The turning point in the film comes when Marie finds a bottle of medication in her new friend Shelia's purse. She takes them - not in the sense of swallowing them but in the sense of hiding them. Unfortunately, it turns out that the pills - in a bottle with a label reading "Wellsworth Psychiatric" - were all that stood between Shelia and a violent psychotic outbreak.
I never quite understood why Marie stole the pills. She did not seem to be the kind of girl who would experiment with drugs; and in any case, the pills did not seem to be the kind of thing people would try out for "recreational" purposes. (BTW, the label on the bottle reads "Glaxodon"; I don't think this is a real medication although "Glaxo" is the name of an actual pharmaceutical company.) It's possible, though, that Marie - a fifteen-year-old girl fleeing an abusive home and who found herself in a strange and frightening place - stole them because it gave her a sense of power over Shelia. It apparently did occur to Marie that this might be dangerous - she called a telephone number printed on the bottle and asked to talk to the doctor who had prescribed them - but she didn't know how dangerous it was until it was too late.
I never quite understood why Marie stole the pills. She did not seem to be the kind of girl who would experiment with drugs; and in any case, the pills did not seem to be the kind of thing people would try out for "recreational" purposes. (BTW, the label on the bottle reads "Glaxodon"; I don't think this is a real medication although "Glaxo" is the name of an actual pharmaceutical company.) It's possible, though, that Marie - a fifteen-year-old girl fleeing an abusive home and who found herself in a strange and frightening place - stole them because it gave her a sense of power over Shelia. It apparently did occur to Marie that this might be dangerous - she called a telephone number printed on the bottle and asked to talk to the doctor who had prescribed them - but she didn't know how dangerous it was until it was too late.
As Shelia begins to lose her self-control, she repeatedly refers to Marie as "Katie" ("I told you to stay out of my things, Katie"; "Katie, you're not leaving this house.") In the next-to-the last scene, where Shelia has all but lost her mind, we hear her shouting for "Katie" to "get back here NOW!"
"Katie" seems to have been Shelia's daughter, long dead by the time the events in the film occur. In an early scene, Marie asks Shelia if she has any kids. Shelia explains that she had a daughter who died in an accident ("it's a long story," she says, before changing the subject). Also, Marie, while rifling through Shelia's purse, finds a photograph of a younger Shelia posed next to a very small child - presumably Katie - who resembles Marie. Marie, with her baby face and straight blonde hair, reminded Shelia of Katie. Deprived of her psychotropic medicine, Shelia's mind conflated the two girls, thinking they were one and the same.
It seems likely to me that Katie died in an accident that Shelia feels she could and should have prevented.
We can only speculate as to what this accident was. Perhaps Shelia left Katie unattended briefly; and Katie wandered out into the road outside their house and was hit by a car or just simply disappeared, maybe the victim of a kidnapping. This would explain Shelia's comments about Katie "not leaving this house"; her desperate efforts to keep Marie from leaving (going to far as to attack her and lock her in the bathroom); and her screaming for "Katie" to "get back here now" (something a parent would likely say if they saw their child standing in the path of an oncoming vehicle or disappearing into a stranger's car). It could be that Shelia lost her mind after Katie died, perhaps being committed for a while and needing psychiatric medication even after she was released.
Another, and in my opinion less feasible, explanation might be that Shelia was mentally unbalanced even before Katie died, and that she herself inadvertently killed Katie, perhaps in a moment of uncontrolled rage. This seems highly unlikely (at least to me); many of Shelia's comments ("why did you let her go?" "get back here now," "you're not leaving this house") would make far less sense in this context than they would in the context of Katie simply wandering off or being abducted while her mother was not looking. Also, Shelia was clearly a compassionate person who remembered Katie with love and could feel love for Marie; it's unlikely that someone capable of feeling those emotions would be able to live with herself if she - rather than someone else - had killed Katie.
The family photograph that Marie finds does, however, contain a few subtle clues that something might have been wrong in the relationship between Shelia and Katie even before the accident. In the photo, both mother and daughter look strangely solemn; Katie, although she seems to be eight or nine years old, appears to be seated in some kind of high chair or possibly a wheelchair; and Shelia - who shows a penchant for brightly-colored clothes and jewelry in all of her scenes with Marie - is clad entirely in black in the picture.
"Katie" seems to have been Shelia's daughter, long dead by the time the events in the film occur. In an early scene, Marie asks Shelia if she has any kids. Shelia explains that she had a daughter who died in an accident ("it's a long story," she says, before changing the subject). Also, Marie, while rifling through Shelia's purse, finds a photograph of a younger Shelia posed next to a very small child - presumably Katie - who resembles Marie. Marie, with her baby face and straight blonde hair, reminded Shelia of Katie. Deprived of her psychotropic medicine, Shelia's mind conflated the two girls, thinking they were one and the same.
It seems likely to me that Katie died in an accident that Shelia feels she could and should have prevented.
We can only speculate as to what this accident was. Perhaps Shelia left Katie unattended briefly; and Katie wandered out into the road outside their house and was hit by a car or just simply disappeared, maybe the victim of a kidnapping. This would explain Shelia's comments about Katie "not leaving this house"; her desperate efforts to keep Marie from leaving (going to far as to attack her and lock her in the bathroom); and her screaming for "Katie" to "get back here now" (something a parent would likely say if they saw their child standing in the path of an oncoming vehicle or disappearing into a stranger's car). It could be that Shelia lost her mind after Katie died, perhaps being committed for a while and needing psychiatric medication even after she was released.
