"Stop crying, you sniveling ass! Stop your nonsense. You're just the afterbirth, Eli. You slithered out of your mother's filth. They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantelpiece. Where were you when Paul was suckling at his mother's teat? Where were you? Who was nursing you, poor Eli? One of Bandy's sows? That land has been had. Nothing you can do about it. It's gone. It's had. You lose. Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? Watch it. Now, my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!" - Daniel Plainview
The milkshake scene is one of the most famous in There Will Be Blood for obvious reasons. This ending shows the audience once and for all what a monster Daniel Plainview really is. It's clear that he has beaten Eli, the self-righteous preacher who refused to sell him land for oil drilling many years earlier. Eli is a broken man, and he swallows his pride to basically beg Daniel to buy his land. And Daniel revels in his triumph. He's the kind of person who intuitively knows exactly what to say to hurt someone the most, what knife to use and where to plunge it in to do the most damage. He's almost comically cruel here, and has done everything he can do to destroy Eli, both physically and psychologically.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
