Did anyone else think that incest, detected but unacknowledged by Kay and the mother, may have been at the bottom of this family's problems? In the scene where Dawn is bathing her father it's easy to attribute her inappropriate behavior to her mental illness. However, Dad certainly isn't protesting. I think that's the key scene in the movie.
shareAgreed.
I thought that scene certainly hinted at sexual abuse. And it's dad who breaks down in the car, not wanting to get rid of Sweetie.
Even with that though, I have to say, I hated Sweetie's character. I spent the whole movie waiting for someone to do something about her.
“I always tell the truth…even when I lie” - Scarface
Absolutely! The way in which both the father and Sweetie are "going through the motions" in the bathtub seemed to indicate that this was a routine - not a one-time thing. It was also suggested in the scene when Dawn/Sweetie as a child is doing a dance routine and the father catches her (very close to the crotch) and holds on maybe just a little too long... And the final scene with the young Dawn singing that song suggests an inappropriate sort of 'love' as she sings it to her father.
shareThat was such an odd, sort of throwawy scene...but it hinted at something a lot deeper going on. I think this is one of the most deceptive movies of all time in the sense that nothing is what it seems to be. I didn't know what the hell I was I watching...so I kind of just surrendered myself to it. I'm not even if I completely liked the movie, but I can't think of another one quite like it.
Gabba Gabba Hey
Yeah, I got undertones of sexual abuse hinted throughout the movie, and the bathtub was the most obvious. Kay's reactions to various things here and there seemed to point to it, even when her boyfriend joked about 'incest' the time the two couldn't have sex. And other little things she'd react to here and there between the dad and Sweetie. And then, to me, how Sweetie acted. The infantile behavior, that emotionally kind of "stuck" thing than can happen with someone abused/traumatized. Stuck as a child, relating to that little attention seeking child next door more than the others. Plus her never-ending-attention seeking...it seemed to fit. Maybe there was just some kind of inappropriate relations between them...mild but still effecting and damaging.
share[deleted]
The two lead actresses discuss that bathtub scene on the Criteron disc, and yeah, they agree that many people interpret that scene as incest going on in the family.
Personally, I think it's reflective of the dad's inability to keep a proper distance from his daughter. He lets himself be played by Sweetie, who can't be independent because her father is always there to "protect" her. Sweetie's been coddled and kept too close for too long to be a real adult. It's not just her mental illness.