It is very clear that the boy pulls off the woman's nipple with a pair of pliers and the older sister sees this, but later the mom says that he was only feeling her body while masturbating (which we never saw.) The father asks if anyone was hurt and she mother says no. What the *beep* The woman had her *beep* nip pulled off.
shareI thought he was jerking off while torturing her. He was pretty fkd up like the dad.
shareIt is a muddled mess, that scene. If I had to rationalize it, I'd suggest that the daughter told the mother both things that occurred -- the sexual stimulation as well as the plier torture, and the mother disregarded the one (perhaps not sensing the severity) and focused on the other. As if that were more appalling to her.
This reading allows for better insight into various aspects of the film. I think. With themes of sexual and physical abuse within the family, not to mention repression (at least with the mother in which case her reaction becomes all the more revealing).