What happened to Frances? (Spoilers)

One must respectfully disagree with you, Jannis Petersen. Clues in the order in which they occurred in the film:

1. Frances telling Elise about 'She's done it. With him. He did it to her under the jetty. He didn't love her, he just wanted to stick in into her. And she let him.' One rather believes she was referring to herself, not her mother. Her sadness, her demeanor, the way in which she related it to her sister is telling. This is classic with sexually abused children...and for all we know, it could well have been a stepfather. This writer has no access to the book.

2. Announcement of the death of the girls' father (by electrocution at work, Frances had nothing to do with his death), and Frances admitting that she had wished her father dead. These reveals happened in the subsequent scenes.

3. Frances' gathering of the sea wrack and leaving it under the window was perhaps a punishment of her mother for not keeping her safe. Sexually abused children often act out, blaming the other parent. It's irrational but it happens. She took seaweed from the ocean (remember the jetty?) and brought it to the house to make a noxious smell under *Dorothy's* window.

Elise was punished for Frances' seaweed crime just as she was punished with Dorothy's withdrawal after Frances was gone.

Elise creating a garden from seaweed and the dead newspapers was a symbol that she was ready to move on. Dorothy was so curious about what was going on she fell from her bed while she was peeking in her mirror. She was ready to move on, too.

4. The medical record read 'Difficulty urinating, unwilling to be examined.' The good doctor was apologising to Elise for not recognising sexual abuse in her sister, Frances. She came back to see the doctor three weeks later on her own. Here's what I think: Frances fell pregnant when she was forced by her father and perhaps even given an STD.

5. Elise asking her mother, 'Did he do it? Tell me!' and the response, 'We loved each other,' was code for, 'Did you know that my father raped my sister?' and 'Yes, but I loved him anyway.'

Here's what I believe happened to Frances: she was impregnated by her father, given a disease, and went for help to Doctor John. When he wasn't there in the surgery that day when she was willing to ask for help, she went in the sea and swam straight out until she drowned from exhaustion.

Frances is dead. Elise accepted this once Doctor John told her the truth and showed her the medical records. Dorothy, too, is now able to get on with her life.