The Unseeable
Would you like me to carry it inside?
It's all right.
Thanks.
Could you please wait here a minute?
Yes.
Hey watch where're you going!
You knocked it all over the place!
I'm so sorry.
What a waste...
Well, forget it.
You're from the country, aren't you?
Yes.
How can you tell?
It's written all over that dim-witted face of
yours that you're from the sticks.
My name is Choy, I live here.
Are you looking for a room?
Yes.
Let me get it.
Thanks.
I'll take you to see Miss Somjit, she's the
caretaker.
If she lets you stay, you can keep me
company.
Only a few people live here. It's lonely as hell.
Anyway, where are you from? What's your
name?
My name is Nualjan,
I came from Cholburi.
I've come to the capital to look for my husband
who's disappeared.
I've been looking all over but haven't found a
single clue,
and I don't have any friends...
or relatives to turn to.
Stop it!
Who asked you to jabber on about your life
story?
You certainly are a talker,
but I don't have time for your melodrama.
This place is not a criminals' den...
for homeless trash or peasant girls to come
and go at will,
especially...
those who're about to drop their kids like you.
It'd be scandalous if you had it here.
Madame wouldn't be so pleased.
Well...
Miss Somjit...
Please have sympathy for Nualjan.
Shut up, Choy!
You can voice your opinion...
after you've sorted out your own mess.
Count your blessings that the Madame is nice
enough to take you in.
Otherwise you'd still be out on the street.
Anyway...
my heart isn't made of stone.
Since it's getting dark,
I'll let you stay for a while.
But once you find a new place to stay,
you must get out immediately.
Choy.
Take her away.
Give her the room next to yours.
Yes, ma'm.
I won't forget your kindness.
Wait!
I'm warning you...
not to go messing around near the main
house.
That's the private quarters of Madame
Ranjuan, the owner of this property.
She doesn't like any servants nosing around
there.
Remember that.
Who's that?
Who's there?
Who's there?
Wait!
Don't cry my love.
I'll go away just for a few days.
When I finish my business I'll come back for
you.
I don't want you to go away.
I'll miss you.
We have never been apart for a single day.
What is this business of yours? Why can't I
come with you?
It's very important.
Please believe me.
Don't cry,
it's not good for the baby.
You must hurry back.
I'll be waiting here.
Yes.
Take good care of yourself.
I have to go now.
Yes.
Yes, I'm coming.
I'm beating the door down.
You must be sleeping.
Are you going to stay in the sack all day?
You know, they say you'll go crazy...
if you keep yourself holed up in the room all
day.
Who's this?
Your husband?
He's lovely.
But he looks melancholy.
He looks like...
Are you blushing?
Nualjan, pardon me if I'm being nosy.
But can I ask you something?
Since when did you last saw your husband?
Almost a year ago.
He left just when I was pregnant.
Don't stress over it.
I really feel sorry for you.
Look at me.
I was all alone, I used to wander the city
without a bed or breakfast.
I didn't even have a home to go back to.
Lucky that the Madame took me in
and gave me a place to sleep and something
to eat.
I couldn't ask for more.
Want some?
Choy...
who's the old woman in the shack at the back
of the garden?
So you've seen her.
That crone is Grandma Erb.
She's been living here forever.
A crazy old hag.
During the day she locks herself up in her
shack.
She never talks to anybody.
But at night she comes out and shuffles
around the garden.
Pay her no attention.
She's nuts.
And another thing...
Last night I also saw someone digging in the
garden.
Who was that?
So you saw him?
I've seen him too.
It gives me the creeps just talking about it.
This house is full of spooky stuff,
especially that crumbling shrine in the garden.
Every two weeks...
Madame Ranjuan tells Miss Somjit to bring
offerings
to the spirit there.
Since I've lived here...
I've never seen the Madame in person.
But on many nights I see a pale scrawny
hand...
reaching out from the shrine to take the
offerings.
It's not just in this house.
Someone told me that at the curve of the road
under the raintree...
sometimes you can see...
a long-haired woman...
playing on a swing by herself.
But the truth is...
that woman hanged herself...
and she's swinging by her neck.
That's why people around here don't go out at
night.
I nearly piss my sarong telling you all this.
Let me go!
Help!
Stop it!
Let go of her!
So you're the hero from Bangkok.
Looking for trouble uh?
Help us, please.
Help us!
You! You!
Help me please, someone's hurt.
Somebody, help us please!
A Bangkok gentleman like you...
has no idea how cruel country people can be.
Are you hurt?
