The sex scene?

[deleted]

It's really very simple when you think about it; at least to me.

She was an emotional wreck at the time and Hughie tries to console her. While he's embracing her, she seems to realize his intentions are becoming sexual, so she formulates a plan. Play along, then make an excuse to leave and get the gun. This was the bathroom excuse. But the dog ruined her plan. In a panic, she grabs the cigs as an excuse to be on deck and tries to lure him away so he won't see the gun. The problem is that she didn't think beyond this part. She never planned to actually sleep with him, but she at this point she was stuck. The dog's second appearance gave her another out, but that didn't work either and she ended up having sex with him.

As for whether or not she enjoyed it, I would have to say that she did, but she didn't want to. I've paid close attention to this topic, reading through all the different Replies and Posts. Lots of people provide good arguments on both sides, and I agree and disagree with both, but my conclusion is this: Did she want to have sex? No. Did she enjoy the sex? Yes. Did she WANT to enjoy it? No. The pleasure she got out of it was her body reacting naturally to what was happening. You can't always control your bodies function. If you get pricked, you bleed, if you get tickled, you laugh, willingly or not.

The way you can tell she enjoyed it is her body's reaction. KneelBeforeGeneralZod makes very good points in this, the sex flush, the sweating, the moans, etc. There are a few things I picked up that he missed though. For example, her nipples were hard. I'm pretty sure it wasn't cold since they were both sweating, meaning she was aroused, even if it was against her will. The fact that she was participating, even if unwillingly, further explains why she would be aroused. However, I don't believe that she was using Hughie to take sexual satisfaction because she wasn't getting it. When he originally hugged her, she held onto him as emotional support, but that ended once she realized his intentions.

As for the actual sex, I watched the scene several times, including once with my eyes closed for shear sound, looking at different things, (facial expression, body reaction, participation, sounds, etc). I don't deny that it may have been uncomfortable for her at first since this is most likely the first time she's had sex in months, she was probably rather tight, hence the discomfort. Then comes her reaction to the sex. Some people say she enjoyed it, others say it was painful, some say it was an act. One time watching the scene, I played close attention to her mouth. I counted at least three times where when she gasps/moans the side of her lips curve up into a slight smile. Especially the third gasp; it last longer and is more natural than the others, and again her lips curve. Then her pants and moans start coming faster, not to mention the sex flush. Just before the scene cuts, her lips once again curve into a smiling gasp. It really wouldn't surprise me if she did have an orgasm, and a big one at that. After all, this is her first time having sex in a long time, and Hughie is a good looking guy, much closer to her age; not to mention that her husband was about 20 years older than her and probably couldn't please her as someone younger. Once again, this is not to say that she wanted this. It's clear that she doesn't want to be in this position, but it's also clear that she's enjoying what Hugie's doing to her, and she hates it, hence the frustration she shows during the sex and the guilt afterwards. She had never intended to actually get to this point, let alone getting enjoyment out of it.

I can't call her a slut or a whore, since this was done to her against her will. She was an emotional wreck at the to time, and wasn't thinking clearly, hence the reason why she didn't go for such obvious ways to defend herself. But I don't think this meant that subconsciouslly she wanted to have sex with him either. She may have been attracted to him, but that doesn't mean she had subconsciously decided to sleep with him.

However I can't call it rape either. It's a very gray area. She played the part of a lover, not meaning to go all the way, but when the dog ruined her plan, she was stuck. Yes, she tried to get out of it, but she didn't actually resist or say no. This is why I don't see it as rape. I guess you can look at it as peer pressure. She was pressured into sex. Kind of like when your boyfriend keeps insisting upon sex, but you don't really want to, but eventually give in, not because it's what you want, but because it's what your boyfriend wants. So no, it wasn't actually rape.

As for her being attracted to him, that's irrelevant to her decision to have sex with him. Even if I see someone I'm attracted to, it doesn't mean I'm going to act on that feeling, but I still can't change how I feel. Look at it this way. Say your on a diet, and you see someone eating ice cream. Your mouth starts to water (which is basically an orgasm in your mouth) and you want to eat it, but you don't because it's not what you want to do. The same thing applies here. She sees Hughie, she's attracted to him, but that doesn't mean she wanted to have sex with him. Still she can't help but become aroused by him. This also shows how/why she participated. We all saw her caressing him and stuff. She did more during the pre-sex (this part I do believe was an act, but it still doesn't mean she didn't get off on it), but during the actual sex, she seemed to get caught up in the heat of the moment (as KneelBeforeGeneralZod pointed out, she turned her head to kiss him a couple times before catching herself).

I should also mention something else. I had never seen this movie before (I know, where've I been), but one of my friends did, and he had a lot of thoughts about this scene too. He decided to use me as a ginny-pig. He found the sex scene on some porn sight that showed just the pre-sex fondling and actual sex, skipping the gun scene, then asked me what I thought. I didn't know what he meant, but then he asked me if it was rape or not. I clearly said no and asked why. After he explained it, I went out and saw the whole movie (great movie) then suddenly understood what the big deal is about. This may be something all of you that are saying she was raped or she didn't enjoy it might want to try. Ignoring everything else that happened, if you watch JUST the sex scene, does it still look like she was in pain or was raped?

