Things Heard & Seen 2021

In 1980, art restorer Catherine Claire finds herself navigating life’s challenges in Manhattan alongside her husband, George Claire, and their daughter, Franny. When George secures a teaching position in art history at a college, the family relocates to an expansive farmhouse in upstate New York. Struggling with her battle against bulimia, Catherine feels increasingly isolated in their new surroundings.

It’s there that she discovers an old Bible containing a detailed family tree of the previous owners, the Smits, with several names ominously tagged as “Damned.” Haunted by the feeling that a spirit resides in the house, she sees peculiar lights guiding her to a vintage ring that she decides to wear. Franny, sensing unusual presences, experiences visions of a female spirit and asks to sleep with her parents for comfort.

To ease the household demands, Catherine hires brothers Eddie and Cole Vayle as handyman and babysitter, inadvertently allowing Justine Sokolov, a colleague of George, into her life. Meanwhile, George begins a flirtation with Eddie’s cousin, Willis.

During a visit from Floyd DeBeers, the head of the art history department, he recognizes a spirit’s presence but reassures Catherine of its benign nature, suggesting they hold a séance. At a party they host, shocking revelations about the farmhouse emerge—specifically that the previous inhabitants met a tragic end in a murder-suicide and that Catherine’s antique ring is tied to their mother, Ella.

Tensions rise when Catherine confronts George with the unsettling history of the house. When George leaves for a trip to see his parents, Catherine and Floyd conduct a séance that brings Ella’s ghost into their midst. The situation escalates as Floyd warns Catherine of another, potentially dangerous spiritual presence in the house just as she uncovers George’s infidelity with Willis.

On a school outing, Justine overhears troubling conversations casting doubt on George’s qualifications for his teaching role. Further betrayal comes to light when Catherine learns that the artwork George had claimed as his own was the work of his deceased cousin, eroding her trust. In retaliation, Catherine starts an affair with Eddie, spiraling her into deeper conflicts.

Things take a dark turn when George, desperate to cover up the escalating chaos, murders Catherine in cold blood, presenting it as a sudden tragedy when Cole comes by to babysit Franny. Although the police suspect foul play in George’s demeanor, they lack sufficient evidence to arrest him.

As Catherine’s spirit joins forces with Ella’s, they awaken Justine, compelling her to reveal the horrific truth of George’s actions to the authorities. Trying to escape arrest, George embarks on a frantic flight on his cousin’s boat, but as a fierce storm rises, his vessel meets a fiery demise—mirroring a foreboding painting that had been projected in his class. The cross depicted in the artwork is notably inverted, suggesting George’s ultimate damnation for his heinous deeds.