No.
You hurt yourself protecting me.
Thank you very much.
It's all right.
I'm glad that you're safe.
You played so beautifully last night,
the customers enjoyed it a lot.
Are you here on a trip?
I'm fed up with Bangkok.
I'm thinking of looking for work here.
I still didn't get your name.
My name is Chob.
Didn't I tell you not to snoop around the main
house?
You did.
I'm on the way back to my room.
Wait!
Who told you to leave?
I beg your pardon.
I didn't mean to intrude on anyone's privacy.
I saw all those flowers blooming and came to
admire them.
You don't have to yell at me about such a
small matter.
A smart girl like you still has a lot to learn.
All right, we still have time.
Come with me, I'll show you something.
Do you know that every single flower you see
here...
was planted by Madame Ranjuan herself?
She planted them all with her own hands.
And they serve to honor the memory of the
great love...
she has for her late husband.
She planted all of them...
one flower after another...
day in day out.
She pampers them...
looking after them with the greatest care.
She holds on to the belief that one day...
her husband will return.
She behaves as if nothing has happened...
even though...
she knows it in her heart...
that he will never come back.
So that's why...
she locks herself in her room and...
I'm not asking for your opinion,
or your psycho-analysis.
I'm telling you all this...
because I don't want you to listen to the
rumors spread by others.
With love, though you're no longer here.
Do you believe in ghosts?
Modern woman, uh?
You don't have to believe me,
but the truth is...
several generations of people have lived and
died in this compound.
I've been here for a very long time.
I've been here since before you were born.
I've seen things you believe are just hearsay.
Let me tell you something...
...about ghosts.
They do exist.
It's up to us whether to accept them or not.
They're here with us... they're everywhere.
They are around us...
when we sleep, when we sit...
or even...
as we're talking right now.
If you believe me,
don't go wandering around at night.
Do as I say.
Come to think about it,
I begin to feel sorry for the Madame.
What she's been through...
isn't so different from what I have.
Listen, Choy.
This afternoon Miss Somjit told me some
creepy stories.
She really spooked me out.
She got you all worked up with her ghost
stories, didn't she?
She'd say the same thing to just about anyone.
She'd go like:
They do exist, you must accept that as a fact.
They're here with us all the time.
Maybe...
they're right behind us...
in front of us...
or on our left...
or our right.
They're with us when we sleep,
when we're awake.
They're here as we're talking right now.
They might even want to gossip with us.
Choy!
You scared me!
Don't do that to a pregnant woman!
You're such a chicken, Nual.
You didn't piss yourself did you?
Hey,
who are you?
Want to play with me?
Do you live here?
Come play with me.
Wait for me.
Can you find me?
Come find me.
Come find me.
Don't run. Wait!
Come find me.
I told you not to show your face around here!
You want to test me?
Is that what you want?
Let me go!
Get out!
Let me go!
Get out!
Nualjan, let's go find something to eat.
Hey where're you going?
What happened?
Tell me what happened!
I'm going home.
I can't stand this place any longer.
Calm down. Don't be too rash.
Calm down.
You can tell me what happened.
Let me go!
Please! Please! Stay here and keep me
company.
Nualjan, please. Let me get that.
I'm looking for my husband, not for company.
I don't want any company.
What's the matter?
Nualjan, sit down first.
Is it your labor?
Breathe, Nualjan.
Breathe!
Push! Push!
A little more.
Breathe!
Just a little more.
Breath Nualjan, breathe.
Good, this is good.
Whose beautiful baby is this?
I didn't know you're such a good midwife.
I'm not bragging,
but I've had so much experience...
delivering puppies. You're my first human
case.
Choy...
Thank you so much.
Without you I couldn't have made it.
Sorry I spoke harshly to you earlier.
I haven't...
Forget it.
But now that you have a baby...
you aren't thinking about moving out, are you?
Take a rest.
I'll take care of the baby's umbilical cord.
Where are you dumping it?
You can't just dump it.
Old people say that...
you have to put a baby's umbilical cord in an
urn and bury it.
If you throw it away...
the gut-sucking vampire will come and eat the
bloody mess.
Take a rest.
I'll take care of the baby's umbilical cord.
What?
You saw that man with your own eyes?
Yes, last night.
I saw him disappear into the Madame's house.
This is why Miss Somjit forbids anyone to go
near the main house.
Remember the Madame's secret I told you
about?
Yes, you told me that the Madame still grieves
for her husband,
and she wants nobody to disturb her.
There are more juicy details.
You're curious, aren't you?
