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In Seven Psychopaths Charlie (Woody Harrelson) comes to the hospital to find Mrs Kieslowski. He finds a patient- who we know is Myra Kieslowski- but wrongly assumes that because she is black it cannot be her. He then tells her how he is looking for Mrs Kieslowski because her husband has stolen his dog.

In the course of the subsequent conversation, he comes to realise that she is the woman he's looking for. But I can't understand how.

Here's the discussion between Charlie and Moyra.

Myra: I'm sure Mr. Kieslowski will take good care of your dog and get it back to you safe. He always seems like a sweet man when he comes in.

Charlie: He come visit her a lot?

Myra: Every day-

Charlie: What kind of times every day?

Myra: Different times, you know. And not every day. He misses a day now and then.

Charlie: Oh. yeah? He been in today?

Myra: Yeah. He came in earlier this morning, about 10:00 or so.

Charlie: So the Polack married a n*gger, huh?

How did Charlie deduce this, from the conversation?

Was it just the fact that Myra seemed too eager to convince him that Charlie had already missed Mr Kieslowski's visit and was wasting his time waiting? In which case, why did she say he visited every day?

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  • I guess it was simply the fact that he was quite a smart guy and am not sure there's a particular moment when he realized this, at least none that the audience is supposed to be aware of. Maybe knew it as soon as he entered and just played along with her. But interesting question nevertheless.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Oct 18, 2014 at 21:50
  • If he knew when he entered, then what would he gain by playing along? I think he worked it out somehow.
    – Urbycoz
    Oct 18, 2014 at 21:58
  • "what would he gain by playing along" - Well, don't know, pleasure, enjoyment, an interesting interrogation, some little mind-play?
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Oct 18, 2014 at 22:09
  • After rewatching, I think you're right, he didn't know it right from the start.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Oct 18, 2014 at 22:50

2 Answers 2

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The dialogue you cite actually comes after Myra sees Hans through her window and after she already talked a little bit with Charlie about Mrs Kieslowski. She was quite sure she could drag the whole situation out a bit, just playing her roommate and waiting what happens. But once she saw Hans walking to the hospital to visit her, she became increasingly nervous, knowing that Charlie was looking for him and the time ran short.

And nervous as she got, she suddenly brought the conversation to Mr. Kieslowski herself, which is where your quoted dialogue starts. And I think this is exactly the point where Charlie at least starts to get suspicious about her. I think this can be perceived in his behaviour, since after she said that, he suddenly starts to stop his little playing around with the wheelchair he sits in and turns around to look straight at her, getting nearer and nearer to her. And at this point he starts to interrogate her a bit more about Mr Kieslowski and his visiting times. Maybe he already guessed it at this point or he just had a suspicion. But it surely didn't help Myra that she got increasingly nervous and started beating around the bush with stuff like "Different times, you know, not every day" (after previously saying a pretty definite "Every day").

So to sum up, I would say at the point Myra brought the conversation to Mr Kieslowki (so at the start of your quoted dialogue section) Charlie definitely got suspicous about her and his supicion was manifested by her nervous behaviour during the further conversation. Maybe he even wasn't 100% sure before his "n--ger" comment. But he was at least sufficiently sure enough and Myra certainly didn't deny it.

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I saw that movie and I assumed he picked up on tells in her body language and facial movements.

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  • This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post.
    – Vedran Šego
    Oct 19, 2014 at 1:37
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    Yes, it does provide an answer to the question. The question is "How does Charlie deduce Myra is Mrs Kieslowski?" I don't need clarification, as the question is pretty straight-forward. I assume people dislike my answer, not because it doesn't fall within the rules, but because I don't write more than is necessary.
    – whitewings
    Oct 19, 2014 at 4:40
  • No, it does not provide an answer. It provides your assumption without any further explanation why you assume that. On this site, that's called a comment. For comparison, read Napoleon Wilson's answer.
    – Vedran Šego
    Oct 19, 2014 at 8:03
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    @VedranŠego It is very much an attempt to answer the question, though. You might find that it doesn't provide enough backing of its assumptions or doesn't elaborate enough. But that alone doesn't make it "not an answer". At the very most it could make it a bad answer, abeit a valid one. But for this we have downvotes. How does he deduce it? From her body language. (I'm not saying that I personally like or dislike this answer or that it is better or worse than mine. Just that objectively seen it is an answer, if good or bad.)
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Oct 19, 2014 at 21:18

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