Sexual Abuse


Did I get this completely wrong or was it heavily implied that Tallulah was sexually abused as a child by the guy her Mother sent to "adopt" her?

I interpreted it as a case of Lu being abandoned by her Mother, and some guy picking her up and lying to gain her trust, before abusing her. Hence why she's so protective of the child and almost childlike herself at times.

Did anyone else get this or am I totally off the mark?

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I admit the thought crossed my mind but I don't recall anything in her story, anything she said that would have indicated that positively. I subscribe to the notion that in a fictional story (which this is) if something isn't said, shown, or strongly hinted at then we cannot make the leap that it happened just because we think it is a possibility.

So sexual abuse of Lu as a child is not part of the story.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes not.

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I would normally agree but this isn't the kind of film to spoon feed you that kind of back story.

It was certainly implied, even if just by the lack of detail - Like it being a man that picks her up and she gets in his car because he tells her he knows her mother. I think even if we don't assume there was abuse we're made aware that it could be there and how vulnerable Lu's Mum left her, which is why she is so protective over baby Maggie.

All we really know after that is that Lu ended up running away, living out of a van and so shut down to the idea of a family unit that she runs away from it several times before her character develops, but I think that story -whatever interpretation you get from it, is supposed to be a big part of her character.

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So what you are saying is that you "NEED" for there to be an indication of prior sexual abuse for you to feel the whole story makes sense.

I don't. The easy way she has sex with her boyfriend in the van makes me think the opposite. Her main issue was being abandoned by her mom and by extension that made it difficult for her to get too close to anyone.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes not.

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I'm not saying I need it, I'm saying I think it's implied by a string of small but still relevant clues within the story and that we're supposed to make that connection.

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I'm saying I think it's implied by a string of small but still relevant clues within the story and that we're supposed to make that connection.



It wasn't implied and there were no "clues" to indicate that. The man who came to pick her up was likely her father whom her mother got pregnant by after a one night stand during a neighborhood party. Simple as that.


__________
Everybody needs love. Have you held your hostage today?

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I just watched that scene again. No, there is absolutely no hint or implication that there may have been sexual abuse. Her mother abandoned her at 6, the man who came to get her hours later said he was her father. If sexual abuse had been implied then Lu would have shown some discomfort telling Margo that story of her life but she didn't, she just told it matter of factly.

..*.. TxMike ..*..

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I don't know if there was sexual abuse but there was clearly some sort of abuse done by that man or whoever else reared her. A comment that stood out to me indicating such was when Margo asked her if she was raised by wolves and Lu replied, "I wish." Another thing was her absolute refusal to listen to her boyfriend and try to get off the streets and seek normalcy from home. Another huge indicator of being abused while growing up was the life she was living as a homeless vagabond thief living out of a van sans any sort of serious drug problem. To live such a life without being a junkie indicates to me that some seriously awful things went down while you were being reared.

Also, sexual assault victims talk about ugly parts of their childhood with ease all the time. There isn't only one way they all behave. Amanda Palmer wrote an upbeat song about her rape called Oasis.


I met Cinderella once... She's actually kind of a bitch.

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Lu clearly implies sexually abuse by the man who picked her up after her mum abandoned her...not explicitly in the dialogue but more by facial expression. It isn't developed further because to do so would utterly distract from the actual plot. It would have been a different film but it does give some insight into why she lives such a nomadic life and...yes...why she is so protective of the toddler.

I think to deny this implicit element of her character is just naive but this element is arguably not central to the storyline.

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I just watched this and there is nothing even remotely hinting at sexual abuse. Except for the perverts in this thread. Judging by her lifestyle though, it is highly likely that she has been a victim of it. But there is zero indication that it was from the person claiming to be her dad. Wishing it was, doesn't make it so.

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It's more likely you just overlooked it, being the kind of person to assume that everyone who picked up on applied abuse is instantly a "pervert".

I guess some people just need things to be spoonfed stuff like that or they refuse to believe it's there.

I'm sorry your brain has that limitation. I would advise another genre in future.

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"jessica" it is something you created in your own mind. There is absolutely nothing in the movie that would indicate sexual abuse when she was younger. More plausible is parental neglect which would account for the way she grew up. But mostly she didn't want committed relationships because she was abandoned as a child by her mother, leading her to distrust relationships.

..*.. TxMike ..*..

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There was no indication of sexual abuse, although it is also possible. Mainly, the sexual abuse is in your own mind. Maybe an obsession, or a fear?

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I also got that indication too and with their facial expressions when she tells margo when a man picks her up and says he's her dad.
Weridly enough too she ran away from 'home' and she doesn't want family and she is over protective for the baby, the whole reason she took the baby was because the mother is not fit to look after her 'hense accidental abuse'. I defiantly think that there were some abuse (sexual or not) in her childhood

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