My Brilliant Career
My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979) prod. Margaret Fink, wr. Eleanor Witcombe, novel Miles Franklin, dp Don McAlpine, design Luciana Arrighi, ed. Nick Beauman; Judy Davis, Wendy Hughes, Sam Neill, Aileen Britton, Max Cullen, Robert Grubb, Patricia Kennedy; 100 min.; six AFIs 1979; Eastman colour, 35mm, 100 min.
Sybylla Melvyn (Judy Davis) is the eldest daughter of an impoverished NSW farming family in 19th century Australia. Despite her social standing and financial insecurities, she is determined to succeed as a writer, and this at a time when women were not supposed to have such ambitions in any case. When she falls in love with the handsome and socially upmarket Harry Beecham (Sam Neill), it tests her resolve; loneliness is a terrible price to pay for independence, as she is warned.
Don McAlpine's award winning cinematography shows his natural flair, while production design offers some the best examples of period work in Australian film. All of this, of course, hangs on the beautifully nuanced screenplay by Eleanor Witcombe. Andrew Urban.
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Garry Gillard | New: 12 June, 2017 | Now: 12 June, 2017