(2019)

Submitted by Greg B

Short version:
It turns out con man Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellan) has been being played by his target, Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren), the whole time, and that she is actually a figure from his past who has been seeking revenge for the way he raped her and destroyed her family when she was a teenager. Roy ends up disabled in the hospital at the end after a beating from men who were out for revenge causes a stroke, while Betty returns to her family.

Long version:
Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellan) and Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) meet on a dating site. Roy is a con man who is seducing Betty to get her trust and then her money.

Roy and his accomplice, Vincent (Jim Carter) trick two men into a scheme in which the two men think they are putting up money as bait to lure a Russian man into fronting a larger amount of cash for a financial scheme, which they will immediately steal. Once the money has been transferred, Roy and Vincent stage an arrest with the help of the Russian–allowing the two men to think they have narrowly escaped arrest. In order to avoid police entanglement, they will have to write off their money as a loss.

Roy plays on Betty’s good nature to get her to invite him to stay at her home by affecting a bad knee that makes getting in and out of his townhouse apartment difficult. Betty’s grandson, Steven (Russell Tovey) is suspicious but gets overruled by his grandmother.

Throughout the movie, Roy notices a mysterious car that keeps circling Betty’s house and parking nearby, but he can’t find any information about the driver.

The Russian tries to blackmail Roy and Vincent for more cash, and Roy has some thugs brutally break the man’s hand and beat him to teach him a lesson.

Vincent comes over and pretends to be Roy’s accountant when Betty returns home. He tells Roy about a great investment opportunity that is guaranteed to bring him a windfall within earshot of Betty, who at first resists inclusion in the conversation but becomes interested when Roy asks her about her own financial planning. Vincent tells them they could make even more money if they combine their assets to make a larger investment, and leaves them to think about it.

Roy visits Betty as she is getting ready for bed and she declines to invite him into her bed. Roy professes to be very fond of Betty but stops short of saying that he loves her.

Vincent comes back with paperwork for Betty and Roy to look over about a potential investment, but Steven comes home from a research trip early and accuses Roy of being after his grandmother’s money–which prompts Betty to ask Steven to leave.

Eager to get away from Steven, Roy proposes that he and Betty go on a trip together. Betty proposes Berlin and Roy reluctantly agrees to avoid disappointing her.

Betty gives Roy a haircut to prepare for their trip but collapses. Roy calls her doctor, who informs him that Betty has been having mild strokes and if she continues to not take care of herself, she will be dead in a year. Betty protests that if she follows the doctor’s advice (rest and no stress), she might as well be dead already. Roy pretends to reluctantly agree not to cancel the trip.

While shopping for new clothes to wear on their trip, Roy notices one of the men he tricked in his scheme earlier following him. Roy convinces Betty to go into a shop alone to buy new shoes and promises to meet her for tea in an hour. He goes down into a subway station and casually diverts the security camera with his umbrella before the man follows him onto the platform. The man angrily confronts Roy and threatens that if he does not get his money back, he will go to the police and tell Betty what’s going on. Roy uses his umbrella to trip the man as a train pulls into the station, causing him to fall in the path of the train and be killed.

After arriving in Berlin, Betty surprises Roy that Steven is in town, which disappoints Roy. Steven is familiar with Berlin and takes them sight-seeing. Before dinner, he diverts them to an apartment building. Steven reveals that he has uncovered Roy’s story as a soldier during WWII and that he has found out that his service ended when a murder was committed in this very apartment building. Roy admits this and in flashback, we find out that Roy is actually Hans Taub, a German soldier who took the identity of a British soldier named Roy Courtnay after he was murdered by the nazi they were confronting in this apartment building (Hans had been acting as translator for Roy). Roy plays on Betty’s sympathies in telling his story so instead of feeling betrayed by Roy, she turns on Steven.

Betty goes for a walk on her own and returns to the hotel with cuts on her hands, having fallen on the street. Roy cleans and bandages them for her and convinces her to go home early.

Betty agrees to join their funds for the investment opportunity. Vincent tells Roy they should let Betty keep some of her money but Roy refuses. When Betty hesitates at the moment of transfer, wondering if she should hold some money back just in case, Roy decides to earn her trust by emptying his entire bank account as a show of trust and good faith. Betty tranfers all of her savings. Vincent leaves them with keypads so they can track and manage their investments but asks them to create a password. Betty points to a painting on the wall and suggests its subject, lilies.

