I like this movie a lot and have seen it several times, but have never heard in the plot why the victim was killed. Also, I can only assume Mara did it herself or had someone else kill the guy, that was never brought out either. I guess its just something the writer overlooked but would like to know why Mara wanted the guy dead.
shareMy personal perception is that Mara did not "want" him dead. She was merely indifferent and emotionless, choosing to kill him either to obtain the diamonds or protect herself from the only witness. If it was believed that someone else committed the murder at her request, the matter would likely have been an issue to the characters toward the end of the movie; it wasn't. How the male victim's body was placed above the ceiling by an average sized woman is not addressed, and was likely done to lead the viewer away from believing it was a woman who committed the murder.
shareHow the body was heaved up after the crime IS addressed indirectly, when the Eden character reconstructs what happened, saying Yakoov probably opened the door to Mara PLUS someone else. Yakoov was probably killed "manually", so it would be hard for just Mara to do so, anyway. And getting the body up to the ceiling needed at least 2 people.
shareI put a separate post about an actual case where a Hasidic diamond merchant in Brooklyn was feared murdered in the '70s(?) but nobody ever found out anything. It was likely that he was robbed of diamonds that they commonly carried around because there had been absolutely no trouble in that sector, just like in the movie. It was something that never happened, but did.
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