Theory - Grandfather was a sexual abuser...

Title says it all. I suspect the grandfather was a sexual abuser. The movie was littered with little red flags that something was very very wrong within the family dynamic, and much of it pointed towards the grandfather. Let's look at some of the main clues:


Scene at the Cafe

1) When Roger learns that the grandfather is staying with Nick and his mother, he's reacts with shock, almost as if he's afraid.

2) We learn that Roger had an altercation with the grandfather at the grandmother's funeral, where he called him a king sized prick.

3) Nick talked about his standing meditation as "blocking out the bad stuff".

4) Nick doesn't want to go to college, but his mother is insisting he go, perhaps to get him away from the family home.

Scene at the bar with the two girls

1) Nicks answers about sex are detailed, and a little odd. When asked "why do we have to watch", he answers "to make sure it's really happening. He then mentions "filing the memory away".

2) We learn that Nicks mother is a lot-term alcoholic.

3) When one girl passes the other girl her chapstick, they're actually secretly communicating. The blonde girl marks a letter on the napkin. Is it "V" for virgin, or "A" for abused. They look concerned many times later in the conversation. Girls in that line of work, often end up there due to prior abuse. Chances are they'd spot the signs before anyone else.

4) Outside after the bar scene, Nick describes his first kiss as being "stiff, and not what he expected".

Scene at the boss's apartment party

1) Roger has a conversation with an older blonde woman. He mentions the dynamics of older people *beep* younger people.

2) Roger encourages Nick to try to have sex with the drunk girl, a highly questionable move. Nick nearly crosses the threshold, but stops when he realises how wrong it would be. It's common for the abused to become abusers themselves.

Scene at the brothel

1) When the hooker looks down at Nicks "privates", she reacts in a strange way. Most would assume it was a reaction to whether he was hard or not. Maybe, there was visible evidence of abuse down there, i.e. bruising or bite marks.

2) When Roger sees a dirty old pervert going into one of the rooms with a young girl, he snaps, and runs into Nick's room to get him out. It was like he was having a flashback to prior abuse.

Near the end of the movie, at Nick's house

1) We see Roger and the mother sitting together at the kitchen table. There's a sombre mood, before the mother tries to play it off as just a normal visit. What were they talking about? Were they finally addressing prior abuse in the family?


I could go on, but you get the idea. The movie was full of indications of abuse. Was Roger an *beep* by nature, or was his behaviour a product of a grim past?

Remember his analogy about marketing? "Instead of people working to root out the real reason for their misery, they run out to buy a stupid pair of cargo pants". That was symbolic of the family's denial to address the abuse committed by the grandfather. Scary really.