Evil Dad
Was there any reason why her Dad was trying to kill her in her nightmares? I don't think its normal to have nightmares about your own parent.
Though I can only assume, I think it came down to the fact that she only knew him as an alcoholic. Her father was always away on business at that critical growing stage in her life and she felt that he was a different person when he drank. Also, she felt she may have caused him to go away for some reason. She asks her mother at one point if she did something wrong to keep him away. So, I am assuming that is the reason.
shareRemember, the film is based on a book written by a psychologist! The previous poster is correct, the Dad in this film is a menacing figure because of Anna's subconscious fears of his anger, and feelings of abandonment. There is a moment where she and her mother discuss a photograph of her dad, and the fact that he was drunk when she took it. We know from this conversation that the father had a history of heavy drinking, which Anna apparently found disturbing or depressing at best. It is heavily implied that she found him physically threatening, hence her fear of him, and hence his manifestation as a figure of rage and madness in her dream.
There is also the issue of her feeling abandoned of course - note her attention-seeking behaviour at the outset of the film. It's somewhat ironic that she wants her dad to come back to her, but she is also frightened of him doing so, because of what he might be like underneath the handsome surface.
The film can almost be read entirely as a psychological story, rather than an actual fantasy - though of course we learn that Marianne really HAS met Mark in her dreams. Even so, it's noticeable that Anna is the creator and master of the world in her dreams... and on those terms, as soon as she loses control, her darker subconscious mind starts to influence the landscape, turning it to nightmare in reflection of her insecurities in the real world.
<quote>Remember, the film is based on a book written by a psychologist!</quote>
I realise I'm rather late replying to this but I've just seen the film having read the book many times as a child. If the author is a pscychologist it can't have anything to do with the dad stuff, as he didn't appear in the book at all as far as a I can remember, and certainly not in the dreams or in a scary way like in the film.