child abuse

I just watched the movie for the first time last night, and I'm watching it again this morning with the commentary. THIS is possibly the one issue in the movie that I felt unsatisfied with as far as its' settlement or lack thereof. My only hope is that Dan returns to Lucille and manages to somehow control his emotionally unstable wife's abuse of their children...but also wondered whether he will be around enough to do so. Remember that even Lucille complained that he was hardly ever home.

But I'm with you katesgram2000 -- when Marie said that her ear had been bleeding, the first thing I thought was "Lucille boxed her ears." AND I didn't think Dan reacted..."enough." But he did cry. Oh I'm just hearing a line right now -- in the law offices -- when Marie tells her father she wants to live with him. "When you're not there, she hates me." (I halfway thought Marie would end up attempting suicide).

Seriously, by the end, it was the story of Rosamund and Marie that was almost more interesting than that of the adults.

I consider Dan's mishandling of the situation with his daughters, especially the younger one who's already being abused, to be crucial to understanding why Daisy didn't pick him. It wasn't just that Peter was a good man. It was that Dan was a shortsighted louse. He'd rather spare Daisy a few days of painful testimony and a few months of newspaper notoriety--for which she was clearly prepared--than be there to save his daughters. A man who would make that choice in my favor is not being romantic. He's being a complete something-that-rhymes-with-stick.

That said, it does suck that the daughters are essentially used as a plot device without our finding out what measures are taken to save them, if any. Perhaps a word from Peter to Dan at the car at the end, advising him to look after the girls, would have helped slightly. But maybe not.