With three powerhouse actors out front and one of Australia’s most renowned filmmakers calling the shots, it is of no wonder that The Eye of the Storm is one of the better local productions this year.
The Australian entertainment industry has an obsession with family, and the more dysfunctional the better. The Eye of the Storm ups the ante by combining dysfunction with money. Lots of money.
Said wealth belongs to Elisabeth Hunter (Charlotte Rampling), the dying matriarch of an influential family based in the Sydney suburb of Centennial Park. With death not far away and an inheritance to be claimed, Elisabeth’s long estranged children come to visit: ex-pat theatre actor Basil (Geoffrey Rush) and former European royalty Dorothy (Judy Davis).
Rambling. Rush. Davis. It is a rare that such formidable acting talent would assemble on any film, let alone an Australian production, and here they are all at the height of their talents portraying characters with the appearance of grandeur, yet under the facade stems bitterness, suspicion, and a longing for true friendship in family.
Returning behind the lens in his first Australian feature in 20 years is Fred Schepisi. Here he takes Patrick White’s acclaimed novel and creates one of the more engrossing, pure dramas to hit our screens this year.
Schepisi’s symbolic gestures are grand and powerful, the use of flashbacks flow seamlessly, and its emotions of love, betrayal, hope and pain will resonate after the end credits.
Best of all is the dialogue. Judy Morris has done a terrific job with her script, feeding juicy dialogue to the mouths of high calibre actors, portraying characters who try to vein the “possibility of human affection”.
That such self indulgent characters are able to evoke our attention and sympathy is power to the material, the performances and the masterful filmmaking of Schepisi.
The Eye of the Storm is an apt title, because this will be the epicentre upon which all local films will be compared to. |