Perversion the Social Relation

Exotic Rituals and Family Values 103Tracey announces her frustration: "That's just it; we don't speak aboutit." Later, to her father, Tracey announces bluntly, "I'm not going tobabysit for Uncle Francis anymore." When Harold evokes the old lie thatshe goes there to practice, she says "That's absurd" and mentions themoney Francis pays her as evidence that "he pretends I'm still babysittingfor him. ... He wants to believe that Lisa's still there. I make iteasier for him to convince himself." Tracey's directness here provokesHarold to speak, albeit elliptically, about his brother: "Francis alwayshad strange ways to convince himself of many things. Things that neverhappened, things that might happen. People who did things for reasonsbut they didn't." Tracey, of course, can't understand her father's musings,but draws Harold back to the pertinent issue: "What has any of thisgot to do with me, Dad?" Finally forced to recognize his and Francis'sexploitation of Tracey, Harold answers, finally, "Nothing at all."By naming the absence that Francis's rituals are designed to coverover, Tracey manages to extricate herself from the disturbing drama, butit takes more than Tracey's resistance to demolish Francis's defenses.What more powerfully disrupts Francis's ritual conduct is his violentouster from the club: Eric, no longer able to tolerate Francis's specialrelationship with Christina, follows him to the bathroom one night andconvinces Francis to break the club's cardinal rule and touch Christina,thereby enabling the DJ to attack Francis and literally throw him out ofthe club into the rain-soaked street.For the rest of the film, Francis works to reinstate himself in the clubso as to resume his rituals with Christina, but these efforts paradoxicallyforce him and others to speak explicitly about his life and his losses forthe first time. In so speaking, Francis can't help undermining the rituals'power to disavow those losses. First, he blackmails Thomas, whomhe's investigating for tax fraud, into visiting the club, wearing a wire,and interrogating Christina over what she thinks his touching her meant.This latter issue is the crucial one: Francis wants to know why Christinathinks he touched her. It is in Christina's talk with Thomas, which shefirst resists and then pursues enthusiastically, as if grateful for the chanceto tell her own and Francis's story, that we learn of Francis's dead wifeand child. We also witness Francis listening to Christina tell his story,forced because of his own plan to hear his history repeated by and toanother.