Manchurian Candidate: the mother-and-son scene

[pt]

There was a provocative scene where the mother Eleanor (Meryl Streep)
and her son Raymond (Liev Schreiber) are alone together, and she's
talking to him the entire time. She's apparently fully clothed while
he's bare-chested. From the camera angle, we can't tell whether he
might also be naked from the waist down. The sexual tension was so
palpable that you expect to see her go down on him at any moment.
Eventually she leans over and pecks him lightly on the lips, then she
hesitates, looks at him more seriously and leans in slowly for what we
assume
will be a lingering kiss. The camera then cuts away and the scene
ends.

What do you suppose was happening there?
Was there some sexual link between them (or am I reading too much into
it),
and was she using that as part of her control-mechanism on him?
Do you know of any other films that portray a mother using sexuality
as a tool
for mind-conrol on her son?

[Mitchell Holman]

Post by pt
Do you know of any other films that portray a mother using sexuality
as a tool
for mind-conrol on her son?

We can hope not.........

[Derek Janssen]

Post by pt
Was there some sexual link between them (or am I reading too much into
it),
and was she using that as part of her control-mechanism on him?

...Only in the Chicago company. ;)

Derek Janssen (old joke)
***@rcn.com

[d***@mindspring.com]

Post by pt
What do you suppose was happening there?
Was there some sexual link between them (or am I reading too much into
it),

No, you aren't. In the book, Eleanor had been a victim of incest and
she was about to repeat the same deal with her son. That was the
only kind of sexuality she knew--predatory, exploitive, non-loving.
In the original movie, they could only hint at that, but Landsbury's
performance was ferocious enough to spell it out.

Post by pt
and was she using that as part of her control-mechanism on him?

Yep--g!

C.
**

[Tom Cervo]

Post by pt
Do you know of any other films that portray a mother using sexuality
as a tool
for mind-conrol on her son?

There was a pretty good movie that came out around '62 . . . a little help?

[A Yap]

Post by pt
Do you know of any other films that portray a mother using sexuality
as a tool
for mind-conrol on her son?

The Grifters