Searching for Sylvie Lee

Saturday, May 14

Amy shares the terrible news with Ma that Sylvie has been found dead. Ma cannot contain her grief. She realizes how unspeakably awful it is for a parent to lose their child and lights incense in her daughter’s honor.

Saturday, May 14

Helena, Willem, and Lukas are at the water’s edge with Amy, and Amy is confused by Lukas’s anger. She grows even more confused when Lukas begins yelling at Filip. He tells her that Filip was Sylvie’s cello teacher, and as things fall into place in her own mind, Amy herself becomes angry at Filip. How could he have withheld so much from her? Lukas accuses Filip of “going after” both sisters and the two men once again find themselves locked in a physical altercation. The police break up the fight, but there remains a palpable sense of anger in the air.

Later, at the Tan house, questions mount in Amy’s mind: She wonders why Filip concealed his relationship with Sylvie from her, and whether or not he was involved in her death. She phones the police to ask about an autopsy, but is told that there will not be one. The police officer explains that although families often suspect foul play, most deaths like Sylvie’s are suicides, and because that is what her accident appears to be, her case has been closed.