If you want to know the whole story, follow
me.
I'll tell you everything.
Madame Ranjuan in her youth was said to be
a gorgeous lady.
So gorgeous that she resembled...
an angel who'd come down to grace the earth.
Her husband was also very handsome and
elegant,
so they were a perfect match.
Madame loved him more than anything in her
life.
But when he died,
she became a different person.
She locked herself in the room and refused to
go out.
Rumor had it that...
actually...
she kept a young man as her secret lover,
hiding him in her boudoir.
People gossiped that...
that man gratified her with such ecstatic
pleasure every night.
So pleasurable was their erotic escapade...
that sometimes you could hear the Madame's
delirious moaning...
like a whisper in the night wind.
Yes, Madame, I'm coming.
Yes, ma'm.
Heaven forbid!
Nualjan... look at this.
See, it's on this one.
This one too.
What is it Choy?
Old people say the vampire wipes her bloody
mouth...
on baby's diapers after she's gobbled up their
intestines.
I knew it... Grandma Erb is the gut-sucking
vampire.
Nonsense, she's just as human as we are.
I'm not kidding.
Look, at night she never sleeps,
but comes out to scavenge around the garden.
She must be looking for something to eat.
You don't have to believe me...
but the vampire has an appetite
for a newborn baby like yours.
Consider that you've been warned.
Nualjan, I'm done.
Hand me...
Madame wants to see you and your baby at
the main house.
Now?
Yes, now.
Miss Somjit, well...
Shut up! Does it look like I'm talking to you?
Mind your own business.
Look,
if you still want to stay here,
bring your baby and follow me.
Right now.
They're here, ma'm.
Tell her to wait outside.
Somjit,
bring the baby to me.
Yes ma'm.
Give me the child.
Give it to me!
So your name is Nualjan?
Yes, ma'm.
I...
I just came from Cholburi.
I'm here to...
There's no need to tell me.
I've heard enough of your story.
Do you know that...
for a woman...
what's more painful...
than losing the man you love?
It's losing your faith in love.
I envy you...
that you can still have a baby.
He's so lovely.
I'd like you to bring him to me every day, can
you do that?
Yes.
Somjit,
make sure you take care of the mother and her
child.
You can go now.
Yes ma'm.
That girl...
She may be a hick, but she's luckier than I am.
She has a lovely child.
Too bad the father has abandoned them.
How long can we keep our secret trysts going?
One day...
you'll leave me to face my loneliness...
as I always do.
I...
I want to have a child...
Nualjan, It's me!
Choy, what's up with you now?
Nualjan, let me stay with you tonight.
I'm too scared to sleep alone.
What tricks are you up to now?
You know you can't spook me with your ghost
stories.
No, I'm not.
Grandma Erb's shack is right next to my room.
A moment ago...
I heard a weird noise coming out from there
just now.
Where?
I can't believe a wild girl like you is afraid of
ghosts.
I'm a bona fide chicken when it comes to
unseeable things.
I'm scared shitless of ghosts!
I'll prove to you that Grandma Erb is a human,
not a vampire or any blood-sucking ghoul.
Wait, where are you going?
I'll be right back.
Don't leave me here.
I don't want to stay here.
Grandma Erb.
Grandma Erb.
Girl.
Come play with me.
Wait.
Little girl!
Don't run away.
Wait.
Girl, wait.
Hey.
Find me.
Come find me.
Come find me.
Come find me.
What are you doing?
Choy!
You scared me!
You were away for so long,
so I came to look for you.
What are you doing here?
I was following a little girl.
What girl are you talking about?
There's not any girl living here.
But I really saw her.
A little girl in old-fashioned clothes wearing
anklets.
I've seen her running around here before.
Haven't you?
No...
and I don't want to.
This is giving me goosebumps.
Let's get out of here, Nualjan.
Give me a minute.
No, let's go.
Can you please calm down!
Close it.
Why did you do that?
Let's get going.
Can you find me?
Come and find me.
Come.
Come on.
I don't think we should go in there.
I need to take a dump.
Quiet.
Here.
Look.
See.
Grandma Erb is sleeping.
There's nothing to be frightened of.
Let's go.
Madame.
Madame.
We're here.
Come upstairs.
Come inside.
Put the baby on the bed,
and you can leave.
Ma'm,
my child is very little,
I shouldn't leave him unattended.
Please allow me to stay and watch over him.
Don't you trust me?
Why?
You think I would take something that wasn't
mine?
I don't dare, ma'm.
I mean...
