Georgia (Ben Lewin, 1989) aka Difficult Woman; Judy Davis, John Bach, Julia Blake; photographer; investigation of murder; see Jonathan Rayner 2000: 51-53; Paul Kalina in Murray 1995: 276; mystery thriller; 90 min.
In Georgia (Ben Lewin, 1989), Judy Davis plays both the investigator and the character being investigated. The primary character, Nina, discovers as an adult and by chance that she was adopted and that her real mother was photographer Georgia, who drowned in mysterious circumstances. Nina’s quest is to find out whether Georgia jumped or was pushed.
Stratton 1990:
The genesis of the film is a painting: Albert Tucker's 1984 portrait of Joy Hester; she had died in 1961 and he had not see her since 1947. Producer Bob Weis acquired the painting ... Inspired by this research, and by an affection for Rashomon ... Says Weis, '... We used a cryptic story-telling technique: we were interested in the four different characters and their versions of what happened in the past.' ... It is all very well to raise questions about the meaning of Truth, but there are so many gaps and inexplicable occurrences in Georgia that, at the end we are left with more questions than we started with. In subverting the whodunit genre, the film became merely confusing, and it lacks the brilliance in script or direction that might have made it work. Stratton: 270-272.
Garry Gillard | New: 11 November, 2012 | Now: 20 June, 2021