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When did 2 eldest sibs come to live with the Polleys?

posted 11 years ago by Mitch-4
6 replies | jump to latest

A question about the general family history I didn't quite catch in the film. When Diane was divorced by first husband (Buchan?) she lost custody of the two children of that marriage. But we see those two in scenes with the whole Polley clan. Did they eventually come to live with Michael and Diane's family? Or were these just holiday visitations? (Or could they be false scenes, "recreated" with actors only if there was no archival home movie footage?)

[–] century_of_fakers 11 years ago

They probably never did, but they were close to their siblings, and they probably closer as adults.
I say that because Michael at some point says that Diane didn't leave them because she was considerate of the 3 of them (Michael and the 2 kids he had with Diane).

[–] zetes 11 years ago

I was under the impression that they visited their mother at least once a month (and, as time went on, this could have increased).

My God! He has the worst sangria mouth I've ever seen on a non-Spaniard!

[–] Ezrateach 11 years ago

Generally when children are older they are allowed to spend more time with the non-custodial parent if they wish to, and of course when they're 18 they are legally free to do whatever they want to.

[–] boudreaux-oliver 10 years ago

I got the impression that John and Susy Buchan were probably born in the 60's which would put them in their teens when Sara was born in 1979, which would mean they would have been grown by the time they started making jokes about Sara's parentage. I also got the impression that their father's household was extremely abusive so even after their mother died they really didn't want to have anything to do with their father. Micheal Polley for all his faults struck me as a humble, sincere, and very sweet man who welcomed his step children into his extended family lovingly and without guile.

[–] jessie-lane3 9 years ago

I have no idea what other people's families are like. But remember, Sarah moved out on her own when she was 14 (during her Road to Avonlea years). An ex boyfriend at that time has talked about Michael coming to his parents and asking them to let their son live with Sarah, in their teens.

The family seems to be far older than their years mentally. Sarah was reading Lolita at age 9 and was very precocious.

[–] cameron42 10 years ago

Just to clear things up (or maybe confuse them more)...

The IMDB bio of Diane Polley (nee McMillan) states that she had one child with first husband George Deans-Buchan. Obviously, this would be John Buchan. Also, she was "Mother-in-law of Susy Buchan", which would make Susy John's wife, not his sister.

With second husband Michael Polley, Diane's profile says she had five children, three of which were Sarah, Joanna and Mark.

However, the bio for Michael Polley credits the couple with parenting only four offspring: Sarah Polley, Joanna Polley, Mark Polley and John Buchan. This is probably incorrect, as John has a different surname than the other three.

Earlier in Michael's chronicle though, the two offspring not named in the Diane's biography are at least referred to: "their other children are a lawyer and a university professor". This would make the most sense.

Therefore, it would appear that the director of the film (Sarah Polley) has one half-sibling (John) that Diane conceived with her first husband and four half-siblings (Joanna, Mark, a lawyer and a professor) fathered by her second.