Or do you think I'm possessed by the devil,
or I've got some disgusting disease?
I wouldn't think that, ma'm.
Then tell me,
what do you think of me now that you've seen
me?
Do you think I'm beautiful?
Yes.
Who do think is more beautiful,
you or me?
I would never dare put myself at your level,
ma'm.
A country girl like you...
certainly knows your place.
And do you know...
why I ask you to bring your baby to see me
every day?
No, I don't.
I've always wanted to have my own child.
You and your baby...
remind me of my old days.
I curse my luck...
that back then...
I was too weak to bear a child.
And now,
I won't have another chance to.
Leave the child here!
And you can go.
I'll take care of him.
Somjit will bring him back in the afternoon.
Choy.
Choy.
Choy.
The headman buys a new scarf for his
in-law...
She puts it around her neck, and she doesn't
ask for more.
The headman buys a new scarf for his
in-law...
She stashes it away, she neither cares nor
adores...
A little girl by the pond, watching the water
flow...
Fish swim past, as if putting on a show.
The girl hides in a closet, but the devil doesn't
let her go.
The deaf-mute comes looking, but she's
already gone missing.
Who's there?
Who's in there?
Are you deaf?
I've been knocking for ages.
You think you can sleep like a queen in this
house?
Take him.
I'm so sorry.
I didn't know when I dozed off.
Madame wants you to bring your baby to see
her first thing tomorrow morning.
Don't forget it.
And from now on...
don't go poking around the antique room
again.
This is your last warning.
Chob...
Where are you?
Chob!
Where have you been?
I've been looking for you everywhere,
but I couldn't find a single clue.
I was so miserable.
Tell me you've been looking for me too.
You know I'm here, so you've come to get
me...
haven't you?
Nual...
I...
...I'm sorry.
It's all right.
From now on the three of us will never be
apart again.
You, me, and our child.
Did you know that I've given birth to a
child... our child?
Nualjan,
listen to me carefully.
I'm sorry.
I didn't tell you the whole story before.
It's all my fault...
but I didn't go back to you because...
because I live with another woman.
Here.
Another woman?
Here?
I don't understand...
Here?
Here?
A woman?
You're Madame's lover, aren't you?
Answer me!
You've known all along that I was here,
waiting for you.
But all the time you've been building a love
nest with your lover up there!
How could you do this to me?
How could you deceive me?
Nualjan,
I...
I'm afraid you won't be able to handle the truth.
What about me?
What about our baby?
Are you heartless enough to abandon us like
this?
You have to cut me loose.
You have to come to terms with what
happened and leave this place.
Don't ever come back.
No!
No!
This is not true!
This is not true!
Believe me, Nualjan!
Leave this place at once.
Leave this house...
and everything will be fine.
Believe me, Nualjan!
Believe me.
No! No!
No! No!
No!
Chob...
My baby...
My baby...
Grandma Erb,
what are you doing?
Give me back my baby!
Where did you take my child?
Grandma Erb!
Grandma Erb!
Give me back my baby!
Stop!
My baby...
Give me back my child, you crazy woman!
Give him back!
A peasant girl like you...
has a hard time understanding things.
What?
What didn't I understand?
I may be a country girl,
but at least I have some dignity.
But a high-society slut like you is so
shameless...
...as to dare steal someone else's husband!
Shut your mouth, you piece of trash!
If I could bring myself down to your level,
I'd slap you around for a sport right here and
now.
I never stole your husband,
or anybody's!
Do you think I'm stupid?
I know that you've been having an affair with
Chob.
You lock him up and force him to be your sex
slave.
He told me everything.
An aristocratic bitch like you...
is worse than a slum tramp.
Give me back my husband and my child.
You don't seem to understand Thai.
I just told you...
that I didn't steal your man.
It's you who had an affair with my husband!
No!
No!
You're liar!
Chob was married to me...
before he met you.
He came over to confess to me,
after he'd slept with you.
And now...
he's come back to me.
He will never leave me...
for a dirty piece of trash like you again.
Do you hear me!
Do you hear me!
That's not true...
My name is Chob...
An important business...
I have another woman here.
Here.
I'm going to tell you one last time...
and please engrave it on your rotten brain...
that Chob is my husband.
You're only his mistress.
Get that into your skull!
I hope you can swallow the truth now.
Here, take your child back.
Get your stupid face out of my house,
before my patience gives out.
And don't ever come back.
Do you hear me?
Get out!
Nual!!!
Nualjan, it's me.
Chob!
Let's run away together.
