Perversion the Social Relation

iooNina Schwartzconsidered him a suspect in that crime. Because a significant dimensionof Francis's trauma is the loss of his sense of himself as a father whocould protect his child from the dangers posed by others and by himself,Francis needs not just to see Christina, to have her "stand in" forhis dead daughter. Even more desperately, he requires her to behave inan arousing way so that he can assure himself that he does not think ofor respond to her sexuality. Part of Francis's obsession with Christina,that is, involves precisely the prohibition at the center of the dance club'soperation: the dancers are to be watched, they can even be "purchased"for individual lap dances, but patrons may never touch the girls. In themidst of Christina's titillating act, therefore, he speaks to her only paternally,protectively, never as a "customer" would be expected to speak.In the following exchange, Francis speaks first and Christina responds:"What would happen if someone were to hurt you?""How could anyone hurt me?""If I'm not there to protect you.""You'll always be there to protect me."In this conversation, Christina reassures Francis of his own omnipotence,her faith in him a confirmation of his status as "the law," preciselywhat his own daughter's tragic death has shown to be a delusion.I should mention here several secondary but critical elements of Francis'strauma: the police investigation of Lisa's abduction revealed toFrancis his wife's long-term affair with his brother Harold, and it alsocalled in question the paternity of Francis's daughter, the object of hisproud adoration. 17 It was this latter uncertainty the police felt gave Francisa motive for harming Lisa. And two months after Lisa's murder,Francis's wife was killed in an automobile accident that also partiallyparalyzed Harold. Thus, all the film's allusions—by photo, flashback,and home video shots—to Francis's happy pre-trauma homelife are revealedin the course of the film to have been delusions on his part, hissense of himself as part of a coherent network of stable relations entirelyfalse. This, perhaps even more than the two tragic deaths, is the traumahe struggles to deny throughout the film.Another of Francis's fetishistic covers for his losses is his niece, Tracey(Harold's daughter), whom he hires to "babysit" for him when he goesto the club Exotica. There is, of course, "no baby to sit" (as Tracey later