Did Anna's father
molest her? The dynamics between them are weird. This film seems rather risque for the era it was shot in.
shareIt does seem to be implied.
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MovieChat Forums > Anna Lucasta (1959) Discussion > Did Anna's father
I am pretty confused... It says for prostitution and I never got a hint that he molested her.. What happened in the end?
shareIm believing he did no one runs away from a 'loving' home to become a prostitute! If you are over the age of 20 maybe over 30. It is 1959 and it was not spoken about or even mentioned. However, she uses terms and so does the father that indicate something unholy went on with them. He doesn't want to speak about Anna and make not exist because he doesn't want it to come out.
shareI don't know, without having studied more films from earlier eras or having lived in said eras, how aware people and film makers were (other than those who experienced it firsthand of course) of the prevalence and effects of abuse, sexual and otherwise. So I try not to paint with a broad brush across different decades' films, etc...
Still, the scene where Anna wants to dance with Rex Ingram (the father) and he says "how dare you" when she touches him, would seem to suggest that he quite possibly did something to her and now regrets it and is wracked by guilt - and worse, blames her just for being who she is.
"Shake the hand that shook the hand
Of P. T. Barnum....and Charlie Chan!"
To me he seems to be extremely sexually repressed and he's cold and evil towards his daughter because he sees her prostitution as a form of sexual liberation and he resents her for it.
shareI don't think he molested her; she wouldn't be so heartbroken if he had. In fact when she talks about it with Rudolph, it's obvious she had and still has no idea why her formerly doting father threw her out of the house (she did NOT run away!). IMO he felt deeply guilty, ashamed and scared by the feelings her developing body aroused in him and he pushed her away to try to stop those thoughts. (This theme is also explored in "Rebel Without a Cause" and I'm sure others I can't think of now.) There's also the issue of daddy's girl growing up and liking boys, making daddy jealous and angry. Being religious, he knows he shouldn't have these feelings; maybe he'll get sent to Hell. Better to eliminate the cause than risk that! Never mind the hell on Earth he condemns her to.
The earlier Paulette Goddard version is quite different re this part of the story. I don't know which version is closer to the original play. Kitt's is on Netflix, Goddard's on YT. Makes for a nice double bill.
Girls still grieve for abusive fathers, often more painfully because of the abuse. I personally know of a couple of examples of this. Very sad.
shareI don't think he molested her but, I do think he had a sexual obsession with her which is why he became jealous and angered when men showed interest in her.
shareThe molestation issue is made clear to me when Sammy Davis' character looks at a childhood picture of Anna and her dad and has this strange look on his face.
shareI think the film did suggest that Anna's father molested her given his rather extreme reactions to his daughter.
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