In a message dated 3/13/2003 5:28:37 AM Eastern Standard Time, AzeemAK writes:
> It seems we are expected to swallow the proposition that by having this seemingly > caring but (I found) creepy, frankly deranged man force himself on her while she is > in no position to have any say in the matter, her life is saved. Do me a > favour! I think perhaps you're being a tad extreme, Azeem...it's strongly established in the film that he's deeply in love with her - indeed; he has basically dedicated his life to being her caretaker, and the scenes of him caressing her, grooming her, putting lotion on her, etc. reinforced that, at least for me. Obviously if he was just in it for necrophiliac sex he wouldn't have invested so much of himself. The black & white 'film within a film' was a revelation to him, and he had non-consensual sex (I would stop short of calling it rape...rape is about violence & control, not about sex) with her, and it was through his impregnation (not the sex act itself) that a new life was implanted in her and gave her body a reason to emerge from her comatose state. Maybe I'm being overly simplistic, but that's what the story said to me anyway. Bob NP: John Mellencamp, "Fruit Trader"
