.
Catherine Durrell is not Hjalmar Jordahl's bastard.
She is Freya's child.
(Astrid) Hjalmar told me that he fell in love with Freya the first moment he saw her in the National Gallery, in Oslo.
She was there doing some research on her studies.
And he was filling in time between meetings.
He persuaded her to have dinner with him and it was when he brought her home that night, that I first met him.
He should have returned to Alesund the next day, but he stayed on to see her again.
But he didn't say anything to her about how he felt.
And finally he went home, and tried to forget her.
But it didn't work, and so a year later when he was back in Oslo, he called at my house to see her.
But Freya wasn't there, she was in hospital.
She'd tried to kill herself.
But she can't have been more than She was just 18.
She attempted suicide at that age? Why? The student that she'd been having an affair with had deserted her, and she was three months pregnant.
Hjalmar was wonderful to her, he visited her every day and when she was released from hospital, he made a great fuss of her.
And they became very close.
And then he asked her to marry him.
By this time she'd become very fond of him and she was very grateful to him too, I think.
Anyway, she agreed.
But he made one condition.
That although he had asked her not to have an abortion, he was not prepared to take on the responsibility and caring of a child that wasn't his.
So if they were to marry, he insisted, that after the baby was born, that it was adopted.
And she was quite happy about that? Yes, she was all for it.
And as it happened, an ex-pupil of mine called Kirsten Enger was planning on adoption at that time.
She had been married to an Englishman for more than three years, and was still childless.
Both she and her husband Richard Durrell desperately wanted a baby.
And then Kirsten was told that she could never have any.
When I told Hjalmar about the Durrells, he asked me to get in touch with them, because to him, the idea of their having the child had two great advantages.
The baby would be going to a mother that I knew and could vouch for, and the adoption could be done without going through the official channels.
And then that meant that no-one apart from us three would ever know, that Freya had had a child before her marriage to Jordahl.
So, Freya had the baby, and then it was handed over almost immediately, to Kirsten.
The Durrells registered the little girl in their name with the British Embassy, and six months later - they went home to England.
- And they never - returned to this country? - No.
Why don't we forget about this one? Oh no, the children would be so disappointed.
Well we could take them to see one of the really big bonfires.
They'd like that much better.
- Do you really think so? - I'm sure of it.
Yes.
Yes, I think you're right.
Let's do that.
Give me the keys and I'll bring the boat round to this side of the island.
Good idea.
(Thump) Uhh! (Sinister music) Did Freya know who her baby had gone to? No.
The Durrells didn't know who the real mother was either.
Just that it was a girl from a good family, who didn't want to keep it.
I kept in touch with Kirsten, though, and right from the start Hjalmar was anxious that I should keep him informed about the child.
Which I did for many years.
Long after Catherine had left school, and he always wanted to know exactly what had happened to her.
Which has to be why she was in his will.
Hjalmar obviously felt he'd robbed her of something, which if he hadn't insisted on her being adopted would have been hers by right.
He wanted to make amends.
That must be the only explanation.
Did Freya show the same kind of interest in the baby? No, not in the beginning.
Not even a casual interest.
And for two or three years after their marriage she and Hjalmar seemed to be very happy together.
Then, shortly after Ingrid's birth, she changed.
She became very introverted, and obsessed with her first child.
She questioned Hjalmar endlessly, demanding to know what had become of her.
What did he tell her? Only that she was well and happy, and he assured her of that.
But he begged her to put the child out of her mind and to forget everything that had happened in the past.
But she wouldn't, or couldn't.
And then, as she became more and more disturbed, she started to accuse him of robbing her of the child and claiming that he'd forced her to give it up against her will.
Is that when she started collecting dolls? - Yes.
- And eventually, she became totally deranged? I did what I could for her, but of course I didn't know anything about this.
If I had, I doubt it would have made any difference.
And Hjalmar refused to have her hospitalised.
Instead, he bought Jordahlsholmen and installed her in the house on the island.
I gave up my job to look after her because by then, she couldn't bear Hjalmar to be near her.
Or the children around her.
Except there were times when she was almost her old self again.
But they got fewer and fewer and then, at the end.
She finally succeeded in committing suicide.
No.
Astrid, no more.
That's enough.
I can't carry the burden any longer, Arne.
I can't.
It's - it's too heavy.
From time to time, Hjalmar used to cross to the island late at night.
And then we could talk and I could tell him how Freya was getting along.
We both thought that she didn't know about his visits.
And then, one night when he was returning to his boat, she was waiting in hiding for him and she tried to kill him with an axe.
Fortunately, he was able to disarm her and he wasn't hurt.
But then we knew there was no longer any alternative.
She was homicidal, she had to be put away.
So after Hjalmar had gone I I gave her an overdose of the phenobarbital that Arne had prescribed for her.
You see, Freya did not take her own life.
I killed her.
(Children's voices) You guessed what she'd done, of course? She told me she'd given Freya an overdose.
She saw it as a mercy killing.
- That's true, I suppose.
- Yes.
The way things were.
It was a kindness, anyway.
That's why I didn't report it.
