The Heart Line

A labyrinthine exploration of paternal guilt and the predatory nature of early 20th-century occultism, The Heart Line charts the psychological disintegration of Oliver Payson, a titan of industry whose life is bifurcated by a singular, catastrophic railroad accident. The narrative catalyst—the death of a business partner and the subsequent adoption of his orphaned progeny—serves as a grim foundation for a twenty-year odyssey of estrangement and remorse. As Payson descends into the twilight of his years, the yearning for his lost ward drives him into the clutches of Madame Spoll, a charlatan medium whose spiritualist machinations mask a sordid reality of artifice. The arrival of Francis Granthorpe, a 'clairvoyant' with a clandestine history, further complicates the familial tapestry when he captures the affections of Payson’s daughter, Clytie. This cinematic tapestry weaves a complex web of identity, the fallibility of memory, and the desperate human predilection for belief in the face of ontological silence.