User Reviews

The television scene in the 80's had some of their defining moments, such as "The Day After" and "An Early Frost," but there was not a more powerful film as "Something About Amelia." The Bennett's, from all appearances, look like the typical American family. However, things are not what is seems: Amelia (A strong performance by Roxanne Zal) has been sexually abused by her father, Steven(Ted Danson) for a long time. It's not until she notices that her sister is about to become his next victim that Amelia lets out her secret. The effects are devastating, from the feelings of anger and betrayal from the mother, Gail(Glenn Close) , to the denials from the very sister she was trying to protect. Gail is at first protective of her husband, but her position is painfully clear: She must protect her daughter from her own husband, who not only molested their daughter, but have betrayed her in the process. There are 2 scenes to note in the film: When Gail confronts her husband about what he has done to the family and her, it is so full of emotion that you can feel the pain from every word that Gail spits at him. Finally, when Steven talks to Amelia during a therapy session, you see the conflict within Amelia: this is her father, the authority figure of the home who has betrayed her in the most vile way.

There is no resolution in the film. There is no way that such an incident can be resolved, because the damage of the incident is forever, and nothing can ever be the same. Amelia can never fully heal from what was done to her. Her sister, Beth, must live with the fact that her father may have had plans to molest her. Gail must live with the betrayal that her husband had committed, and Steven must live with the damage that he created.

One of the first films to deal with incest, it covers the process of how this issue is dealt with, from the involvement of law enforcement, to the therapy process. The performances are raw, especially Ted Danson, who is MANY degrees from Sam Malone on "Cheers," and Roxanne Zal, who won a deserved Emmy for her performance.

I watched this film back in the late eighties when someone had recorded it on tape (remember tape?). It was a revelation to me. As I watched, I got more and more uncomfortable, because I realised that I was a victim of abuse myself. It might sound strange that I hadn't realised that what went on in my home was not normal, I assumed it was just how life was. This was before the internet, there was much less access to information, and kids were not warned about abuse in school.

This is a powerful film, although a bit depressing that the issue is handled by family counselling, this does allow the viewer some sort of insight into the mindset of those involved, which might have been harder to achieve if the abuser had simply been ejected from home or sent to jail.

I think this was a very brave film to make in the time it was made, and I'm grateful that it was made, because it opened my eyes to the situation I was in, and was the first step in seeking help.

I was a child when this debuted on tv to all sorts of critical acclaim, praised for being groundbreaking and brave. Lauded with award nominations. I never saw it then, of course, but I remember hearing people talking of it in hushed tones, but still had no idea what it was about. More than 20 years later I happened to catch it on a rebroadcast and I was astonished how awful it was in every way. I swear, it was as if a pedophile wrote the script in a desperate attempt to get sympathy for other pedophiles. The plot opens with pretty, smart thirteen year old Amelia growing up in upper middle class suburbia with her parents and younger sister. Right out of the gate things seem odd, her father (played by Ted Danson) seems like a jealous boyfriend when he hears she wants to go to a casual dance at school with a boy in her class. He seems to try and strong arm her into spending time alone with him at home and when she refuses, he says he'll get her younger sister to hang out with him, instead. The interchange upsets Amelia to the point she starts spacing out in class and flunking tests. A school counselor asks her what's wrong and Amelia blurts out the truth - her father has been sexually assaulting her by coercion and manipulation for years, and now she's afraid since she actively started trying to avoid being alone with him, he's moved on to start grooming her beloved little sister. The counselor is horrified, and takes her words seriously, calling in her mother (played by Glenn Close). What does her mother do when Amelia and the counselor inform her? She gets enraged at Amelia and calls everyone in the room a liar, storming out with her daughter. The counselor calls the police, who remove Amelia to a foster facility as an emergency measure, yet tell the dad they won't arrest him. Amelia goes into therapy at the facility with the therapist telling her she did nothing wrong. It's the only glimmer in this production of focusing on the victim. The mom rails against her daughter for lying, her father plays dumb and her little sister, who hasn't yet become her father's victim, is baffled. When the mom finally starts to realize her daughter is likely telling the truth, does she kick her husband out and press charges? Nope. She gets them into couples therapy. She talks nauseatingly about how she's so jealous her husband "cheated..." with their underage daughter. Is she for real? She starts yelling at her husband about how he hasn't wanted to sleep with her for years, because of course that's what's important here (eye roll). Her husband finally confesses and counters that when she had a health scare years earlier he was lonely and felt like he got no attention, so he decided why not force his 11 year old into sex acts...and it continued because she (the wife) later got a higher paying job than his and made him feel immasculated. A ludicrous therapist tells the mom she should have sympathy for her husband's motives, which are valid. Again, what?? So glad mom and dad are trying to work on their marriage by outlining reasons to justify the crimes that one of them committed on their daughter and the other one feels resentment for. Plus, why does no one mention that this wasn't some temporary insanity on the dad's part, when Amelia started avoiding him, he began making plans to do the same to his younger daughter. That's a serial pedophile, not some troubled soul. In all this, Amelia is practically forgotten. The mom keeps trying to find ways to stay married and get custody of Amelia back (again, why is she desperate to stay in a marriage with a man who spent years raping their child and planned to do the same with their other one?). Another family therapist tells Amelia she should forgive her father and "move on," so he can heal. Wow, so glad the story calls for telling a victimized child to forgive and forget so her assailant can get back to his old life. Really, if you watch this, you'll be yelling at the tv like I was. It's insulting and gross, almost entirely focused on the "poor" mom and dad who treat it all like an inconvenience that calls for a few couples retreats and the child who has been scarred for life should get over it because they don't want to acknowledge the true horror of what's been done to her. How did this win nominations and awards? It's an insult to child victims of abuse everywhere.

