Graham as deus ex machina

This film grips from the start. Ann’s therapy session alternates with Graham stopping at a run-down gas-station to clean himself up, then husband, John in his office, and subsequently in bed with Cynthia, Ann’s younger sister. The interaction of these four characters provides the simple structure of the piece. Nothing is redundant, no time wasted on scenery. We have three houses, therapy room, Cynthia’s bar and John’s office. Indoor plants are evident everywhere except in Graham’s house(is this significant?) Both John and Ann give plants to Cynthia, for whom they are obviously a hobby. Ann has no occupation, apart from housework and therapy. Some films are so well crafted that they improve on repeated viewing. The therapy session feels more real each time I watch it. The discussion of garbage, the suggestions of the therapist, Ann’s touching lack of self-awareness, to which my original reaction was frustration(now I find it quite disarming!). When I first watched the scene switch between therapy and seduction, I was appalled; it seemed gratuitous. On reflection, I realise that Ann’s inhibition is directly related to her sister’s seductiveness, Ann revealed as much to Graham later on. The father of the sisters is not given a mention, but we can imagine some childhood scenario where Ann fails in the contest for her father’s affection. As a result Ann projects her sexuality onto Cynthia and partly lives vicariously, through her. We have the impression that Ann is constantly visiting and phoning, however much she disapproves of her wayward sister (visits to bar, and house and three phonecalls; in the final scene, it is significant that it is Cynthia who wants her sister’s phone-number at work).
While at first I thought it was anti-therapy, now I don’t see it as polemical, though a comparison could be drawn between Graham’s practise and therapy.
It could be that the character of Graham is an identity of the film-maker, inviting the other three to reveal themselves. Graham’s reaction to watching the tape he had made of Cynthia seems to be more complex than merely sexual; he doesn’t appear to be masterbating though he is apparently naked. The character of Graham is quite fuzzy, in contrast to the other three. “Elizabeth”, the impotence-inducing event and the 9 year, soul-searching journey away from “compulsive liar” are perhaps a smoke-screen to introduce this deus ex machina. In the big scene between Ann and Graham, where Graham is trying to explain how he has changed, he seems to make a grammatical error, describing Ann, to whom he is talking, in the third person, as “she”. Graham glosses over the mistake allowing Ann to misinterpret the “she” as Elizabeth. It could be that Graham experiences all women as one “she”.
In any case, this is work in progress – I still don’t understand the film!