Hurry, Madame won't see us leave.
Nual. I'm sorry.
I can't go with you.
I have work to do.
Why not?
Let's go home.
We three can be together now.
Please, Chob.
Let's go home together.
The master is back.
You're here to ask me for a divorce?
Is it that simple?
Just because I can't have a child with you?
Because I'm sick of it.
Because you only think about yourself.
I promise.
I'll behave myself...
I love you.
It's over between us.
You have another woman, is that it?
Yes.
I have another woman in Cholburi,
and she's pregnant with my child.
Stop! You can't leave me!
Damn it!
I don't want to talk about it any more!
Chob...
you cannot leave me.
I'll never let anybody walk out on me.
She buried me here.
Leave this place at once.
Go!
And don't return.
Want some, Nualjan?
I'll take care of the umbilical cord.
Look, it's on this one too.
What is it Choy?
The vampire wipes her bloody mouth on
baby's diapers.
Hungry... I'm so hungry.
Being a ghost without a shrine is a tough life.
Do you want to play with me?
Come play with me.
Mommy.
I'm scared.
It's so dark in here.
How many times did I tell you...
not to snoop around in this room?
You didn't see anything, did you?
No I didn't.
I didn't see anything.
I didn't.
Somjit!
No!
After the accident,
Madame hid my body in the antique room.
Then she locked it up...
and threw the key away.
So...
this is why I always wear high-necked dresses.
What I hate the most are these dirty rats...
that keep gnawing at my body.
You're all dead!
Why did you come back to haunt me and my
child?
I don't owe you anything.
Go away, please, I'm frightened.
Several generations...
have lived and died in this compound.
I told you.
They do exist.
They're here with us everywhere...
at all time.
It's up to you...
whether to accept them or not.
Rickshaw!
Rickshaw!
Stop, Rickshaw
I have a baby with me. Please stop.
Rickshaw!
Please.
Rickshaw!
I'm sure this is his address.
Please take a look at the photo of my husband.
Chob...
is my husband.
And you...
you're only his mistress.
Get out!
It's not true!
It's not true!
No.
No!
No!
This is not true!
Miss,
I'm leaving now.
You're new here so you haven't heard the
story.
The ghost of the pregnant woman who hanged
herself...
from the raintree at the curve.
She always appears and calls out for a
rickshaw...
to take her to that deserted house.
She's gotten to all of us.
Rickshaw, stop.
Grandma,
did you see the pregnant woman who just
came in?
Grandma.
Give me back my baby!
Give me back my baby!
Give me back my baby!
Find me.
Come find me.
Give me back my baby!
Where are you hiding?
I cannot find you.
Miss Ranjuan,
your father wants to see you.
Give me back my baby!
So...
Sir.
Did you find her?
Not a trace of her.
We'll have to give up.
Poor Erb is so unlucky.
But that house isn't deserted... there are people
living inside.
I saw it with my own eyes.
Besides the witchy old grandmother,
there's also a woman.
A beautiful one.
But she only locks herself inside her bedroom.
Looks like she's not right in the head.
Every single flower here...
was planted by Madame Ranjuan herself.
She planted them,
one flower after another.
She pampered them...
looking after them with the greatest care.
She held on to the belief that...
one day...
her husband would return.
Do you know that for a woman...
what's more painful than losing the man you
love?
It's losing faith in love.
Chob (1904-1931)
Do you think she'll come back again?
She'll keep coming back,
as long as she refuses to accept the truth.
I long for happiness, but there's a fear my
heart cannot fight.
As long as the love rages in me, my eyes will
never see the light.
Oh I dreamt of the love that would make my
heart tremble,
The love that would make the stars twinkle,
the love so true and gentle.
But the love that was once so sweet, that once
made me feel the heat,
Such love at last made me so bitter, it tore my
soul into pieces.
When we were torn asunder, I knew I'd been
born to suffer.
Bliss was so brief! What remain are
heartbreak and grief.
I moan and I sob, I still love you even when I
sleep.
Sorrow poisons my heart, for me the misery
has just started.
When the fire of passion fades, just to breathe
suddenly seems so hard.
Pain is eating me inside, I feel so alone every
day and night.
I long for happiness, but there's a fear my
heart cannot fight.
As long as the love rages in me, my eyes will
never see the light.
When the fire of passion fades, just to breathe
suddenly seems so hard.
Pain is eating me inside, I feel so alone every
day and night.
I long for happiness, but there's a fear my
heart cannot fight.
As long as the love rages in me, my eyes will
never see the light.