What made Sally change her mind about the baby? Was she ever planning on having it in the first place or just playing along?
Furthermore, what is up with the scene with the ball and the emcee feeling her up? I've seen this movie hundreds of times, and these are the questions that I can't answer.
I don't think Sally was "playing along" as much as she was fooling herself. As unlikely as her alliance with Brian was, it's the closest thing she's probably ever had to a truly loving, romantic relationship, and for a while, she's quite caught up in it.
Her decision not to have the baby is finally the result of some clarity and honest assessment of both herself and Brian. She's come to realize that they each imagine different trajectories for their lives, and have priorities and desires which are conflicting and most likely unresolvable.
It's interesting that Sally tells Brian her decision is, in part, because she's selfish (which she is), because she's probably done them both - not to mention the baby they might have had - a huge favor in the long run. I'm sure Brian comes to realize this as well.
Your other issues are addressed, by myself and others, in the "Question about the baby" thread.
Poe! You are...avenged!
The emcee grabing her breasts. Brian as potential father. The count as potential father. The child could be anyone's. That she tells Brian makes Brian an instrument in her own moral decay. That she tells only Brian suggests that she believes that he is the father and the film makers want the audience to believe that Brian is the father.
shareRemember the scene in the park, where she is telling Brian how wonderful it will be! They'll have a cottage, and they'll be a family, etc.
She glances at Brian as she goes over each scenario, and you can see he is a million miles away. She is pretending to be happy, and excited about the future, and he isn't even listening.
She is just confirming that he is gay, and dreaming of being somewhere else - with someone else.
After she has the abortion, he asks her why. She tells him what he wants to hear - that she is selfish, but then she says that it will only be a matter of time before she makes an ass of herself in a pub, or she comes home to find Brian...
Unsaid is ...with another man.
She has the abortion because she knows she'll be an afterthought.
I admire her for her decision, it showed she took a real, honest, deep look at herself. She realized the "normal" life for her and Brian would have failed, miserably.
shareBut after they talk and she is in bed and he leaves, she swears, as if she is sorry about the abortion, or maybe just sorry the whole situation had to happen. I do think she ended up getting the abortion b/c in the park Brian was clearly not happy, not excited about their future together. I believed that she didnt want the baby either, until he left and she said "sh*t". Is she just putting on an act for Brian?
shareRealistically Sally is not going to find a big producer in the third rate Kit Kat Klub who will make her a star. Her chance for any real happiness would be to leave Germany with Brian and try to make a life. If they can both laugh about having slept with Max, they could have been capable of succeeding. However the key for me is despite Sally's false persona of being a free spirit with "divine decadence", she really felt she was never good enough. This feeling came from her relationship with her father who rarely had time to give her the attention and love she craved. Brian saw through her act, but was having some honest misgivings about how the whole relationship would work with neither of them ever knowing who the baby's father was. I think Sally saw that and needed to end the relationship before he did. The abortion and Brian's subsequent leaving for England just confirmed what she always believed about herself - that she was not good enough. She will continue to sleep with men which will only confirm her low opinion of herself until the Nazis close the Klub as being a decadent example of the old order in Germany. With no job, it is not hard to imagine what she will have to do in order to survive.
share