Thursday, July 09, 2009

Let the Right One in

Though their screen appearances are limited, the two "father" figures loom large.

Audience was not told of the information but it can be inferred that Oskar's parents are divorced. And while Oskar stays with his mother, his father, in Oskar's eyes, leads a disagreeable lifestyle. It is therefore not hard to imagine that Oskar's loneliness, reclusiveness, violent tendency and susceptible to being bullied derive from his father's absence from his life and the shame that he feels in not having a complete and normal family. Hence, when Eli enters his life, Oskar has no second thought of accepting and embracing her even after knowing her true identity.

The other "father" figure is Eli's companion whom she refers as her father. If Eli is a 200-year-old vampire, the middle-aged man surely cannot be her father. Judging by the extend to which he is prepared to go in satisfying her thirst, he must love Eli dearly and unconditionally. Significantly, could history be repeating itself 40 years down the road when Oskar becomes a middle-aged man himself?

Love never dies.