It starts that a man is already dead, and they’re investigating if it’s really a suicide. Harlan the old man had a big family; Linda the eldest daughter, married to Richard. They work at her company as real estate agents in Boston.
A week ago the family gathered to celebrate Harlan’s 85th birthday. There was Fran the housekeeper; Marta was Harlan’s caregiver and nurse. Wanetta was Harlan’s mom, no idea how old she is.
Linda’s son Ransom was there but left early. Richard arrived first to help with the catering. Richard says Linda idolised her father. Harlan was a mystery writer.
Walt, the youngest son of Harlan runs his father’s publishing company. Walt and his wife Donna arrived around 8pm, with their 16 yo son Jacob, a nazi according to his dad.
Joni was Harlan’s daughter-in-law, the wife of his deceased son Neil, mom of Meg. Neil died 15 years before. She now has a company of cosmetics.
Harlan paid for Meg’s school, for all of it.
During the interrogation, there is another man in the room, Benoit Blanc, and he says he’s there because his clients asked him to, but doesn’t say who.
Richard says Marta’s family is from Paraguay, Linda says from Ecuador.
Linda and Richard say Walt didn’t really do anything, it was all Harlan, and Walt had a fight with him at the party because Harlan refused to have movies made out of his books.
Walt told Harlan to let him do his job, so Harlan says he won’t be running the company anymore. Fired.
Ransom never had a job but Harlan supported him. They had a fight too.
Richard and Harlan had a fight before the party because Harlan had pictures of Richard and another woman and wanted Linda to know.
Joni had a ‘talk’ with Harlan too, before the party, because Harlan didn’t send Meg’s school money, because he found out a ‘discrepancy’. Joni was getting the school money twice, and keeping it. Alan’s office paid the school, Phyllis paid her, both tuition and her allowance. So he says they’ll never get money from him again, since she stole from him.
Marta reacts badly to lies, she can’t lie or she pukes. Harlan showed Marta that Richard was having an affair. She tries to say no, and pukes. She doesn’t want to reveal anybody’s secret, but can’t lie. She also knew Harlan was cutting off Joni’s allowance. She also knew Harlan planned to fire Walt, so Benny and the other now know.
Benoit himself doesn’t know who hired him, he received an envelope with money.
Marta’s story: we see she injected Harlan with too much morphin instead of his medicine, and she doesn’t have the cure in her bag, she cries but Harlan doesn’t want her in trouble (also her mom is still undocumented) so Harlan told her to drive away, then walk back and climb to his room from outside, then wear his robe and make a trip downstairs, and then leave without being seen (well, here Wanetta saw her, but called her Ransom and she ran).
To Benoit she tells a cut-short story, to avoid lying. Marta even saw Harlan slit his own throat.
Ransom had a fight with Harlan because Harlan wanted to cut him off his will.
When the family hears this, they all approve because he IS a real jerk.
At the will reading, everyone is shocking to hear that Harlan left everything to Marta: the house, the money, even the publishing company. Ransom is the only one laughing, and when Marta can’t escape because her car won’t start, he gives her a ride. He asks her to tell him everything and then tells her he’ll help her.
When Meg learns her mom can’t pay for her school, that she’s broke, she also asks Marta to give the money back to them.
Marta gets a “I know what you did” letter and meets the person at a cleaner’s place and finds Fran overdosed on morphin. Marta calls an ambulance, and decides to confess. She tells Benoit everything and then wants to tell the family. Benoit stops her from doing so because there’s still the mystery of why he was hired, and a real guilty party to uncover. So, Benoit explains in front of the detectives, Marta and Ransom: that night Harlan told Ransom everything, that none of them would get anything and that Marta would get it all.
But there’s a slay rule, if the ‘heir’ is proved to have caused the death, they won’t get anything.
So, Ransom went back that night and switched the liquids in the vials, and took away the antidote. When it came out that Harlan slit his own throat, Ransom hired Benoit but then Marta confessed to him what she believed happened and he realised she gave Harlan the right medicine (because even not reading the labels, the liquids are a little different and as a nurse she can tell the difference). Fran saw him taking the vials from the bag while the family was at a funeral and sent him the ransom note. He burned down the examiner’s office to destroy evidence of Marta’s innocence, then he sent the blackmail note to her, and went to see Fran and injected her with something, with morphine. He would guide Marta to her then make an anonymous call to the police and they’ll find Marta with Fran’s body and the burned toxicology report. She’d get arrested for killing Fran and Harlan. But then Ransom was arrested (after Gran said he had come back that night) so he could not make the anonymous call, and also Marta has a kind heart and called the ambulance to try and save Fran’s life.
Fran still didn’t make it, but believing her alive, Ransom sort of confesses. He tries to kill Marta too but takes a fake knife instead of a good one.
Hugh Ransom is arrested. Linda reads her dad’s note that Richard thought was a blanc piece of paper.
It ends here, we don’t know what she will do with the money, only that the last scene shows her on the balcony drinking from Harlan’s cup, the one with the red writing on it: “my house, my rules, my coffee”.
Benoit - Daniel Craig
Marta - Ana De Armas
Harlan - Christopher Plummer
Linda - Jamie Lee Curtis
Richard - Don Johnson
Joni - Toni Collette
Meg - Katherine Langford
Ransom - Chris Evans
Walt - Michael Shannon
Gran - K Callan
Lt Elliott - Lakeith Stanfield
Fran - Edi Patterson
Alan (the lawyer) - Frank Oz
Trooper Wagner - Noah Segan
ITA Knives out cena con delitto
