Screenwriter Penelope Killed Off Dog -- For What Purpose ?

Maybe the death of the dog, which was one of three (?) dogs that belonged to the children, suggests that "something's got to give" in the human triangle of Glenda Jackson, Murray Head and Peter Finch.

In life, a death can occur ran domly at any time without any a priori symbolic meaning.

In art, particularly narrative art, showing death may have symbolic meaning or it may just be an example of a random event that the characters in the story will then have to react to.

Of course, if one wished one could argue that such a death symbolizes random fate.

I agree with other views that Sunday is a beautifully made, acted and written film. It also happens to be one of my all-time favourites, and clearly represents the collaboration between a gay man and a straight woman, as represented in the narrative: (we can read Hirsch as Schlesinger, and Greville as Gilliat).

The death of the family pet, Kinyata, serves to show how tragedy can just happen unexpectedly, but also reveals just how Alex deals with crises, in her careful handling of the children, and full involvement, yet who later shows evident guilt ands delayed shock knowing it could just as easily have been Lucy who was killed. Watching her and Bob function briefly as a hetero family unit, it's not difficult to understand what she sees in him, in his further practical nature (removing the corpse from the road; involving the Hodson children in expressing their feelings about the dog through art etc.). However his coldness soon afterwards (he appears isolated from the incident: and draws a pound sign over and over again as Alex sleeps) suggests his love, not so much for himself as for his career: his inability to commit. It stands as an unfortunate incident in Alex and Bob's weekend together, kiddie sitting, and seemingly also foreshadows the death of their relationship.

Kinyata's death is comparable surely, to Daniel's cocktail party, which ends being spoilt by a drunken, bickering married couple, and in which Daniel has to take charge, for instance. Or the varying ways Daniel treats his patients, by listening, and offering advice and showing concern. Both incidents reveal another side to both Alex and Daniel, so that we understand them more in depth, their willingness to see situations through until they become unbearable or impossible: in the same way they approach their relationship to Bob, who, from the opening scene, is clearly more concerned with his burgeoning career. Daniel and Alex are evidently more devoted to their lover than he to them: (the amusing scene in which both drive past his house late one night, driving past one another, incomprehendingly, whilst he is otherwise preoccupied, clearly indicates this).

As I suggest in another thread ("What it's really about"), I think that the death of the dog is just one of several side stories--including Daniel's patient at the beginning, Daniel's car-crash victim (he talks with her parents), the kids' acceptance of their mother's affair, the junkies eking out a sort of life, Alex's client trying to get jobs--resonating with the main theme: it's bad, but it's not the end of the world, and you will survive it--perhaps not as happy as you'd like, but (in the words of the guy in _Waitress_) happy enough.

(I also agree with the point that the incident with the dog shows us some things about the personalities and styles of Bob and Alex.) --Howard

I hate when animals are killed off in films.

"threesomes rarely last for more than a decade"

Citation needed.

But if true, this isn't necessarily due to the nature of trios. Given the lack of social and legal support for threesomes (and much outright opposition) they are certainly under more stress than straight pairs, and that pressure can cause them to fall apart. Given similar conditions, gay people ("very, very different from" straight people) were in far fewer long-term same-sex relationships than we are today.

And we have to compare apples to apples. A person may leave a relationship for a number of reasons, some of which aren't even about the relationship itself. And when a person leaves a couple, that's it. It's over. But when just one person leaves a larger group like a trio, it's reduced the size of the group but the smaller group can still persist and may grow back to its original size (a bit like a salamander regrowing its tail ... it's the same salamander). This option isn't available to couples. Perhaps a good measure to use for comparison would be when at least half the original members of the group are no longer in it. For a trio, that would mean all three people going their separate ways, as in this film.

Nevertheless, fundamentalist religion has created threesomes (and more) that last longer. (This shouldn't be read as support for religion, fundamentalist or otherwise)

Last, given that at least half of all marriages fail, it seems fairly likely that many marriages don't make it to a decade either, not so different from threesomes after all.

...but no problem with people, huh? Nice morals and value system you have there. Or should your neglect to mention people NOT be interpreted as culpability?

I think the Dog incident was the only time we see Bob being responsible & taking care of others. He takes command of the situation & reassures Alex & the children that he will handle things & sends them home.