The Dutch House

Back in the past, Maeve comes home briefly for the second Christmas after her father’s remarriage. She doesn’t bother to come home for Easter, so Danny plans to stay with her in New York at her dorm over the holiday. Cyril is supposed to drive Danny to see her, but this rare father-son outing is nearly ruined when Andrea insists on making it a family trip. Danny is surprised when Cyril wakes him early the next morning and sneaks off so that the two can travel alone. The reason for this act of defiance against Andrea becomes clear when Cyril takes a detour to his childhood neighborhood in Brooklyn on the trip up.

Cyril opens up for the first time about his childhood. He shows Danny the apartment building where he grew up, the one where Elna lived, and the fire station where his grandfather served as a fireman. Danny, astonished by the sudden openness from his usually quiet father, asks about his extended family. They are all dead, except for an aunt who may be alive and in Canada. Danny dares to ask even more: He asks his father to tell him why Elna left them. Cyril simply says that Elna was mentally unstable and prone to giving away everything she had, even to strangers.