I saw this movie as a young teenager myself in the mid-80s. At that time, sexual abuse by a parent, especially the child's real father (as opposed to a stepfather, or mother's new partner) was still often swept aside--not discussed, not acknowledged, hidden in the surface trappings of so-called respectability. This movie set new standards in TV movies, and must have brought about so much dialog on the topic of incest. I hope it helped many incest survivors, and their families, to face the past and move on to a better future.

25 years later, I happened to remember the movie and found that a very wise person had taped parts of it and added them to the Internet. (Which begs the question, why is the whole movie not available for general viewing? Such an important, well-made movie...) I watched the excerpts and found myself crying with Amelia once again, just as I did 25 years ago. Now I have two girls of my own, the exact same ages as Amelia and her sister Beth in the movie. How much more painful to watch it as a parent! Roxana Zal as the confused and abused Amelia is amazing. Glenn Close is also excellent. And Ted Danson--you won't recognize him as the cheerful Sam from Cheers now.

In a nutshell, this movie stands the test of time. Treatment for and attitudes to survivors and their families might have changed over time, but the raw emotions don't change.

Just because you forgive doesn't mean that you forget, and for the troubled Roxana Zal, dealing with the issue of molestation by father Ted Danson doesn't mean that she'll want anything to do with him unless he can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he desperately wants to atone. Danson's offense against Zal is horrendous and he definitely needs to pay for what he did if evidence proves that he's guilty. Danson is a loving father who took it way too far so obviously she isn't making up as revenge for strict discipline. Glenn Close, as the mother, is very similar to the character of Beth Jarrett from "Ordinary People", maybe more openly loving but there is a sense of distance in her towards her older daughter as if she somehow knew, blocked it out and immediately denied it. Everything is revealed through school counselor Jane Kaczmarek who is given the heave ho by Close and decides to report it to the authorities. A kindhearted counselor, the gentle Olivia Cole, takes on Zal's case and explains the facts to her to convince her that she's not to blame.

Outstanding performances and an intense screenplay will keep you gripped as well as angry. Danson is a manipulator, that is for sure, and Close is devoted to him and in absolute horror over what she believes are lies. But then there's the 11 year old sister Missy Francis who could be Danson's next victim. This film is a product of attitudes of the day and fortunately the actions are more than just therapy, a certificate of completion and a return home. You can be angry over the conclusion but this is 1984, not 2021, so this can be viewed with a relief that these types of cases are handled in a completely different way. It was certainly brave of the mature actors to take on such a serious subject.

Of course regardless of the fact that the movie audience can tell that Amelia is telling the truth, the other characters have to discover the genuine truth and Danson needs to become disgusted with himself to be willing to get help and face the consequences. Close shows a huge range of emotions when she realizes the truth and the powerhouse performer who is now legendary shows anger, shock, guilt and even hate as she faces the truth. These characters are not black and white, even the disgusting actions of Danson. His charm makes him far more complex and dangerous because of the image he projects, and that makes this movie way ahead of its time.

There are 2 main ways to handle a case of incest. One is to place the offender in jail, and let him rot there for a while. The other method is shown in this one-of-a-kind movie: Counseling for everyone in the family.

Some of the counseling sessions with the father are emotionally overwhelming to me (he slowly but surely admits the "crime" ... and works through his assorted feelings about the incest). Amelia has to work through various problems with her therapist (including some jealousy from her mother, and confusion and anger from her sister).

This movie left me bleeding (emotionally) for weeks after. It was SO true, I felt like I knew the family.

There (truly) is nothing to compare this movie to.