The Pale Blue Eye is a 2022 Murder Mystery film adaptation of Louis Bayard's 2003 novel of the same name. It is written and directed by Scott Cooper and stars Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Toby Jones, Lucy Boynton, Timothy Spall, and Robert Duvall.
Set in 1830, retired New York Constable and widower Gus Landor is recruited by the West Point Military Academy to investigate the suicide of one of its cadets — and the mutilation of the body.
Discovering that the suicide was actually a murder, Landor becomes drawn into a complex hunt for potential occultists operating in the shadow of, or even within, the Academy itself. Landor is also aided in his investigation by a young cadet and aspiring poet named Edgar Allan Poe.
This film provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Stoddard flees West Point, preventing Landor from killing the last of Mattie's rapists. Landor even lampshades it in-universe, conceding he doesn't have the energy or time to hunt down Stoddard. The consolation is knowing his daughter's surviving rapist will now spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder in fear and will never know a moment's peace.
- The Alcoholic: Landor. His reputation as one's well-established enough that Thayer and Hitchcock explicitly forbid him from hitting the bottle during the investigation (which Landor naturally ignores).
- Asshole Victim: Fry, Ballinger, and Stoddard had raped Landor's daughter, driving her to suicide, so it's pretty easy to see why Landor wanted to murder them, and Poe doesn't bother to defend them when he finds out. However, it's deconstructed in that Poe is left disillusioned by a man of the law like Landor resorting to vigilante killings when he could have just gotten them arrested.
- Broken Pedestal: Poe's respect for Landor and their friendship is destroyed by his realization that the ex-Constable was the real killer all along.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Before killing them, Landor made sure Fry and Ballinger didn't invoke this trope and remembered damn well who Mattie was and what they'd done to her.
- Cruel Mercy: Landor fails to kill Stoddard and admits that he won't be able to hunt the man down now, but takes solace in the fact that even though Stoddard will live, he will spend the rest of his days in fear of Landor finding him.
- Defective Detective: Landor, a brilliant ex-New York Constable who's also an alcoholic, a grieving widower, and has disowned his estranged daughter for her elopement. Except his daughter actually committed suicide, which fucked up Landor even more.
- Driven to Suicide: Mattie by her rape. It's also implied, or at least left ambiguous, in the final scene that Landor's going to do the same.
- Drowning My Sorrows: It's implied Landor's alcoholism stems from Mattie's death.
- Eagle-Eye Detection: Gus Landor swiftly picks up on subtle clues, such as noticing Lea is ill after only a single meal with her. Mr Poe is no slouch either but we see him develop this skill throughout the film.
- Everyone Has Standards: While Edgar doesn't condone Landor's murders, that doesn't mean he isn't absolutely appalled by what the cadets did to Mattie.
- Fingore: When observing the body of poor cadet Leroy Fry, Landor notices something held tightly in his rigor mortis fists. Next thing we hear is him cracking open his fingers to find a hidden message.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Landor frames the Marquis (who are guilty of stealing Fry's heart and were going to kill Poe) for the murders of Fry and Ballinger.
- Hired to Hunt Yourself: A very complicated example. Landor is initially called in to West Point to investigate Fry's death. Up to this point, Thayer, Hitchcock, and Dr. Marquis all believe — mutilation aside — it was a suicide and have no reason to think it was a murder, meaning Landor's in the clear. However, Landor then invokes this trope by 'deducing' Fry was actually murdered. He outs 'himself' and exploits the Trope because he sees an opportunity to conceal his involvement, frame another guilty party, and use the investigation as a means to learn the identities of Mattie's other rapists.
- Hollywood Satanism: Rushed clichéd ceremonies underline the whole sub-plot of the occult, it's partly justified because the people taking part in these ceremonies are just following a book, one written by a Witchhunter who would make sure said ceremonies are as "Unchristian" as possible.
- I Have No Daughter: Landor's daughter Mattie eloped 2 years prior to the film. Landor hasn't heard from her in the interim and refuses to discuss his wayward daughter. It's all misdirection and an act to conceal her suicide.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Ironically Landor's skill in interrogating a suspect without having to beat a confession out of him is legendary. Turns out he has no qualms about more traditional methods either, and uses this to 'persuade' Ballinger to give up the name of Mattie's final rapist (Stoddard).
