A Reflection of Fear is a 1972 American psychological thriller film directed by William A. Fraker, starring Robert Shaw, Sally Kellerman, Mary Ure and Sondra Locke.
A disturbed young girl starts believing that there is something very sinister at work after her estranged father visits her at her mother and grandmother's house with the woman he plans to marry.
This film provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Bi: Marguerite, who desires her father and sexually assaults her victims both male and female. It's left unclear if the latter represents her though, or just Aaron, her apparent split personality.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: In the end, Marguerite is revealed to have been born a boy and has been living her life as a girl. Given she apparently has split personalities, it's hard to say how Marguerite really sees herself.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Marguerite suffers from what appears to be paranoia as is apparent when she is shown talking to her dolls, especially one named Aaron or an amoeba collected from a pond, or painting unsettling pictures in seclusion. By the end it's implied she has split personalities.
- Dance of Romance: Marguerite shares one with her father. He thinks it's innocent.
- Immodest Orgasm: Marguerite calling out for her father during a masturbation session.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Michael and Anne attempt to make love only to be disturbed by the sounds of Marguerite masturbating in the next room while calling out for her father.
- Love Triangle: A disturbing one between Michael, his girlfriend Anne and his daughter Marguerite.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Marguerite indulges in this, while her father attempts to make love with his girlfriend, apparently out of frustration and envy at him not having sex with her.
- Parental Incest: Implied. Michael's girlfriend has to warn him not to be so touchy and close in public with his daughter Marguerite.
- Pervert Dad: Michael doesn't see anything wrong with his own daughter's incestuous actions towards him. He embraces them without second thought.
- Right Through the Wall: Michael and Anne can hear Marguerite calling out for him in her room. It's enough to make Anne storm off.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: As Michael comes toward Marguerite with a troubled expression, we hear a recording of the call he made to the hospital in which Marguerite was delivered fifteen years ago, when the nurse informed him that Katherine had delivered not a girl but a boy. Right before this, we learn she'd been the killer all along, with it portrayed as another factor in how crazy Marquerite is, given her apparent split personality.
- Wham Line: The nurse to Michael over the tape.Nurse: I inform you that your wife had given birth to a boy. Not a girl...
