Why did Lola marry her abuser? - Atonement (2008) Discussion

[–] zootie 9 years ago

She is a children of divorced parents that paid little attention to their brood even before their split, so she probably has plenty of abandonment and daddy issues.

Sometimes, victims of continuous sexual abuse justify it by accepting and embracing it as something natural, or even desirable and special (a form/combination of Electra complex and/or Stockholm syndrome). Specifically about Lola, she was taking the role mother to her brothers, and is approaching marriage age (for the times), so she might be inclined to take on more mature roles (the confusion of her sexual awakening is compounded by the abuse, and incorporated it into her psyche, as a defense mechanism, so she convinces herself she loves him).

Furthermore, she was pursued, and the "courtship" probably continued after the events of that weekend. It wasn't a simple encounter with a stranger, it was a relentless assault. In their shame, rather than being discovered, they both decided that marriage was a good solution.

On a more practical side, she (either on her own, or at his prompting) might see the marriage as a legal defense. By using the marriage bond (spouses can't be compelled to testify against each other), he is being shielded from the sexual attack charge, and she is being shielded against perjury and false statement charges.

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[–] LetThemEatCake01 9 years ago

So she was perfectly ok with ruining two innocent lives?

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[–] zootie 9 years ago

Pretty much. She is deathly afraid of the scandal.

From her perspective, she invited his advances: she thinks "she caused the rape" (and in some part of her, she might think she wanted it). She (incorrectly) is blaming herself, and thinks people would blame her, so once Briony lets her imagination go off, she just keeps quiet. She doesn't know that she is too young, and has been abused, and that no amount of flirtation justifies his actions (even at the time).

Briony is hated in general, but at least she made a mistake in (mostly) good faith. Lola was victimized, which excuses some of her silence, but she never speaks up, even after the shock wears off, and then takes advantage of the situation by marrying a rich man.

That's another reason for the marriage: she was "ruined" by the assault. Even if they kept it quiet, people knew she wasn't a virgin anymore, so she couldn't hope for a good marriage. So, it is in her best interest to marry him, to solidify her position in society.

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[–] Moss_Garden 9 years ago

All great points from zootie. I would also add that she didn't believe Robbie was innocent; she already thought he was a "sex maniac," as established earlier in the story, so she figured by taking the blame he was really getting his just desserts anyway. And if she thought about it at all, which I doubt, she probably thought that Cecilia was in a similar situation to herself: more or less in thrall to the man who had "ruined" her.

*Formerly Nothin_but_the_Rain*

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[–] LetThemEatCake01 9 years ago

I don't think so, her expression when she sees Briony is one of bewilderment, maybe shame? She obviously doesn't care but she knows Briony knows she's a rat.

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[–] electric_storm 9 years ago

I'm not sure if it's made clearer in the book but in the movie I got the impression that this scene was another fabrication she made up for her story so she could properly absolve Robbie of guilt and protray herself as discovering the truth. While it's heavily implied it was Cumberbatch's character in reality she never knew who had abused Lola. I always thought there was something off about there happening to be a commercial about the wedding and then the two characters appearing to be "frozen" in the same appearance Briony remembered them in, similar to the later scene with Robbie and Cecelia.

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[–] jlent 9 years ago

In the book Briony sees nobody, just a form. She imagines it has to be Robbie because of all she witnessed that day.

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[–] Sook-Yongsheng 9 years ago

Briony is hated in general, but at least she made a mistake in (mostly) good faith.

In the book Briony sees nobody, just a form.

But it's made clear in the film that Briony did remember Marshall as being the one who ran away from Lola on the ground.

Briony remembered seeing Marshall's face looking furtively over his shoulder as he fled, when she was put under enough pressure to remember the actual truth.

Love & Mercy: 9
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[–] jlent 9 years ago

But it's made clear in the film that Briony did remember Marshall as being the one who ran away from Lola on the ground.

Yes, in the film it's clear. The questioner wondered if it was different in the book. It was. Books and movies are different beasts. If the movie is better than the book the movie becomes the definitive version. No one cares that in the book "Jaws" Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) has an affair with the chief's wife and is killed by the shark, but the book Atonement is one of the great works of literature of the past 50 years. A movie of Hamlet might be extraordinary. It still won't replace the play.
It's easy to understand why the director and screenwriter chose to make Briony "see" the rapist. It's more cinematic having her remember in the church. Slowly figuring it out over 200 pages based on reasoning with no "eureka" moment is not.

