It is unclear whether we are to believe that they ever slept together. I cannot believe that they didn't. It cannot have been all chaste. If they didn't then the only reason she was a slut was because she slept with a married man, but actually the married man may have been the slut because he may have promised to marry her and then used her and abandoned her with a baby. If they never had sex, then with Phillip she was just a needy user.
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The first time he took her back, she did say she would do "anything"
I know they can only imply certain things in movies of that era, but she was a prostitute by the end of the film, right? I didn't get that wrong, did I?
Actually since this film was made pre-Hayes code, you can be assured "anything" implied everything. No mistaking it, she was offering sex.
shareI'm fairly sure that in the novel (which is riskier than the movie) they didn't have sex, because they didn't like each other simultaneously at any point. :-P
shareI don't think they had sex. Mildred tells him that she's never thought of him in that way and he accepts it in his wistful melancholy way.
A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.share
PoppyTransfusion says > I don't think they had sex. Mildred tells him that she's never thought of him in that way and he accepts it in his wistful melancholy way.I agree. I don't believe they ever had sex. Mildred obviously knew Phil desired her so she used it to control him. As long as that possibility existed, he had hope and would continue to be under her spell. When she realized he no longer wanted her, she knew she'd lost him for good. That's why she went crazy; attacking his home and belongings before running out.
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That's kind of the whole point of the movie. Howard has this fascination with Davis, but it's totally misplaced.
Howard is a cripple, (not really), so he's terribly self-conscious.
I know what's it's like to idealize a woman and be timid.
Who wants to put their heart out there, just for some one, (like Bette Davis in OHB), to tread all over it?
For some of us, even guys, sex is a significant thing, not entered into lightly. People get hurt.