Pearl Comb, The (2025)

[bunniefuu]

-[waves crashing]

-[seagulls cawing]

[horse clip-clopping]

[breathes shakily]

[sighs]

[horse continues clip-clopping]

[waves rolling]

[knocking on door]

[clock ticking]

[man grunts]

There's been a lot of controversy

about this investigation.

Those other doctors are cynics.

I thought with you being family...

-[huffs] Yes, but I have to be objective.

-[woman] Even so.

You wouldn't want to damage

the family name, that's why I invited you.

It's quite incredible you healed

Thomas Banbury of consumption.

Consumption?

-The report...

-[woman] Not consumption.

It was a hex.

I'm not sure how the British

Medical Review would classify hexing.

But what we do find magical

is that you healed a boy of consumption.

As far as I'm aware, Betty, you may be

the only person to do so successfully.

So what we want to know is

what treatments...

No treatments.

It's a gift.

A gift.

Right.

From my late husband.

[Betty inhales sharply]

Oh, Lutey, it's so angry.

[breathes shakily]

You will get some more, won't you?

[suspenseful music playing]

[Betty] You could see it in his eyes.

All those years nursing me.

He was struggling.

For that night, he missed his supper.

His favourite supper.

And when he didn't come home,

I feared he'd slipped into his old ways.

[owl hoots]

[wind howls]

-'Course, I knew where to find him.

-[dog whimpers]

[huffs]

[door creaks]

[inhales]

Hey, Lutey, get up now, do you hear?

Who are you?

Are you the beautiful maiden come for me?

You ain't called me beautiful

in thirty year!

I'm Betty Lutey, your lawful wife

and, if you don't know me,

you must be gone clean out of your mind.

[breathes shakily] Betty Lutey...

If you're my lawful wife

you've had a narrow escape this night

of being left a widow,

and you may be thankful

you've ever set eyes on me again.

Thankful? Huh!

You need a good breakfast.

Dry you out.

I... I haven't been drinking,

I swear to you. I...

I was here.

Picking leaves...

for you.

[waves crashing]

[ethereal vocalising]

[ethereal vocalising swells]

[ominous music playing]

[grunts]

[sighs]

[ethereal vocalising continues]

[haunting singing]

-What's a matter, Missy?

-[gasps]

[splashes]

I wouldn't hurt you for the world.

[tense music playing]

I hope you understand English.

It's the only language I'm fluent in.

Kind sir.

We sea-folk understand all languages.

For we visit the coast of every land.

[sighs]

The tide will soon be in.

And you can float off

as quick as you like.

Beautiful mortal.

Help me.

Carry me out to sea.

Give me your aid

and I will make you rich

and glorious for life.

First of all, take this.

[ominous music playing]

This proves to you

that you've not been dreaming,

gentle stranger,

and that I will do for you what I said.

[ominous music continues]

[waves crashing]

Tell me your wishes.

Riches of course will be one of them.

No, lady,

I don't know that I'm so set

on getting gold.

Tell you what I should like though.

I'd dearly love

to be able to cure diseases.

Especially my wife's.

You are the first unselfish man

I've ever met.

You shall have your wish.

And I promise you that your family

shall never come to want.

[eerie music playing]

Come, stranger.

Come with me to our palaces.

The roofs are covered with diamonds.

The walls are of coral.

The floors are of mother-of-pearl.

For statuary we have the bodies of Earth's

most beautiful sons and daughters.

They come to us on ships,

sent by the king of the storms.

[thunder crashes]

We embalm them,

so that they look even more lovely

than in life.

How reposeful they look

in their pearl homes,

with gold heaped at their feet!

Will you come,

noble stranger?

Come to be one of us,

whose lives are all love and merriment?

I'd rather wine, my dear.

We have vast cellars

full of the choicest wines.

'Tis very tempting, but...

I'd be drowned before I got halfway.

I can manage that for you.

I'll make two slits under your chin.

[gasps]

Such a pair of gills is all you need...

so do not fear.

Come to our mermaids' home!