As for her acting, as I said earlier, I do believe at first she was acting, back when she didn't think she'd actually have to go through with it (sorry KneelBeforeGeneralZod, but the kissing his chest (I saw as an act), but it became real. The idea that she did it to buy time ONLY applies to the pre-sex. She thought she could distract him then kill/subdue him with the gun and get to John, but the dog ruined this. They clearly went at it several times for a while. The sky was the indication for this, pre-sex it was bright and there wasn't a clod in the sky, post-sex there were several rather large clouds in the sky. Directors use things like this to make indications. Note that it showed the boat and cloudy skies before it cut to Rae looking guilty. That was a time indication. I'd say she lost at least an hour. So the actually having sex did nothing to buy her time, it was just the consequences of her failed attempt to get the gun.

Others have said that she did it to strengthened her trust with Hughie so she could get back to her husband. I don't think that was the case here at all. He already trusted her enough, as many people have pointed out. Having sex with him wouldn't have made much of a difference. Besides, trust or not, the guy was mentally unstable. No matter how much he trusted her, if she did something to set him off, there would be nothing she could do about it.

There's one more thing I'd like to discuss. A few times the idea that she became pregnant has popper up. I was thinking the exact same thing. I think that would have been great to put in the movie. It just fits in with everything, and makes things more dramatic, a bittersweet ending if you will. It would have pieced together other things. As many people were saying(myself included until the possibility of pregnancy occurred to me) the car accident was completely unnecessary. It made no sense to me. There were a million other reasons for the cruise. They could have simply made it that the two were having a difficult time in their marriage (it happens), but they went for loss of a child. If Rae got pregnant, it would fit in perfectly with the car crash and sex scene. Had she come pregnant, a part of Hughie will always be with them, and even though he did all these terrible things to them, he still gave her a child. If she did, I think she would have passed it off as John's. It just seems like the thing she would do. All she had to do to hide what happened would be to throw her ripped pants overboard. The rest of the place was messed up enough already, John wouldn't even blink at an messed up bed. Besides it's already clear that she didn't tell him what happened, the way they were so happy and comfortable with each other indicating this. I like to think that she did conceive. And there's no way in hell she'd ever get an abortion or give the child up for adaption after having lost the last one. And she may not even know if it is Hughie's child, since the spark seemed to return to her and John's relationship, so I'm sure they went at it too, it just turns out that Hughie got her pregnant first.

But don't go thinking I'm a bad person because of that. Remember, this is just a movie. If it were real, then I'd be sick and disgusted at what happened. Haven't you ever watched a movie where you want someone to die simply because they come off as an unpleasant character? That doesn't mean you would want that to happen to someone in real life. It's only a movie, and I think pregnancy would have fit in perfectly. They didn't even need to straight out show it. As Rae and John were watching Hughie's body float away at the end, the camera could have panned down to her stomach and the slowly zoomed in on it before fading out. But once a movie ends, if there's no sequel, it's entirely up to the audience to decide what happens from there. So in my view, yes, she became pregnant and passed the baby off as John's without ever telling him what happened.

So this is what it comes down to. She did not want to have sex with Hughie even though she was attracted to him. She did unwillingly have sex with Hughie, though it wasn't rape. She enjoyed having sex with Hughie even though she didn't want to. She did not tell John what happens,nor will she ever. She got pregnant, and passed the baby off as John's.

There's many different viewpoints on this. The scene was meant to be ambiguous, even to the actors. And Hughie did seem rather trusting even before the sex. It was only when she tried to turn the boat around or attack him that he reacted. He even seemed genuinely concerned for her when she was crying.

[deleted]

During initial penetration, perhaps, but that was likely due to going without sex for so long, as the scenes with her interaction with her husband imply. But as it goes on, her expression begins to become both distressful and delightful. Her mouth even curves up into reluctant smiles during her gasps a few times, and she clearly gets caught up in the act,even shows signs of approaching orgasm.

There's no denying that there was some acting involved. She had to play the part of the willing lover. Yet there were some things that you can't act. The sex flush, her hardened nipples, profound sweating, etc. Zod did a good job of explaining and pointing things out, but his posts got deleted. Up until she made the bathroom excuse was mostly acting, but after the dog ruined her plans and she went back down, there was a profound difference in her "acting". This was when her behavior and reactions were more "natural". But even if she was playing the part and participating to make it look good, her body is still going to react naturally. Get cut and you'll bleed, get tickled and you'll laugh. There are bodily reactions you can't control. So yes, even though she was playing a role, her reactions were mostly legit. This makes the event all the more traumatizing, which adds to the evolution of her character.