Malila: The Farewell Flower (มะลิลา)

Like an offering ornament handled with great care

Scented and anointed It may please the deity

Once the wish is granted and the task accomplished

Dumped and discarded It becomes a piece of trash

A Thai classical poem from the 19th century

Do you know…

what is the hardest part of making a Bai Sri?

The leaves and flowers will wither.

They will wither before you finish it.

You have to touch the leaves lightly…

but you must fold them tightly.

One mistake can ruin everything.

It looks like fingers.

Yeah. It's beautiful.

Not really.

You can see that the two sides are unbalanced.

That's why there are holes where air can pass through.

The flowers will wither before I finish making the whole thing.

White jasmines are too fragile.

I still can't make a good Bai Sri.

But one day, I want to make one for you.

Malila: The Farewell Flower

-Sister. -Yes?

You can plant the new jasmine tree in the free plot.

But the plots where we've just pulled the dead trees out,

you have to wait for them to dry.

-Please also remove the weeds. -Okay.

-Hair. -Hair.

-Body hair. -Body hair.

-Nails. -Nails.

-Teeth. -Teeth.

-Skin. -Skin.

-Skin. -Skin.

-Teeth. -Teeth.

-Nails. -Nails.

-Body Hair. -Body Hair.

-Hair. -Hair.

Shane.

Why are you looking at the Bai Sri here?

I'm not.

Really?

The Bai Sri you made is beautiful. This is the first time I've seen it.

I didn't realize these Bai Sri were so heavy.

How long are you going to stay here?

For a while.

I never believed it when they said your mother was a witch.

It was so absurd.

Do you know what they did to my mother?

They stepped on fire and then kicked my mother's body.

She kept crying and wriggling around.

I wasn't sure if she was pretending.

I meant to go to your mom's funeral.

That's all right.

I heard you've got cancer.

Yeah.

I have lung cancer.

I had an operation and chemotherapy.

Then they found cancer in my lymph nodes.

Why?

Who knows?

What are you going to do?

Don't you have to go to a hospital?

I'm not getting any more treatment.

I take some herbal medicine,

and I'll continue making Bai Sri.

Maybe you're cured.

Can you help me carry it?

You won't keep it?

I have to let it float down the river.

I didn't know you owned a jasmine orchard.

I remember you loved flower making, so I tried to grow some.

Do you remember our favorite place?

I want to go there.

My daughter died there. You know that, right?

That morning,

I ran there…

When I got there,

do you know what I saw?

A python…

It was there next to the anthill…

Have you ever hugged the dead?

That was not my daughter.

There was no strength.

There was nothing inside.

Every part of her was like liquid.

Like water…

She's dead.

She knows nothing now.

It's completely overgrown.

You haven't been in there for years, right?

The day your daughter died…

you were drunk, right?

No wonder your wife left you.

But I can understand.

If it was me, I'd do the same.

Remember when I ran away to Bangkok?

It hurt me a lot that you didn't come along.

I felt worthless.

But now you're the one who's worthless.

Drinking all day. Good for nothing.

Shane.

I feel like I want to make a Bai Sri whenever I'm here.

Really?

My health gets better when I start creating a Bai Sri.

It helps me more than any medicine.

It's all in your head.

Maybe.

But my health really gets better after I create one.

Whenever my health get worse, I keep making new ones.

I'm tired.

If you were me, you wouldn't worry about such things.

You know what?

When I had chemotherapy,

my doctor told me modern medicine had less side effects than in the past.

My friends gave me moral support so I would recover.

So I tried…

but what happened was,

I puked. I shit my pants. Lost my hair. Even my pubic hair.

It was like that for years.

I didn't care who lived or died because my condition was far worse.

Do you know what my doctor told me after the therapy was over?

The cancer was spreading. I needed more therapy.

I told him I'd had it. After that, I turned to traditional doctors.

I went to meet a herbalist in Rayong province.

Everybody said he was good.

It was okay at first, but soon my fever was back again.

I drove back to Bangkok with a 40-degree fever.

My car almost crashed, but I survived.

When my health started getting better, I stopped trusting other people.

I only believe in myself.

I'm going to do whatever makes me happy.

Because you want to start your new life…

I want to create a Bai Sri for you.

They say when you suffer,

you lose your spirit.

Bai Sri will call back the spirit

to live within the body again.

That's a lot.

Yes.

450 grams.

200 grams.

-This one is 400 grams. -Okay.

The scar is from the biopsy the doctor did.

This is the scar from where they took my heart away.

Does it make you sad?

Not really. It's beautiful in its own way.

You sound happy.

I'm proud of each one I make.

But once I set it afloat, I feel complete.

I want to become a monk for a while.

Maybe it could heal you.

But I'm getting better now.

Can you create a Bai Sri for my ordination ceremony?

Okay.

I'll do my best.