MovieChat Forums > A Bigger Splash (2016) Discussion > spoiler question: Dakota Fanning's char...

spoiler question: Dakota Fanning's character


Why is it so important that she was lying about her age and knowing Italian?

Did she and Harry actually believe she might be his daughter, or was one or both of them lying about it?

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As far as I can tell, to underline her as a pathetic narcissist, because she's supposed to be the snake in this particular garden. Which is apparently a plot element lifted from the 1969 film this was based on, and which was probably already tired back then. Ditto for the notion that a guy like Paul might find her appealing.

Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.

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Right. Like all film long he has no interst in her and is committed to tilda and seems way behind immature girl seductions. Then all of a sudden she's naked and he's helpless?

And then a murderer?

And tilda isn't that hott and doesn't look like a rock star and Paul is super hott. Just couldn't buy any of it. I went mainly for the scenery and even that was lacking.

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Yeah, Paul's sudden change of character was totally unbelievable and ruined the movie. They sealed the deal with the most hilarious police investigation in the cinema history. Even if you buy the idiotic interrogation and that stupid policeman, there would certainly be a body examination and they'd find some marks, bruises or something on Harry's neck. Why would a refugee kill a random person and not even take any of his belongings? Plus one is her current bf, the other is an ex. Nothing suspicious, right?

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The Inspector knew there had been foul play, and knew there was no way to prove it, but didn't care anyway as he was a fan of Marianne.

He mentioned the refugees so that she could jump on it and end the investigation.

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Dakota Fanning was in it? I must have missed that bit....


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😀

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Tilda definitely looks like a rockstar and attraction comes with fame very easily.. Perfect example being Mick Jagger and just the stories of how much he got laid. ..or really any rockstar/famous person in general. There is no denying this is a believable story.

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I assume you mean Dakota Johnson.



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My belief is that Penelope wasn't really Harry's daughter. Perhaps they were ex-lovers, or he knew her through his contacts in the music industry. I think it was all a ruse - he brought her along to distract Paul so he'd have more opportunity to seduce Marianne, and in the hope of driving a wedge between Paul and his wife by inducing infidelity.

As for why Pen pretended to be older than she was...I guess she (or Harry) figured Paul might have inhibitions about sex with a 17 year old; I don't know what the age of consent is in Italy, but in most American states she would be barely legal, if that. So she wanted to make doubly sure she didn't get rejected.

"People don't go to the movies to be depressed - that's what the theatre's for!"

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I am not sure she was there for a distraction because Harry was pretty upset when he assumed Paul slept with Penelope. Her character was meant to me mysterious yet vicious, she seemed very jealous of Marianne, I assumed Harry spoken a lot about her. I think she just loves attention...

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Harry's reaction might have been feigned. I thought it was odd that she only ever called Harry by his first name, never "dad". And that one scene where they were in the bedroom together, I felt the way they interacted didn't feel like a father-daughter situation. There may have been other clues, I'd have to re-watch it to make sure.

"People don't go to the movies to be depressed - that's what the theatre's for!"

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Harry's reaction might have been feigned. I thought it was odd that she only ever called Harry by his first name, never "dad".


It was stated that Harry only found out she was his daughter a year ago. I presume they didn't really know one another that well. Penelope also tells Marianne that she wants Harry to take a paternity test because she's not really sure Harry is her father.

But Harry seems to be sure that she's his daughter. During the karaoke scene Harry whispers to her that she's the best thing that ever happened to him, so he would probably be upset if Paul slept with her.



And all the pieces matter (The Wire)

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