Karen Allen clarifies ambiguous Indiana Jones-Marion relationship

Karen Allen has addressed an ambiguous line between her character Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In the film, Marion and Harrison Ford’s titular adventurer are discussing their past after meeting for the first time in 10 years.

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“I’ve learned to hate you in the last 10 years,” Marion says, and when Indiana says he never meant to hurt Marion, she replies: “I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it.”

Later, she adds: “Do you know what you did to me? To my life?”

Addressing the scene in a new interview with Uproxx, Allen said: “I guess you could say [there are sinister undertones]. I think I say I was 16. I don’t know. That’s always what I imagined is she was 16, he was 26. And he was her father’s student.

“And it’s left very mysterious. We don’t even know what it is. I mean, they could have kissed a few times, and she was just completely bowled over, and he could have just not wanted to get involved with someone so young. And maybe my father would have been furious at him.”

Discussing the ambiguous circumstances and her theories on their relationship, the actress went on: “I mean, what’s great about it is we don’t know what the circumstances are. So she obviously cared deeply for him. He may have cared for her, too. But, in the end, decided it was a dangerous situation and he didn’t want to be involved.

“I mean, I guess, when something is as vague as that, you can colour it any way you want to colour it. I’ve tended to colour it, sort of, that it was quite innocent. When she says, ‘It was wrong and you knew it.’ I mean, I think maybe he led her on in some way. But when she says she was a child, I think she meant she was 16. Something like that.

“I don’t think of him as a paedophile,” Allen concluded. “That’s the direction some of these people are going.”

Elsewhere, Indiana Jones 5 is set to start production in the UK this week.

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