Amelia

13-year-old girl from an upper-middle class home, growing out of her 'daddy's girl' stage and tentatively starting to date, is struggling with a dark secret and finally lays on a bombshell on her mother: she's been the target of molestation by her own father. TV-movie produced with a high level of filmmaking competency (if not craft). The family at the center of this story, as written, isn't very believable, even with Emmy-nominated Glenn Close and Ted Danson cast as the parents; their stilted-bickering interactions both before and after Amelia's revelation aren't convincing. This is the kind of movie where the wife counts the number of weeks her husband hasn't made love to her, leading to her feeling like a scorned woman after digesting her daughter's story. The Emmy-winning teleplay by William Hanley fails, really, to give us a strong, sound foundation in which to build the central drama, while the young heroine (Emmy-winner Roxana Zal) internalizes her pain, becoming a somewhat somnambulant victim.

I've never hated a film so much as I hate this one. The message is that a victim of incest and rape should "forgive"! The message also implies that the abuser's wife was to blame. It was just so awful. The ending made me feel very sick. I haven't got anything else to say about it.

An excellent film that handles a difficult topic well. The casting and sets create an atmosphere to let the story unfold in a seemingly average American home, which adds both to the realism and power of this movie. Ted Danson plays the deceptively normal father to the hilt, and the rest of the cast handle their roles with a high degree of believability. This is a powerful film that handles a difficult subject with intelligence and emotion without sensationalizing. Highly recommended.

Groundbreaking movie is still good today. What a good cast. Ted Danson cast against type as the molesting father. It's quite horrific when he admits it. Glenn Close as his wife reacts realistically. First in disbelief then anger. Roxana Zal is the daughter and gives an understated effective performance.

There have been few movies about family incest since and this one stands the test of time.

Glenn Close and Ted Danson are probably my two favourite actors of all time. So imagine my excitement when I came across this movie whilst doing my housework. What kind of sick mind created this. It excuses the molesters behaviour by essentially blaming the wife for not providing enough love. There is never an acceptable reason for child abuse and I cannot comprehend why anyone was involved in this film in the first place. It also states that the father just loved his daughter so much and at one point the lawyer (I think) mentions "we've all had incestuous thoughts at one point", um excuse me what? No. Just no. No one should ever watch this film. Ever. It's horrific.