It's been ages since I've seen this but I think about it every time I watch Flirting. Wish I could see it again or even buy it but I don't have a working VHS player. I'm trying to remember the details of what happened. Wasn't there a scene which strongly implied that Danny's father could have been Freya's father? Please tell me I didn't imagine this or mishear what they were saying.
shareHaving just watched this great Australian film again with your question in mind....
Danny's father is grilled by both his wife and Danny about if he slept with Freya's
mum. This was possibly to open further discussion about if he could be the father but his responce
to their probeing returns a sharp rebuttal and denial before walking away from a light
that is a little to hot, which of coarse implies he had slept with her. There is no scene
that directly implied him of being the father and I think the movie deliberately paints
an obscure picture of Freya's dad to heighten a feeling of old dark secrets and small
town scandal. I also thought this gave an impression of Freya being the flesh and bone
of the "wild oats" that we all hear about but never normally see.
It is explained that Freya ended up living with the Olsons because Nels Olson had been
"dobbed in" (which is open to interpretation) and at the time they were newly weds
with no children of there own.
There's much in the film to expose Danny's Dad as being Freya's father.
1. Neither of Danny's parents' hair colour is Danny's (auburn and blonde).
2. Mr Embling's hair colour is the same as Freya's.
3. Watch for the reaction shot when Mrs Osmond asks Freya if she has a boyfriend (after handing Freya the locket that belonged to Freya's mother). The reaction is shock that brother and sister might be lovers.
4. Mr Embling's eyes never meet the enquierer when he denies having slept with Sarah.
5. There's callousness from him when Freya conceives and he doesn't offer her a ride home from the police station. After Freya misscarries he's more than willing.
6. He always finds humour in any conversation about Sarah Elizabeth Amery.
Zig-Zag
I'm living at your place, no you're living at your place, I mean you're living at my place.
Neither of Danny's parents' hair colour is Danny's (auburn and blonde).Huh? So you think Danny's the orphan? focus...
Mr Embling's hair colour is the same as Freya's.His hair is bone white.
Watch for the reaction shot when Mrs Osmond asks Freya if she has a boyfriend (after handing Freya the locket that belonged to Freya's mother). The reaction is shock that brother and sister might be lovers.Ah.. hmm ok, inconclusive but granted it's hard to think of another obvious reason why that moment was written in.
Mr Embling's eyes never meet the enquierer when he denies having slept with Sarah.Indeed. But I think the point is almost anyone could have been Freya's father. He knows he could be. He can't really know he is.
There's callousness from him when Freya conceives and he doesn't offer her a ride home from the police station. After Freya misscarries he's more than willing.Explainable as just firstly anger then sympathy being appropriate at those times.
He always finds humour in any conversation about Sarah Elizabeth Amery.That would seem to count against him thinking he's the father of her child, unless he were quite a nasty person. share
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Neither of Danny's parents' hair colour is Danny's (auburn and blonde).
Huh? So you think Danny's the orphan? focus...
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No! It's there to highlight the fact that there is a difference.
It's beyond doubt who Danny's folks are, that's the job of Mrs Embling's character.
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There's callousness from him when Freya conceives and he doesn't offer her a ride home from the police station. After Freya misscarries he's more than willing.
Explainable as just firstly anger then sympathy being appropriate at those times.
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No!! His disposition is the same callous response that all in the pub have to Tom's question (parrotting Danny) ...
"Does anyone remember who used to live in that old place on the hill?"
They were all in on it, including Mr Embling.
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He always finds humour in any conversation about Sarah Elizabeth Amery.
That would seem to count against him thinking he's the father of her child, unless he were quite a nasty person.
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The same point. "She was a really nice kid." (Bruce says of SEA).
Mrs O'Neill's death is the inciting incident in the script. If Mrs O'Neill hadn't died the relationship between the locket and Freya would not have been revealed and so the secret.
Mrs Osmond's pause on grasping the locket and raising the issue of Freya's age is very important. Will she allow the town's secret to be revealed? Yes! Why? because she now judges Freya old enough to know the story. However, she didn't count on Danny's significance.
Mrs Osmond is the ancient regime, doo-gooder, busybody who makes it her business to know everything about everybody, evidenced by the line ...
"She bought it at a Church fete" then quite forcibly manipulates the locket open
to really define her character.
As in Run Lola Run where the security guard and Lola stand side by side in an extended scene to expose genetic similarity, so are Freya and Mr Embling in the last scene at the Bar (the scene where Bruce offers to drive Freya home which is turned down.) This now heavily contrasted against ...
"That Trevor Leishman's a ratbag. The Olson girl's even worse."
and
"look for one your own age."
Further to all this and the continually running theme throughout the film and which is even restressed at the last railway station scene is the fact that Freya and Danny link psychically.
Zig Zag
I'm living at your place, no you're living at your place, I mean you're living at my place.
Okay, I think the hair thing doesnt work because the father's hair is white and mother's could be dyed for all we know, and the Dad's emotions towards Freya are a sequence of guilty realisation of his own callousness (amid that of the menfolk in general) to my mind. But yeah with the Mrs Olson scene you've certainly got a case.
shareI took it as fairly strongly implied that they were likely half-siblings. I didn't get though why she lived with the Olsons.
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