Roy pretends to get a voicemail from his estranged son telling him that he is in London for one night and would like to meet for dinner, and then Roy pretends to let Betty persuade him to spend the night in London for the meeting. In reality, Roy is using this as an excuse to leave and take Betty’s money. Before he leaves, Betty sends him into the kitchen to get a bottle of water for his trip.

When Roy arrives at his townhouse, he has a drink and then goes into his bag for the keypad so he can transfer Betty’s money to his account, only to find that his keypad (which we saw him pack) is missing. Roy returns to Betty’s house in a panic and is confused when he finds the house completely emptied of furniture. He eventually finds Betty waiting for him in a back room of the house with her keypad at the ready.

Betty tells Roy that every time he lies, she will transfer money out of his account, and he swiftly loses a lot of money trying to pretend he doesn’t understand what’s happening. It is revealed that Betty stole his keypad when she sent him out of the room before he left the house knowing it would be the only reason he would come back. It is also revealed that she is not actually named Betty and she had crafted Betty’s entire bland persona to lure Roy in.

Betty prompts Roy into remembering her by pointing out the significance of the password she had selected for them, seemingly at random. Her name is Lily and when they were both teenagers in Germany, Roy/Hans was her English tutor. She was infatuated with him but he seemed to never notice her. She kept a lock of his hair in her locket, but he would only ever tell her that he was fond of her, never going so far as to love her (mirroring what he had told her in the present day when he came to her in her bedroom). One day, while waiting for her to be ready for their lesson, Roy/Hans had overheard her father discussing business with some other men before walking in on Betty/Lily’s three sisters in another room. When he attempts to kiss one of the sisters, they make him feel embarrassed and force him out. In retaliation, Roy/Hans raped Betty/Lily during their lesson.

Immediately after, Betty/Lily’s parents confront him about what happened with her sisters and, seeing that Betty/Lily is greatly disturbed, they fire him and tell him never to come back. Roy/Hans then used the business information he had overheard to inform on Betty/Lily’s father to the Nazis, who promptly executed her father. Distraught, Betty/Lily’s mother committed suicide. Betty/Lily and her sisters turned the home into a boarding house to survive the war, but two weeks before Hitler’s suicide and the end of the war, her sisters were killed in a bombing.

Betty/Lily further reveals that Steven is not actually her grandson–the man who has been circling the block and watching the house is. He has been watching because he is protective of his grandmother. Steven is actually her grandson’s boyfriend whose research skills helped her find Roy/Hans and lure him in. Steven also blackmailed Vincent into helping them steal Roy/Hans’s money in the transfer. Roy realizes that Vincent’s uncharacteristic plea to leave Betty with some of her money was a sort of warning that Roy/Hans had not heeded.

Roy/Hans declares that there is no proof that he is actually Hans Taub after all these years, but Betty/Lily reveals that she already got proof when she got a sample of his hair while giving him a haircut earlier, and then quietly having his DNA tested. She reveals that she had returned to her family home in Berlin (which is now a museum) when she was alone in the city and dug up a floorboard where she had hidden her old locket with Hans’ hair all those years ago. This is how she had cut up her hands–she had not fallen on the street at all.

Betty/Lily hands Roy/Hans back his keypad, informing him that she is leaving him with a little money–which is more kindness than he had been willing to show her. Roy attacks Betty/Lily and she informs him that two people are outside waiting in case of any trouble. He continues with the attack and she manages to alert the two men outside, who enter and reveal themselves to be the Russian he had beaten earlier and the other man he had swindled in the con.

The swindled man informs Roy/Hans that he wants his money back and Roy/Hans claims not to have it. Betty/Lily informs the man that in fact, she had left Roy/Hans with exactly the amount of money he owes the man. With that, Betty/Lily leaves and the two men begin beating Roy/Hans.

Sometime later, Vincent visits Roy/Hans in the hospital, where it is revealed that the beating he suffered caused a stroke that has left him partially paralyzed and permanently disabled. He will have to live out the remainder of his life in this condition.

Betty/Lily and Steven return to her home, where her family has gathered for a party. She sees three girls (perhaps granddaughters) who resemble her three sisters playing in the river behind the house and is at first worried about them, but then smiles and watches them play together.