Help-Who's Related???

I've only read an excerpt of the book, and it is quite a bit different than the movie (seeing as how the book takes place in New York and what have you). But I had trouble figuring out what the hell was going on with these characters and who was related to who. As far as I could figure it out, I was under the assumption that Marie was Pierre's sister at the beginning because they called each other "brother" and "sister".

Then, as the movie progressed, I began to think that she was his step-mom whom he had been buggering on the side at some point in time. But then, with the terribly broken and erratic story of Isabelle, claiming that she was in the house when Pierre was born, I thought, "okay, maybe Marie is really his mother and they're just really friendly with each other." So truthfully, I never really "got it" as to what Marie was to Pierre. As per Thibault, when he first showed up in the movie, I thought that he and Pierre were lovers and that they had both been buggering Lucie while buggering each other. But then, as the word "cousin" came into play, I thought nothing more on that front.

Here is the plot of the Melville novel "Pierre: or The Ambiguities" from wikipedia.org *WARNING: SEVERE PLOT SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK AND KINDA FOR THE MOVIE*:

"It tells the story of Pierre Glendinning, junior, the 21-year-old heir of the manor at Saddle Meadows in upstate New York. Pierre is engaged to the blonde Lucy Tartan in a match approved by his domineering mother, who controls the estate since the death of his father, Pierre, senior. When he encounters, however, the dark and mysterious Isabel Banford, he hears from her the claim that she is his half-sister, the illegitimate and orphaned child of his father and a European refugee. Pierre reacts to the story (and to his magnetic attraction for Isabel) by devising a remarkable scheme to preserve his father’s name, spare his mother’s grief, and give Isabel her proper share of the estate.

He announces to his mother that he is married; she promptly throws him out of the house. He and Isabel then depart for New York City, accompanied by a disgraced young woman, Delly Ulver. During their stagecoach journey, Pierre finds and reads a fragment of a treatise on “Chronometricals and Horologicals” on the differences between absolute and relative virtue by one Plotinus Plinlimmon. In the city, Pierre counts on the hospitality of his friend and cousin Glendinning Stanley, but is surprised when Glen refuses to recognize him. The trio (Pierre, Isabel, and Delly) find rooms in a former church converted to apartments, the Church of the Apostles, now populated by impecunious artists, writers, spiritualists, and philosophers, including the mysterious Plinlimmon. Pierre attempts to earn money by writing a book, encouraged by his juvenile successes as a writer.

He learns that his mother has died and has left the Saddle Meadows estate to Glen Stanley, who is now engaged to marry Lucy Tartan. Suddenly, however, Lucy shows up at the Apostles, determined to share Pierre’s life and lot, despite his apparent marriage to Isabel, and Pierre and the three women live there together as best they can, while their scant money runs out. Pierre’s writing does not go well—the darker truths he has come to recognize cannot be reconciled with the light and innocent literature the market seeks. Unable to write, he has a vision in a trance of an earth-bound stone giant Enceladus and his assault on the heavenly Mount of Titans. Beset by debts, by fears of the threats of Glen Stanley and Lucy’s brother, by the rejection of his book by its contracted publishers, by fears of his own incestuous passion for Isabel, and finally by doubts of the truth of Isabel’s story, Pierre guns down Glen Stanley at rush hour on Broadway, and is taken to jail in The Tombs. There Isabel and Lucy visit him, and Lucy dies of shock when Isabel addresses Pierre as her brother. Pierre then seizes upon the secret poison vial that Isabel carries and drinks it, and Isabel finishes the remainder, leaving three corpses as the novel ends."

So hopefully this helps a little bit! Take care!

~Megan

There seemed to be lots of incestuous relationships suggested. Like the OP I thought Marie was Pierre's mother and sister, who became her father's mistress after he returned from some disgrace as a diplomat. Later it became less clear and seemed to be the case that she was his mother only. Isabelle was the daughter from her father's earlier relationship and Isabelle's mother died either during child birth or shortly thereafter. Isabelle was Marie's step daughter and after Pierre's birth Marie decided Isabelle was a threat to Pierre, which led to Isabelle being sent away. What's ironic is that with Isabelle's return as an adult and her meeting Pierre, she does threaten him and takes away all his happiness, as she herself describes it.

I thought Thibault-Pierre-Lucie had been a sexual menage a trois but it seemed later that Thibault was a love rival with Pierre for Lucie and nothing more, though like all the relationships in the film it was perplexing still.

I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.