- Just One Little Mistake: Poe wouldn't have worked out that Landor was lying about everything if Landor hadn't given him two notes in the same handwriting, one used by the murderer to lure his victim into a trap, the other from Landor to get Poe to meet secretly with him.
- Like a Son to Me: As they part ways, Landor sadly remarks that he wishes it had been Poe that Mattie had met and would've danced with at the fateful Ball 2 years earlier instead of Fry. He feels Mattie would've liked Poe and is confident Poe would've eventually become his son-in-law.
- Military Academy: West Point obviously. At the time the film's set, the Academy's only been operating for just under 30 years and so it isn't yet regarded as the institution it'll become. This is a minor plot point, as Thayer and Hitchcock fear the Academy's political enemies will try to use the murders to shut down West Point.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: The suicide of a West Point Cadet leads to the discovery of Satanists operating at the heart of America's military institution. Except it's mostly a lie and frame-up orchestrated by Landor to conceal his role in the Cadet's murder.
- Never a Runaway: Landor's daughter Mattie eloped, and was disowned by him as a result. Except she didn't. She committed suicide after being gang-raped, and Landor concealed the true circumstances so he could hunt down her rapists.
- Noodle Incident: Several of Landor's past cases and accomplishments back in New York are mentioned in passing during by Thayer and Hitchock's job interview with the ex-Constable.
- Outside-Context Problem: Serial killers operating within West Point is something Thayer and Hitchcok are ill-prepared to handle, hence Landor's recruitment.
- Rape and Revenge: Landor murdered Fry for raping his daughter and driving her to suicide, and then went after Fry's accomplices.
- Resigned in Disgrace: Dr. Marquis is forced to leave West Point due to the murders. The irony is that even if they hadn't been framed by Landor, Lea's actions and attempted murder of Poe would've resulted in the same outcome.
- Revenge Before Reason: Invoked in the climax after Poe learns what the murdered cadets did to Mattie. Poe doesn't understand why Landor didn't go straight to Thayer after Mattie's rape. After all, Landor had evidence (Fry's dog tags) that Thayer couldn't ignore and it would've forced the Commandant to confront and secure a confession from the cadets. Landor explains he didn't want Fry and his friends to confess; he wanted them dead and to suffer just like his daughter did.
- Rewatch Bonus: All of Landor's scenes in the film are completely re-contextualized after the reveal that he was the real killer all along. Landor's exhaustion and confusion in the opening scenes, for example, are now revealed not to be alcohol-related. They really stem from his having been up all night after killing Fry and fearing he'd been somehow found out by the military authorities. Landor's also genuinely baffled by the theft of Fry's heart and is trying to figure out what the hell's going on here — and if he can somehow use this to both conceal his involvement and continue learning who else had raped Mattie.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stoddard flees West Point after the murder of Ballinger.
- Secret Diary: Fry kept one, which Landor and Poe both examine to try and find potential clues to the murders. As the actual murderer, Landor really wanted to examine the diary in the hopes of learning the identities of Mattie's other rapists. It pays off, leading him to Ballinger next.
- Secret-Keeper: Poe ultimately chooses not to turn Landor into the authorities and destroys the evidence linking him to Fry's death.
- Sole Survivor: Of the cadets who raped Mattie, Stoddard ends up the sole survivor by the end of the film.
- Spared by the Adaptation: This differs from the book where Stoddard's killed in Baltimore not long after fleeing West Point (and it's implied — or at least Landor thinks — his killer was Poe).
- Spanner in the Works:
- Fry, Ballinger, and Stoddard would have gotten away with Mattie's rape if she hadn't grabbed Fry's dog tags during the assault. This allowed Landor to find out Fry's involvement and from there, the involvement of the others.
- Much of the film's plot only happens because Landor's murder of Fry was accidentally interrupted by a night watchman before he could finish his interrogation and learn who else had raped Mattie. Likewise, that would've been the end of the matter if the Marquis hadn't mutilated Fry's body to steal his heart for Lea's ritual.
- Spotting the Thread: Part of how Poe eventually figures out Landor was the real killer is because he belatedly realizes Landor's handwriting is identical to the handwriting on the note fragment they recovered from Fry's corpse.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Landor's early scenes become this on a re-watch, as he's maneuvering to conceal his involvement in Fry's death and use the 'investigation' to frame another party and continue his quest to learn the identities of Mattie's other rapists.
