Chapter 13 of 30 · 2'35"
Sidney and Myra are trying to steady each other after the murder, and Sidney's guilt comes out sideways: "I'm terrified of being caught and absolutely guilt-ridden." Then the doorbell rings and a neighbour they did not expect, the psychic Helga Ten Dorp, walks in and announces, "There's a room with pain."
Sidney Confesses His Guilt
❝ Monologue · 5 lines Helga the Psychic Arrives
Sidney and Myra are alone after the killing, frightened and ashamed. Sidney reassures his wife, jokes about giving half the money away, and promises they will both feel normal in a week. The doorbell rings, and instead of their neighbours it is Helga Ten Dorp, a psychic neighbour, who comes in talking about her night running and sensing a room full of pain.
The scene pivots on timing. Sidney and Myra are still performing their cover-up, and his confession is played for a laugh, 'I'm terrified of being caught and absolutely guilt-ridden,' but the fear underneath is real enough. Helga's arrival raises the temperature because she has no idea what happened and yet keeps circling it: she talks about running at night, about her reflective costume, and then says, 'There's a room with pain.' For an audience that just watched a murder, the psychic is either a threat or a gift, and the scene ends before we can tell which. Her odd, broken English makes her sound harmless while her instinct makes her dangerous.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Behind all the Sidney Bruhl dialogue, I am peeing the Sidney Bruhl pants.”
It turns his own name into a joke, puncturing the calm act he has been keeping up.
Informal
“I'm terrified of being caught and absolutely guilt-ridden...”
Two emotional words at once lay bare both her fear and her guilt without excuses.
Neutral
“You are yourself right now and so am I.”
It snaps them both back to reality, short and firm, undoing all the earlier comfort.
Neutral
“Now is no time to talk about it. Anything.”
He shuts the topic down and then bolts it with a single word.
Informal
“I'm gonna give half the money to the New Dramatists' League.”
Charity becomes a bargaining chip with his own conscience, and he names the buyer.
Informal
I am friend and client of Paul Wyman. I apologize for so late I'm coming, but you will forgive... When I makes the explaining. You forgive my costume. I do running morning and night. This shines in dark. I don't get hit by traffic, yeah. SIDNEY: Yeah.
Up next · 14keep uncloudedThe scene: Helga Foresees the KnifeHe frames it as making up for what they did, promising half to the New Dramatists' League. It reads as guilt trying to buy itself some relief.
Sidney expects Lottie and Ralph, but the visitor is Helga Ten Dorp, a psychic neighbour who says she is a friend and client of Paul Wyman.
After talking about her night running, she says, 'There's a room with pain,' and repeats 'Pain.' She has sensed something without knowing the details.
Nothing suggests she knows the facts. She only senses a room full of pain, which is unsettling enough for a couple hiding a body.
