Incest?

You've made a really good point. I never really thought of the relationship between Louise and her father as incestuous. My interpretation was he was merely a psychotic control freak who only wanted to make his daughter feel imprisoned in his house. I do agree that your analysis could play into the holes in the film. We don't really see how their relationship was in the past, nor is it explained to us. I have read studies about this type of behavior of fathers sexually abusing their daughters and how they want them all to themselves. When you think about it, there probably could have been a history of incest between Louise and her father. It would have been a good way to explain his behavior toward her in more detail, thus making it better for the audience to clarify their relationship. That would've been one of the many ways in order to make this film much better.

Unfortunately, it makes sense. It could be that way. When Wendell's wife dies, perhaps he takes his own daughter as a wife/daughter or something like that. The scene you're mentioning, gave me the exact same impression when I saw it for the first time and I was actually expecting to see more of that. Not because it was enjoyable, but because I thought they would go deeper into the subject. Since they didn't, I dropped that theory right away, but it does make sense after all. It is quite disgusting.

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OF COURSE IT IS INCEST!!!!!! Like the first writer said it is obvious when Ray Milland is moaning and has that disgusting leer on his face!! Classic Ray! How much was he making for this stuff?? You gotta have respect for these guys!

I'm glad it was left ambiguous, like how there are hints of possible sexual abuse in Black Swan, but nothing is definite. While horrible incest situations exist, there are also many relationships where there is control and mental abuse with no sexual abuse present, so the way this is portrayed it could be either/or, which I think is a strength; this way it covers both kinds of abusive parent/child relationships, making it more universal. If they blatantly portray something like that, it actually puts a safe barrier between the characters and those of us in the audience who fortunately have not been involved in sexually abusive relationships. By not definitely saying there was no sexual abuse present, there are those who have been a victim who will not feel alienated by the portrayal.

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Reason is a pursuit, not a conclusion.