Will she be all right? Gerda will look after her and I'll come back again later and make sure.
Where are you going now? To the Nilsens', I'm meeting Catherine there, and they have to know about all this too.
Well, most of it anyway.
I'll come with you.
(Light music and chatter) I've known about Anna-Marie for a long time, but I never realised things had gone this far.
Did you know she was going across to the island regularly? Yes, I followed her once and saw her playing with the dolls, dressed in mother 's clothes.
Ingrid, why didn't you tell me about this at the time? How could I? How could I tell anyone that my sister was going out of her mind? And if I had, what would you have done about it? Made sure that she'd received treatment.
- Had her committed, you mean? - If necessary.
- Exactly.
- So you just kept quiet? And whenever she went to the house, you tided up after her? And then Catherine came and moved into Jordahlsholmen.
Well, that worried me so I tried to buy the place from her.
Were you aware of what was going on? No, only that Ingrid was very distressed and obviously bottling something up.
I tried to get her talk to me about it, but she wouldn't.
I wanted to, but I couldn't share a secret like that, even with you.
And after Catherine was nearly drowned and you found those marks on our boat.
I realised that it had to be Anna-Marie who tried to kill her.
And if I'd said anything to you, you might have gone to the police.
Didn't it occur to you, that by taking your boat that night she was implicating you? She's been using you to cover her tracks all along.
She even painted a grotesque portrait of Catherine in your style and left it for her to find.
Yes, I know.
Did she see it? Yes.
I hoped she hadn't, that's why I took it away.
We both inherited some artistic talent from our mother, Catherine too, probably.
But there was something in my pictures that frightened me.
And it wasn't until I discovered that was happening with Anna-Marie that I knew what it was.
So I stopped and burned everything I'd done.
Except this one.
And when I saw the hate in that portrait well, I knew then that I couldn't keep it all to myself any longer.
So I drove out to Jordahlsholmen this afternoon to warn Catherine.
She wasn't home, though.
And where is she now, for God's sake? Can I use your phone? Of course, yes.
Use the one in the study.
Thanks.
Are you OK? So what'll happen about Anna-Marie? She'll be properly looked after.
Can she be cured? Who knows? Hopefully.
(Humming) She's not there.
There was no sign of her when you drove out there? She was on the island.
I saw her boat on the beach.
I'm going out there.
She can't have come to any harm.
Anna-Marie is in Bergen.
Is she? Or is that what she wants everyone to think? It'll be quicker by boat.
(Spooky music) Now, you just sit there quietly.
Hmm? And watch the pretty bonfire.
(Rattle of matches) (Clock ticking) (Sinister music) (Sinister music) Oh my God! So, so.
Don't be frightened.
The fire won't hurt you.
I won't let it.
(Coughing) Anna-Marie, let me out! Let me out, please! (Coughing) What have you done? Where's Catherine? Where's Catherine? Oh, you murderous bitch! (Anders) Catherine? Catherine!? Catherine? Anna-Marie, what have you done? What have you done? What have you done? You see? She came here to cause trouble.
His bastard! She's not wanted, she's not wanted! I had to do it, to protect Anna-Marie and Ingrid.
To protect us all! But she's not Father's child, she's not related to him in any way.
She's our mother's child, born before she married Jordahl.
Yes, she's Freya's child.
It's true.
No.
No, you're trying to trick me.
She can't be.
She's mine? Mine? No.
You're not Freya.
You're Anna-Marie Jordahl.
(Lars) Freya was your mother, and Catherine's mother too.
She's my baby, she's my baby! Catherine, Catherine! Anna-Marie, come back! (Coughing) (Coughing) The key! Give me the key! You're my baby.
What have I done? You're my baby.
(Coughing) I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.
It'll be all right, I promise.
It'll be alright.
(Crying) - Anna-Marie! - No Lars, don't! She's still in there, she'll be killed.
(Ingrid) What hope is there for her? What kind of life would she have? We can't inflict that on her! (Explosion) (Crying) Forgive me, forgive me! (Crying) Mama? Mama? Mama, help me! (Timber creaking) (Screams) (Theme music) (Coughing) (Theme music) (Norwegian) (Crying) (Theme music) - How is she? - Oh, she'll be fine.
You sat up through the night with her? Yes, she slept.
I gave her a very strong sedative.
Now, you should rest.
Later.
What will you tell her? The truth, and hope that she can take it.
Not easy for her, though, suddenly discovering her mother died insane.
And that that insanity was passed on to her half-sister.
There's no conclusive evidence of direct biological transmission of mental disorders.
Just the same.
May I see her? She asked for you.
Astrid Linderman is dead.
Sleeping tablets.
Poor woman.
(Creaking door) (Church bells) - Thank you.
- What for? For saying nothing, for letting it all just be a tragic accident.
Well, in a way, it was.
An accident of birth.
(Norwegian) - How are you feeling? - Better.
I imagine you'll be going back to England soon.
No, I'm staying.
My mother was Kirsten Enger.
Freya Jordahl is just a portrait.
I've no past here, doctor, only a future.
I think she knows where to go.
(Credit music)