[dog barking]

[tense music playing]

And that's when I noticed, beyond,

on the cliff, stood our home.

Ah, my supper!

The thought of a nice hot meal

broke the spell.

-[hisses]

-[screams]

Let me go!

Let me go! [screams]

Unwind your great ghastly tail

from about my legs

and your skinny fingers from off my throat

or I will k*ll you!

[grunts]

[tense music playing]

[sighs]

Mine, mine, forever mine.

Farewell, farewell, for years of nine.

In return for the comb,

your blood will be mine.

Mine, mine, forever mine.

I'd see a mermaid if I'd had a bottle

and a half of Cornwall's finest.

Give me your hand.

Don't sweet-talk me.

I was waiting for you all bloody night.

Betty.

[gasps]

[tense music playing]

[breathes shakily]

[whimpers]

[sighs]

And oh dear, the gossipin' that went on.

'Course, it had nothing to do with me.

And for months after,

old Lutey was besieged

by all the sick and sorry.

[ethereal music playing]

[chuckles]

He did such big business in healing people

that not a doctor for miles around

could earn a living.

He could even cure animals.

[sighs]

The siren was true to her promises.

He got his wish,

and neither Lutey nor his lineage

have ever come to want.

But he paid dearly for it

in the end, mind.

She came back for Lutey?

[Betty] Nine years from that very day,

Lutey, forgetting all about the mermaid

and her threats,

arranged for us to go do a little fishing.

[water sloshing]

There weren't a breath of wind stirring,

the sea was like glass.

[boat creaking]

[ominous music playing]

[water splashes]

From that moment,

poor Lutey has never been seen.

Maybe, he is now one of the statues

so prized by the Mermaids,

with gold heaped at his feet.

But unbeknownst to Lutey,

when he passed on the comb,

he passed on the curse.

Every nine years, one of Lutey's kinship

is claimed by the sea.

[scoffs]

Utterly charming

and a great story for the grandchildren,

but I'm here about Thomas.

Yes, but you see...

Lutey passed on his gift to me.

[scoffs] Betty, could I postulate

an alternative scenario?

Because, Lutey, alright, I never met him.

We're barely cousins.

But I've heard about him

and his abilities.

He was a simple man.

A country man.

He was no fool.

He fortuitously married above his station.

[inhales sharply] In fact,

I'd suggest this lady he married

is in truth a qualified doctor

who perhaps, just perhaps,

was never granted a licence to practise.

[sighs]

Being a learned gentleman,

you must know that no one is ready

for a female doctor.

Especially in these parts.

The public is more scared

of an educated woman than a witch?

A woman of learning

is far more frightening.

Does the fairer sex

belong in the profession?

After all, they are a threat

to family and male livelihood.

My husband did not share that view.

So you disguised your practice with

tales of witchery,

incantation and the like.

Isn't that why you sent for me?

My report has to say you believe

in mermaids and hexes,

so you can continue your practice

without any fuss and bother.

[inhales] As for young Thomas,

I suspect it was nothing more magical

than spontaneous remission.

The only rational explanation.

As a woman, I've often heard that

luck is an easier answer than skill.

[scoffs]

[inhales sharply] Lutey and the mermaid.

Yes, it's a good tale.

Let me show you out.

Photograph first?

We take one for all of our reports now.

-[camera clicks]

-[sighs]

Thank you, dear.

[banging noise]

Did you hear that?

What?

[piercing sound]

[walks away]

[banging]

That!

[ominous music playing]

[banging noise]

Pass me the key, woman.

Stay behind me!

[sighs]

[sighs]

I'm going to have to take

a photograph of this.

-[banging noise]

-[gasps]

[bottles rattle]

[gasps]

-[screams]

-[screams]

[hisses]

[ominous music playing]

Magic and medicine

is a marvellous combination.

I trapped her.

For my experiments.

Only pickle is, every nine years

she has to feed on one of us.

[grunts]

[coughs and splutters]

[eerie music playing]

[grunts]

[hisses]

[somber music playing]

[grunts]

[grunts]

[music turns malicious]

[banging]