Anna brings Stephen CLOSER to Martyn
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Damage
TheGoforth — 10 years ago(August 21, 2015 03:14 AM)
They have a conversation at one point in the film about how there was a lack of passion or warmth in Martyn's childhood. Only through his relationship with Anna does Stephen finally find a way to communicate with his son and understand his son's disappointment about this, which validates Martyn on a profound level. Stephen is finally able to speak Martyn's language and had it not been for Anna, he would have remained closed off and remote. It's just about the way you look at things. The sex was really about how Stephen was able to evolve as a human being and become more spontaneous and instinctual. Anna brought Stephen into a primal consciousness so by the end of the film, he truly wants a relationship with his son. This film is so multi layered like that. There is a truly positive narrative arc about personal growth which is aligned to the negative one (the destruction of families and traditional ways of thinking/preserving what one has built).
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Keely — 9 years ago(June 30, 2016 11:49 AM)
This is a very interesting post. It makes me think there was redemption and a better future for Stephen if he had only stayed with his decision to stop the affair. Breaking down that passionless wall with his family would have been a great outcome. But Anna was so destructive even though she had a lot of wisdom. Ironic how she's the one who ended up with the nice little nuclear family.