Event

Consent

Outwardly, Josh and Amanda seem to have it all. Internally, they are impoverished. Their parents, Mark and Susan, wrecked by the suicide of their eldest daughter, find solace in alcohol and illicit affairs. Developing sexual identities in the murky gloom of a grieving family without parents to guide them, both Josh and Amanda fail to see the peril of their increasing sexual play, where even watching each other masturbate seems natural. When Susan discovers Mark's affair, she explodes in a violent confrontation, and drinks herself into a hospital bed. When she wakes, she spares no one's feelings, exposing Mark's affair to Josh and Amanda, and laying the blame for their sister's suicide squarely at his feet. Flipped out by what's happened, Josh and Amanda reach out to each other in desperation. The energy of shared confusion and pain turns sexual. When Josh kisses his sister, she does not reject him. He kisses her again, and she pulls him close, seeking the last source of comfort and connection available to them. The aftermath is painful for the siblings; alternatively, they reach out and reject each other. Each struggles to cope but the tension remains between them until the day Josh leaves home for college. As Josh is about to leave, he and Amanda have little to say, but, as they embrace, it's clear that their love is greater than the mistakes they've made.