| “ | My ears hear what others cannot hear; small faraway things people cannot normally see are visible to me. These senses are the fruits of a lifetime of longing, longing to be rescued, to be completed. Just as the skirt needs the wind to billow, I'm not formed by things that are of myself alone. I wear my father's belt tied around my mother's blouse, and shoes which are from my uncle. This is me. Just as a flower does not choose its color, we are not responsible for what we have come to be. Only once you realize this do you become free, and to become adult is to become free. | „ |
| ~ India narrating how her life dramatically changed over the series of murders in her life |
India Stoker is the main protagonist in Park Chan-Wook's film Stoker. She is a teenage outcast who lost her father and best friend, Richard, in a car accident. She has an unstable relationship with her mother, whom she barely acknowledges, as she is constantly insulting and condescending towards her.
She was portrayed by Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.
Biography
At the funeral of her father, India first meets her mysterious uncle Charlie Stoker. She later discovers his dark secrets. However, she becomes infatuated with him and decides not to reveal them.
At school, India is constantly bullied and harassed by a boy, whom she later retaliates against by stabbing him in the hand with her pencil when he erks her. Before he could attack her, another boy named Whip comes to her defense. One night, she and Whip go to a park and begin making out. India - in the heat of the moment - bites his tongue. Whip calls her crazy, and tries to convince her to have sex with him. When she refuses, he tries to rape her, but she is saved by Charlie, who kills Whip by strangling him with his belt. She then helps Charlie bury the body in their garden. When she gets home, she takes a shower and masturbates, climaxing to the memory of Charlie killing Whip.
India and Charlie
India later finds letters that Charlie had sent her, tells adventures and the places he has been. However, she looks at the stamps to find that he had been sending them from a mental institute. Afterwards, she learns that when Charlie was younger, he killed his younger brother Jonathan by burying him alive. When she confronts him, he tells her about how he killed her father. She slaps him in anger and walks away.
India
The next day, the sheriff comes to interrogate India about Whip's disappearance and Charlie gives him an alibi regarding India's whereabouts, clearing her of any suspicion. India seemingly forgives her uncle and agrees to go to New York with him. While India is packing, Charlie attempts to kill India's mother, upon her discovering what had really happened to her husband. India arrives on the scene and kills Charlie by shooting him in the neck with her rifle, saving her mother and avenging her father's death in the process. India contemplates killing her mother too but ultimately decides to spare her. India then proceeds to leave for New York, but she is stopped by the sheriff when he catches her speeding. She tells him that she was intentionally speeding to get his attention and then stabs him in the neck with a pair of shears. She follows him as he tries to escape into the woods. India ultimately kills him by shooting him with her rifle.
Gallery
Trivia
- The relationship between her and Charlie is similar of Lee Woo-jin's tragic love story with own sister in Oldboy (2003), also directed by Park Chan-wook.