Another, and in my opinion less feasible, explanation might be that Shelia was mentally unbalanced even before Katie died, and that she herself inadvertently killed Katie, perhaps in a moment of uncontrolled rage. This seems highly unlikely (at least to me); many of Shelia's comments ("why did you let her go?" "get back here now," "you're not leaving this house") would make far less sense in this context than they would in the context of Katie simply wandering off or being abducted while her mother was not looking. Also, Shelia was clearly a compassionate person who remembered Katie with love and could feel love for Marie; it's unlikely that someone capable of feeling those emotions would be able to live with herself if she - rather than someone else - had killed Katie.
The family photograph that Marie finds does, however, contain a few subtle clues that something might have been wrong in the relationship between Shelia and Katie even before the accident. In the photo, both mother and daughter look strangely solemn; Katie, although she seems to be eight or nine years old, appears to be seated in some kind of high chair or possibly a wheelchair; and Shelia - who shows a penchant for brightly-colored clothes and jewelry in all of her scenes with Marie - is clad entirely in black in the picture.
In the final scene of the film (set some time after Marie has escaped from the drugged Shelia and left her far behind in their motel room), we see Shelia sitting, all alone, on a bench in a train station or bus terminal. She is trying to make eye contact with a small, and apparently disabled girl sitting on the bench across from her. Shelia seems about to approach the girl when a nurse comes by and leads the girl away. Shelia blinks back tears. The camera pulls back from her, showing that she is all alone.
There is apparently a difference of opinion as to why Shelia was in the station and what her intentions were regarding the little girl. I've heard that during a screening of Lost Crossing in Palm Springs, there was a discussion following the end of the film. Curiously, many of the men in the audience were wary of Shelia's motives; but many of the women in the audience felt that she was simply trying to protect whatever young runaways she might have found from the all the predators out there. In my opinion, the truth is (literally) somewhere in between: She wants, very badly, to protect these young runaways, but she is incapable of doing so and may even be a danger to them.
When I first saw the film, it seemed to me that we were looking at a recurring pattern, something Shelia has likely done again and again: Shelia explained to Marie that she (i.e., Shelia) had run away from home when she was fifteen. She may have had some very bad experiences as a result. She wants to protect other young runaways from the same fate (and, having lost her own daughter, Katie, she wants to find another girl to whom she can be a mother). Shelia had apparently seen Marie sitting alone in a bus terminal in Atlanta (I think that's where Marie said she was running from), and followed her onto the bus to keep an eye on her. When the bus broke down, she kept Marie from being sexually harassed or assaulted by the trucker in the cafe; and then helped her get a motel room. If the disabled girl we saw in the last scene had gotten on a bus or train (or perhaps left the station on her own), I assume Shelia would have followed her and tried to protect her. Unfortunately, we know what happened when Shelia tried to "protect" Marie - she ended up assaulting Marie during one of her violent mood swings and locking her in a room. Had Shelia gotten involved with the disabled girl, something like this might have happened again. A disturbing question, left unanswered by the film, is how many times this has happened before.
There is apparently a difference of opinion as to why Shelia was in the station and what her intentions were regarding the little girl. I've heard that during a screening of Lost Crossing in Palm Springs, there was a discussion following the end of the film. Curiously, many of the men in the audience were wary of Shelia's motives; but many of the women in the audience felt that she was simply trying to protect whatever young runaways she might have found from the all the predators out there. In my opinion, the truth is (literally) somewhere in between: She wants, very badly, to protect these young runaways, but she is incapable of doing so and may even be a danger to them.
When I first saw the film, it seemed to me that we were looking at a recurring pattern, something Shelia has likely done again and again: Shelia explained to Marie that she (i.e., Shelia) had run away from home when she was fifteen. She may have had some very bad experiences as a result. She wants to protect other young runaways from the same fate (and, having lost her own daughter, Katie, she wants to find another girl to whom she can be a mother). Shelia had apparently seen Marie sitting alone in a bus terminal in Atlanta (I think that's where Marie said she was running from), and followed her onto the bus to keep an eye on her. When the bus broke down, she kept Marie from being sexually harassed or assaulted by the trucker in the cafe; and then helped her get a motel room. If the disabled girl we saw in the last scene had gotten on a bus or train (or perhaps left the station on her own), I assume Shelia would have followed her and tried to protect her. Unfortunately, we know what happened when Shelia tried to "protect" Marie - she ended up assaulting Marie during one of her violent mood swings and locking her in a room. Had Shelia gotten involved with the disabled girl, something like this might have happened again. A disturbing question, left unanswered by the film, is how many times this has happened before.
I think that's up to the individual viewer. Solzhenitsyn once said that "the dividing line between good and evil runs through every human being." Like most of us, Shelia is a little of both - only more so. She kept Marie from being accosted by a lecherous-looking middle-aged man on the bus, and later by an unsavory truck driver type (discouraging him by pouring piping hot coffee on the crotch of his jeans - when I was a waiter twenty years ago I must have thought about doing that at least twice a day :-) She also gave Marie a place to stay, took her bowling, kept her company, and comforted her when she had nightmares. Later, however, she repeatedly frightened Marie with her rising temper, finally attacking her and locking her in a bathroom.
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