Critical Uptake
Swimming Upstream had mixed reviews both nationally and international. Many reviewers commented that Swimming Upstream was a compelling and all inspiring film, which dealt with issues of the working class family well. Other reviewers felt that the film was predictable and did not fully engage with the one story line but rather on two un-compelling narratives.
“It unwittingly feels like two separate movies” (Sader, 2005).
“The first is a sports movie about swimming, competition and winning and the second is a searing character study about the intimacies of a family’s personal tragedies. Both are interesting, and both could individually make for fantastic films. But together, they tend work against each other like crosscurrents” (Gilchrist, 2005).
All the reviews I read, commented on the superb deliveries by Judy Davies and Geoffrey Rush along with the powerful and emotional performances by the young talents Jesse Spencer and Tim Draxyl.
“A moving drama that’s ultimately worth seeing for the performances of Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis, even if you feel that you haven’t quite heard the full story” (Turner, 2005).
“Spencer and Draxl are at the centre of the story, but they are also at the heart of the film’s emotions, giving multi-layered and complex performances” (Urban).
Unfortunately, for Swimming Upstream, it was released in the same year as four social problem Australian films, which dealt with controversial issues surrounding Aboriginal Rights. Australian Rules, Beneath Clouds, The Tracker and The Rabbit Proof Fence were all up for the AFI for Best film, which left Swimming Upstream out of the top four films for that year. Due to this, the uptake of this film was not huge in Australia or internationally, which was a disappointment for the producers’ who had a huge budget to work with.
Swimming Upstream is used in many Secondary Schools throughout Australia as a year 10-12 text for English and Media for the issues and ideas it addresses.