big spoiler - space included - Reality or Imagination

****spoiler space****
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****Don't say I didn't warn you****
At the beginning, the framing sequence, doesn't seem like a framing sequence until the end because of Berling's remark when he first sees his father, "I thought you were dead."
My question is, could this not really have been a framing sequence but could everything in between have happened wholely in Berling's head at the news of the death of his father?
Regnier is shown comfortably back in the house, sunning outside actually, during these sequences and despite the fact that Bouquet predicted she would come back to him, I can't see her ever forgiving him for what he did to her.

I know - I saw Boorman's Point Blank entirely too many times...