It seemed to me that Leann/Leia's mother was just as controlling as her kidnapper was. She didn't want her daughter to have contact with the outside world. She told her what to say to the therapist about some non existant vacation they had taken. She kept her in her room most of the time so in effect Lea was still a captive in her own home.
The only person who had any sense in that house was Marcy's husband who she forced out of her life.
While I agree with you, I think Marcy thought if she did to Leanne what Ben did to her, Leanne would start to love Marcy as she did Ben. While it was crazy and convoluted, in Marcy's mind she was trying to help. I think Marcy was at the end of her rope and was trying anything she could to reconnect with her daughter.
shareI agree with both of you! The mother seemed as psychotic or bizarre as the kidnapper. I was trying to figure out which one was the lesser of two evils. It seems that both the mother and the kidnapper wanted someone to control, keep for themselves and whom they can force to keep at a certain mentally developed, or underdeveloped, stage of life.
I've read about therapy sessions like the mother was apparently trying to practice: starting the daughter over at birth and going and growing from there. However, the mother was too controlling, and that type of therapy requires the presence and instruction of a qualified therapist -- not the interpretations of an unbalanced mother. The lengths that the mother went to was creepy, faking vacations, wanting Leiah to bond -- yet telling her not to talk, when it was obvious that some progress was being made and more could be made if she shared.
What's with the therapist? All she did was take notes and ask scripted questions. She seemed suspicious of the flu excuse by the mother. Why didn't she call social services or the police to investigate?
I question the motives of the therapist. Obviously, she was out of her area of expertize.
Poor Leia. The only ones in her life that seemed to be "stable" were her "father" and kidnapper. The woman in her life had ulterior motives and were under qualified and just as one dimensional as Leia had grown to be.
When Leia asked, "Is this the way people love? They lock you in a room...?" saddened me -- and was the best line of the movie.
The mother seemed as psychotic or bizarre as the kidnapper. I was trying to figure out which one was the lesser of two evils. It seems that both the mother and the kidnapper wanted someone to control, keep for themselves and whom they can force to keep at a certain mentally developed, or underdeveloped, stage of life.
I think that they are both evil in their own way. My mother didn't know how to -- or want to know how to -- deal with her traumatized children, two of which were raped. She blamed them because it was easier than searching for the right help. She was so afraid that everyone would look poorly upon and blame her that she let two of her children suffer throughout life.
If I recall correctly, when the mother got help, she didn't go through with it -- and she didn't keep trying to find help. (I understand her not knowing how to communicate, but I don't understand why she didn't try to find more help, but kept her own daughter locked up.
Yea to me she was very unstable. How dare that woman say "Water's in half an hour." That right there is abuse! She was not fit to be a mother at all. Im not agreeing with what the kidnapped did but he obviously must have treated her better.
shareThe mother resorted to that behavior. In the beginning, she was very kind.
"... and I am unanimous in that!"- Mrs. Slocombe
The kidnapper was wrong for taking the child in the first place and he damaged Leah by not letting her see the outside world and filled her head w/a load of crap - in the beginning the mother was normal but I think she did "flip the lid" near the end b/c nothing she did helped getting her traumatized daughter back who showed no emotions b/c that is how the kidnapper taught her to be. I think that the victims in this whole movie was DEFINITELY the daughter, but it also affected the mother/father as well, they finally get their daughter back who is just a total emotionless teenager and their marriage falls apart the husband leaves - the mother has started going overboard w/helping her daughter which in fact she is just making things worst for her daughter; but I think the mother was starting to "mentally" lose it as well b/c she wasn't getting through her daughter no matter what she did since her return the daughter just didn't want to communicate w/her parents; Ben made her an emotionless person w/his crazy talk and she had listened to him for 17 years so that is all she knows. It's truly a mess, and its THE KIDNAPPER'S FAULT, he isolated the young girl since she was a very young child from the world and kept her captive in a basement for 17 years - she never even seen the outside.
shareYou're right about the kidnapper being the first person to blame, but next is the mother for isolating herself and never getting professional help to deal with her own trauma during all the years that Leanne/Leia was missing. All she did was read a pile of books written by who knows what kind of people. Just because someone writes a book, no matter how well-educated they are or how many letters they put after their name, doesn't mean they're right. Besides, how many people have had their adult child returned to them after being held by a kidnapper for 17 years? It isn't a common phenomenon so there can't be a lot of experts on how to reintegrate the adult victim of a childhood kidnapping in a broken family in that situation. It's certainly not a DIY project and you don't just throw the family back together like this. No matter who they are to each other biologically, mentally and emotionally, they are total strangers. Leanne/Leia didn't need just any counsellor, she needed someone super competent. She needed to spend weeks, if not months, learning about the real world as an adult and getting to know her parents in a safe, neutral environment and they should have gotten to know her like that too. To just bring her back to her parents after a basic medical admission to a hospital was grossly irresponsible and a setup for everything else that went wrong.
shareYea to me she was very unstable. How dare that woman say "Water's in half an hour." That right there is abuse! She was not fit to be a mother at all.