it's weird that Mollie would overlook Ernest helping to murder her sisters but wouldn't forgive him for poisoning her

Martin Scorsese doesn't know how to portray women or love stories at all (and im not saying it's in any way a "love" story, this is 100% an abuse story. But Scorsese and DiCaprio keep harping on about how it is a "twisted love story", which shows how little they understand about relationships and how skewed their perception is) Her character's behaviour makes absolutely no sense in this film.

She’s supposed to be this strong and intelligent woman, and yet she just passively let’s her husband murder her whole family, and then at the end she... HUGS HIM? Scorsese lost the plot with this one. I kept waiting for her to shoot DiCaprio but every time he sees to it that one of her loved ones is murdered all she gets to to is weep and then touch his face lovingly. Why did they advertise the film as if she is important to the story, other than to sell tickets to native audiences?

Trouble comes with the insinuation that Ernest truly loves Mollie. He takes very little manipulation from Hale to start killing her sisters and eventually her for her oil money. Of course, he loves money - the film makes sure we don't forget that by having him say as much, and in so many words, about 15 times - but there is simply no hesitation to do these horrible things to her family, no internal conflict, not until the last act or so, at which point it comes across as uncharacteristic. He says he feels regret, and Leo looks regretful, but he has done very little to convince me of this. The film couldn't decide whether it wanted him to be a truly horrible, greedy man who didn't love Mollie or a sympathetic victim of a genuinely evil man who was tricked into hurting the woman he loves.

I never once felt that Ernest loved Molly. Everything about them felt rushed. & the whole "it's about greed, he really loved her but greed took over he couldn't see how terrible it was that he was poisoning her" Please.... how could you poison the mother of your children and claim to love her ?

there was one scene that came AFTER the guy who murdered her sister testifies. he says that her brother in law helped held the sister up to be shot. then the very next scene is the brother in law sleeping on the couch in her house as she walks up and lays in bed with her husband. that made no fucking sense. it also made no sense that fbi didn't have the brother in custody. in real life, the brother was acquitted somehow but i didn't look into why.

I wondered the same thing.

Great film though.

Wish it wasn't based on actual events. Depressing.

If I’m remembering correctly, when she sits down she’s always planning to leave, she just wanted to know one last thing - will he actually lie about poisoning her. He does, then she leaves, knowing the full extent of his evil.

Their relationship was unrealistic from the start.

I genuinely got the impression that the Osage were very naive and innocent people. I don't think they expected a murderous gang of white men to descend upon their happy world.

A big gang of violent, greedy white boys figure in a hell of a lot of historical stories!

To me, it felt like she really really loved him and love can forgive a lot. Don't forget, Ernest is playing an ... less as average intelligent man, which was several times proven in the movie. He is not mentally limited, but I wouldn't bet my money, if he could outsmart Homer Simpson. So it is plausible for her, that King Hale was the mastermind who just used her husband as a tool, which is most of the time even true. Furthermore, Ernest in the movie states several times in save spaces with King Hale and other goons that he truly loves her.
So even after all what happened, she was willing to forgive him, as long he really was finally totally honest to her. So she asked him, if he confessed everything. And he says yes, he never tried to poison her, making it finally clear, he does not stopped lying. So the last chance of redemption for him was forfeit.

Look into history of victims of domestic violence. Victims often come back to their perpetrator, because they believe, they can change them, because they love them. It is sad, but often happening.

I think it bothered her more that he was still lying about that. I wonder if he'd have owned up to it if she'd have handled it differently. He did have remorse about it, because he put it in his own glass at one point.