Ambiguity's Bayou

Walking out of Eve's Bayou, I wasn't the only one who was confused by the ending. Many in class were unsure of what the last scene meant, and who was actually at fault here. Louis and Cicely both had different versions of what happened between them and although Eve learns the full truth, a clear answer is never given to the audience.

So what happened? I think Louis was most likely the perpetrator here, but I want to cover each side since it had so many of us confused. 

Cicely is her father's favorite child. This is established fairly early on, as Eve is upset that Louis will not dance with her, and only her sister. We see more of this throughout the movie. Louis often ignores, or simply spends less time with his other children even though they love him to death. He clearly still loves them, but not as much.

In return, Louis is his daughter's favorite parent, and by a long shot. She constantly defends her father despite his wrongdoings, and when compared with Roz's feelings of frustration and betrayal, may have encouraged Louis to take increasingly more interest in Cicely. She eventually becomes his only anchor to his old life (even if he was the one causing the discourse), above his wife and his other kids. Cicely had also recently begun puberty, and chances are Louis began to see her in a different light, eventually taking advantage of her affection for him.

After the fact, Cicely is often seen hiding in her bed and covering her body with something, whether it be a blanket or her arms. She isolates herself and lashes out at her family, all common signs of a survivor of sexual assault. When her father comes near her, she curls in on herself further. She won't look at him or talk to him.

She continues her silence until her sister can't take it anymore, and explains what happened while tears run down her face. Cicely hid what happened as long as she could, but her love for her sister, likely coupled with loneliness considering her father was her favorite person before this, forced her to reveal the most vulnerable and heartbreaking thing that could ever happen to her.

On the other hand, Louis has some defense for himself.

Many of the points listed above could be applied to other perspectives. For example, Cicely's silence and avoidance of her father could be attributed to the embarrassment of being rejected.

Additionally, Cicely idolized her father, even to the point of blaming her mother for Louis's infidelity. She tried to deny Eve's claim of seeing Louis with Mrs. Mereaux even though she logically knew it to be true. Was this out of fear for her parents or jealousy of Matty? Regardless, she was undoubtedly a "daddy's girl." He was her favorite parent, and she was his favorite child. He danced only with her at parties while she stayed up to wait for him every night.

With Louis's obvious favoritism, perhaps she became confused and took her feelings too far. It would help explain some of her resentment toward her mother aside from being trapped in the house for weeks on end. She could have simultaneously been jealous of Roz for having Louis while hating her for supposedly not being enough, as most of the family knew he was unfaithful and was gone from dawn to dusk.

These feelings could have especially been heightened due to changes that come with age, as it is noted she had started her period. It is a confusing, scary time for any girl, and maybe she attempted to replace Roz. However, many people have favorite parents and hormone changes without taking it to incestuous levels.

Louis only wrote his note after being confronted by his sister, so perhaps his initial silence could be attributed to keeping Cicely's secret so as not to embarrass her. Of course, things change once one is accused of molesting their daughter, so he tried to explain.

Some more evidence could be found after his death when Cicely is distraught at his funeral. If he had truly assaulted her so horrifically, would she really miss him so much? However, her sadness doesn't completely rule him as innocent. Even if he did do it, she has loved him her entire life, and those feelings are unlikely to go away the second he commits an act, no matter how horrendous.

Again, I believe it is much more likely for Louis to be the perpetrator here, but Cicely being the one at fault is not out of the picture. Many of these scenes mentioned could have various meanings and interpretations behind them, and there is no way of truly knowing what happened unless someone involved in the film itself were to say something.

Overall, I think this ambiguous ending really took a lot out of what was initially a wonderful story. I don't think it was a good decision, even if it was supposed to prompt the viewer to think and draw their own conclusion. Endings such as this can be interesting and thought-provoking, but in the case of incest and pedophilia, it felt very tone-deaf and left a bad taste in my mouth. Realistic? Very much so, as in he-said, she-said situations, nobody knows the truth for sure; but Eve had Mozelle's second sight and found the answer for sure, so why not clear it up for the audience? Sexual assault should not be a "mystery" for entertainment purposes. 

I suppose it is a little ironic, then, that I am writing about this, wondering who did what.