Cowards Bend the Knee

Maddin Sr visits Guy and urges him to visit his gravely ill mother in the hospital. Guy shows little concern for his father's plea and plans a night with Veronica instead. The moment sets the fragile family dynamics in motion and foreshadows the tragedy to come.

That night, Guy and Veronica go to Liliom's home/beauty salon/bordello to obtain an illegal abortion. The setting is seedy and morally precarious, highlighting the film's dreamlike, unsafe world. The couple's plans are interrupted by the manipulative atmosphere around Liliom.

During the abortion, Veronica dies from complications and despair at Guy's abandonment. Guy's memory of the event fades as he is pulled away by Liliom's allure. The death haunts the story and sets the tone of guilt and haunting.

Meta reveals that her father Chas was murdered by Liliom, with help from police captain Shaky. Chas's blue-stained hands were severed and kept in a jar, a macabre reminder of the crime. The revelation binds Guy to Meta's demand for revenge.

Meta demands that Guy murder Liliom and Shaky to avenge Chas; she ties the act to winning her affections. The coercive bargain makes the pursuit of revenge feel inevitable and tragic. The city’s shadows deepen around the couple's alliance.

Dr. Fusi agrees to sever Guy's hands and suture Chas's hands in their place, a grotesque exchange that blurs medicine and magic. The procedure marks a turning point in Guy's identity and power. The hospital atmosphere treats the event as routine while the drama intensifies.

During the sedated moment, Dr. Fusi discards the real hands and instead paints Guy's hands blue, feeding his belief that he is possessed by Chas's murderous hands. Guy resolves to act, though his thoughts are haunted by the memory of the hands. The moment fuses ritual, fear, and identity in a hallucinatory way.

With the Hands-blue myth in his head, Guy goes to Liliom's salon to carry out the revenge but ends up seducing her instead. Veronica's ghost rises and takes a job at the beauty salon, and Guy becomes infatuated with her apparition, not realizing it is Veronica. The scene blends desire, guilt, and the uncanny.

During a hockey game, Guy murders Shaky in a moment of rage and confusion. He then attempts to confess to Mo, the police captain, who refuses to arrest him, compounding his isolation. In a final act of panic, Guy strangles Mo in the middle of the police station before anyone notices.

After Guy's mother dies, Veronica's ghost begins dating Guy's father Maddin Sr., further entangling the living and the dead. Guy finds himself involved with both Meta and Liliom while secretly loving Veronica's ghost, who is now involved with his father. The emotional pressure and supernatural web deepen.

Guy discovers a long-forgotten wax museum in the arena's rafters, featuring wax versions of Winnipeg Maroons including Chas. Tarot cards predict 'a mysterious apocalypse,' heightening the surreal mood. The scene tightens the dreamlike atmosphere and foreshadows the climactic doom.

The wax immortals awaken but reveal themselves as cowards who retreat from life. Guy, with the others, pursues Maddin Sr. and Veronica's ghost across the wax museum, while Meta rushes toward Chas among the figures. Chas cannot catch Meta because he has no hands, and she falls to her death. In the end, Guy abandons action and joins the retreat of the wax heroes.