Treatment

The film begins with an establishing shot of a row of terraced houses. We cut to a closer shot of one of the houses, looking in the front window through a gap in the closed curtains, where we see a woman (Mary Maloney) waiting for her husband to get home. We hear a clock ticking, and then there is a sound bridge as we cut to the inside of the living room. There is a wide shot of the full living room where we see Mary Maloney sitting on the sofa. There is a close up of the clock- the ticking continues.

Suddenly, we hear the door open and shut abruptly. A man (Patrick Maloney) walks into the room while taking his coat off. Mary rises and takes her husband's coat to hang up as they greet each other. A tracking shot follows Patrick to his seat as Mary walks out of the scene into the kitchen to get them each a drink. She asks him if he is tired from the other room. Patrick answers dryly- "Exhausted"- as Mary hands him his drink. Immediately, Patrick downs his drink and rises to get another, much to the surprise of his wive, who also jumps up. She tells him she'll get him another drink, but before she can take his glass he tells her to sit. Mary slowly sits down, confused.

Patrick leaves the room and we see another wide shot of Mary sitting, similar to the beginning of the film. Patrick returns with his drink and sits opposite his wife, not looking at her. Mary asks her husband if he wants anything to eat, in response he sips his drink. She tells him she'll get him some bread and cheese, but he snaps back- "I don't want any". There is an awkward silence and a wide shot of the two sitting. Mary turns to her husband and tells him that he has to eat. As she rises to go to the kitchen, Patrick tells her to sit again. She sits down, looking worried, and asks him what's wrong.

The scene cuts to outside the window looking in (the same as the beginning) where there is a time lapse of the conversation playing out. Cut back to inside where Patrick is telling his wife that she'll be taken care of. Mary, looking distracted, gets up and walks into the kitchen, mumbling about making tea. Patrick looks exasperated.

Cut to the kitchen where we see Mary with her back to the camera opening the freezer and retrieving a frozen leg of lamb. We hear Patrick shout from the living room that he doesn't want anything to eat. As Patrick is putting his coat on, Mary walks up behind him and hits him with the frozen meat. He stumbles, and as he begins ask why she would do such a thing, she hits him again. He falls.

Mary walks back into the kitchen. Cut to inside the kitchen, where Mary looks expressionless. She prepares the leg of lamb as though nothing is wrong, and puts the food in the oven. When she is finished, she smooths her hair and walks to the house phone to phone the police. Cut to the empty living room where Patrick is lying on the floor, and from the kitchen we hear Mary exclaiming (on the phone) that Patrick is dead.

There is a cut to black in which we hear a knock at the door. There is a sound bridge into the scene where Mary is opening the front door to the detectives, to whom she explains that her husband is dead. From here there is a time lapse of the detectives coming in and out of the house, placing tape around Patrick's body, and talking to Mary.

The scene cuts from the time lapse back to normal time, where each detective is theorising about how Patrick died. While they discuss this, Mary asks them to stay for dinner. At first, they are reluctant, but then Mary explains that Patrick would want them to eat. They agree to stay. 

We hear the detectives continue to discuss the situation as Mary walks into the kitchen. Cut to Mary who is in the kitchen preparing the food for the detectives. She brings them a plate stacked with lamb, potatoes and gravy each. They eat messily, still discussing the murder weapon. A tracking shot follows Mary as she walks back to the kitchen. The film ends with a close up shot of Mary, faintly smirking.