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[–] ricky_says_hi 9 years ago

There are hints that this was not technically abuse but actually an affair. What really confirms this to me is that Lola waits until Briony says that Robbie must have attacked her before agreeing. Briony produces this cover story that Lola can go along with to avoid being ruined. So Lola may have just been waiting until she was the right age to marry Marshall. Of course he was still a perv who took advantage of a teenager.

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[–] Valinote 9 years ago

I think you have it exactly right. Paul was not an attacker or abuser. They were using the cover of darkness and an obvious mutual attraction to get to know each other. Being observed was definitely not in their plans and would have been scandalous in the 1930s society in which they lived. The "rape" of Lola by Robbie was convenient to stave this off.

I'll only quibble a little with why they waited. Paul and Lola's silence as Robbie was imprisoned is unconscionable. They needed to wait long enough to be sure that Briony's story stayed intact. As Briony grew older, it became harder for her to changer her story. It is reasonable that a 13 year old girl can get a story wrong and be intimidated by circumstance to stick to it. On the other hand, if Briony reaches the age of 18 and still does not recant, Paul and Lola can take comfort that they are safe. When Briony actually reaches maturity yet doesn't recant, she can be accused of liable if at some later time she does.

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[–] LetThemEatCake01 8 years ago

Even if it's consensual it is still abuse because she is a minor and she doesn't even understand what she is doing.

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[–] loralee_87 8 years ago

Paul was an adult who was taking advantage of a teen-aged girl who wasn't really emotionally equipped to start a sexual affair with a much so much older than she was.

Just some food for thought,
Peace, Y'all!
Loralee :)

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[–] Valinote 8 years ago

Lola was 15 years old at the time. Age of consent in Great Britain was 16 at the time. It is unwise to take situations out of their historical context and put today's mores on them. It is likely that suitable husbands were already being sought for her by her parents despite their impending divorce.

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[–] andersaberg87 8 years ago

It's not really that much of taking it out of it's historical context when you confirm that she still was underage back then?

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[–] AcademyAwardWinnerJordy 8 years ago

"There are hints that this was not technically abuse but actually an affair. What really confirms this to me is that Lola waits until Briony says that Robbie must have attacked her before agreeing. Briony produces this cover story that Lola can go along with to avoid being ruined. So Lola may have just been waiting until she was the right age to marry Marshall. Of course he was still a perv who took advantage of a teenager. "

This! I remember being back on this board when this film first came out, and it was split 50/50. 50% of us felt it was consensual, even though he was still a rat who was with an underage girl, others felt he had raped her. Her whole expression when they are caught tells it all, imo.

Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation (Eat, Pray, Love)

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[–] alexisjjames-813-116322 8 years ago

But it's made clear in the film that Briony did remember Marshall as being the one who ran away from Lola on the ground.

Briony remembered seeing Marshall's face looking furtively over his shoulder as he fled, when she was put under enough pressure to remember the actual truth.

Which is quite the opposite of how memory actually works.

The more pressure you're under to 'remember' , the more elusive the actual memory of what actually happened is.

This is basically the basis of false memory syndrome.

IN THE MOMENT , she was sure it was Robbie/ perhaps wrongly and influenced by the trauma and by Lola's also leaning towards it being Robbie and offering up no other name. Memories of traumatic events do not get better or clearer with age, in fact they get muddier and more uncertain with every remembrance.

memory is a tricky creature to begin with, as many well documented studies and experiments have shown, but when you add trauma, later memories which deviate from the original memories, especially when they were openly discussed as quickly as the event had occurred - always better than a later potential false memory.

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[–] Queenbee60 8 years ago

Yes. I began to wonder if the wedding was just something made up by Briony for her book. The apology didn't happen.
I was disappointed by the film because there were so many unexplained events. Cecilia apparently gets tongue-tied when Robbie returns with the twins;and the lack of support for him during an unseen trial (what type of trial was it?). It seemed as if the characters were too lethargic to actually care about anything enough to fight for it.
It turned out to be a beautifully filmed movie of certain sets and scenes. But lacking common sense.

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] jname967 8 years ago

Because all women are masochists.

Lol

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[–] eljay60 8 years ago

Because it wasn't abuse, it was consensual. She loved him, and judging by their long and happy marriage, it was mutual. Like everything else that happened that night, Briony was wrong in this, too. Briony was afraid of sex at 13, but she wanted romance, and with her sister's lover. Briony thought of Lola as her peer, but she was actually older, both chronologically and far older emotionally. By making Paul more sinister in the film - and casting a 30 something in the part, instead of a young 20 something as he is described in the book - the dynamic changes considerably.
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[–] 8 years ago

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