MovieChat Forums > Dark Places (2015) Discussion > When Libby saw Crystal...

When Libby saw Crystal...

posted 10 years ago by laffmatth
8 replies | jump to latest

What was going on with her reaction? Did she have a moment of clarity regarding the nights events?

Was she overwhelmed finding out about and seeing her niece for the first time?

The way the scenes are cut I thought she was just struck by Crystal's resemblance to her sister but Crystal is supposed to be 28 / 29 and is only comparable to a young teen girl because a damn stupid casting choice (don't pick an actress younger than the role if she already looks young for her age, and then compound the issue by dressing her like a teenager).

I get that Crystal is supposed to be a pampered mentally deranged princess, and this effect would have been bolstered by choosing an actress who looked like a 30 year old dressing and acting as a teenager, not the opposite.

[–] BlackDog123 10 years ago

She was overwhelmed. She'd convinced herself that what she said in court (that her brother did it) was the truth for so long, it was causing her major cognitive dissonance. You can see in the flashbacks of her being questioned, she is in shock, possibly drugged up, and is being asked VERY leading questions ("did your brother do it? did Ben do it? Did you see Ben do it?" using his name over and over). Plus, she'd probably assumed the baby was aborted or adopted - and then she walks in, 28-ish years old, calling her Auntie. I would have lost my sh*t.

I do agree they needed an actress who looked older - I think this girl looked like 21/22, so not a teen, but I agree that it would have been more unnerving to have a 30 year old actress dressing like a teenager.

They're coming to get you, Barbara!

[–] torvoris 9 years ago

I was thinking she saw her and said to herself, "This can't be my brother's child. This girl is 17 years old", alluding to her mother lying about being pregnant in 1985.

[–] sara_imam 9 years ago

Crystal is too young to be her neice. Or does she just look too young? Her brother may have spent tome in prison for someone else's daughter ?

[–] byrneosu 9 years ago

Denise Williamson's casting caused a lot of confusion because she looks much younger than she is. It's hard to find an age for her but the article below said she was 26 and its from a couple years before Dark Places. But she looked like a teenager in this movie which got a lot of theories about what was going on in these scenes.

http://thescenemagazine.com/homegrown-talent-introducing-denise-williamson/

[–] dantso 9 years ago

I was surprised that the pregnancy was actually real... not another manipulation of Ben...

[–] Waldimore 9 years ago

I have not read the book, but it seems to me this should be clearer.

How old is this character?

Is she really Ben's kid?

It doesn't help those of us trying to understand the story just from the movie alone. I think the movie is not supposed to take for granted that everyone seeing it will have read the novel. It should stand on its own.

[–] GoodRed 9 years ago

Book version:
She really is Ben's, and she's supposed to be a spitting image of Patty, so that's why Libby looks shocked.

[–] smellie-ellie 9 years ago

Yeah, in the book, the family trait of red hair is emphasized WAY more. I think the whole family had it, including Ben. And in the book, we see Libby's red roots growing out as the story progresses. So with all of that, seeing this red-headed woman daughter was more striking and made it even more obvious that she was his. but we kind of lose that in the movie because Libby is blond, Ben is bald, and the sisters are brunette. kind of a missed opportunity..