Careful, He Might Hear You

Careful, He Might Hear You - the novel by Sumner Locke Elliott (a thinly disguised autobiographical piece) - is a meandering, but still engaging, narrative of a six-year-old Australian boy, orphaned at birth with the death of his mother and an forever absentee father. The movie - beautifully rendered and magnificently acted - is an intelligently adapted work, condensed for enactment, to be sure, but still faithful to the evolution of the events. However, the subtleties of the character interactions - so vital to the novel - were largely glossed over in the film, and that is its shortcoming. True, produced in 1983 in Australia, it is the product of film-making 40 years ago when the emphasis was more on story and less on character. The film does its best to bridge that gap - what success there is in defining the relationships is excellently attempted by the actors - they did all they could with the script they were given - but in the end we see very little of the emotions which drew them together and yet tore them apart. It is these emotions which are the guts of the story.

The boy - "PS" as he has been dubbed by his dying mother, who saw him as a beloved post script to the end of her determinedly daring life - is set in 1930s Australia. PS lives with Lila and George, his mother's older sister and her husband, who see him as their own. Their circumstances are modest in the those Depression years, but they are managing. Back into their lives comes Vanessa, yet another aunt/sister (there are still even two more), who has been living in England as a companion to Ettie, their family's wealthy cousin. It seems that PS' missing father has been persuaded to assign "Ness" with a role in PS' guardianship. A tug of war ensues between Lila and Vanessa for PS' allegiance, and it is his eventual destiny that is the story's denouement.

The acting is superb. Wendy Hughes and Robin Nevin as Vanessa and Lila, are restrained where they could have cut loose. John Hargreaves, as PS' still mostly absent father, was nobly worthless, which explained so much. Nicholas Gledhill, in his first role, is brilliant - he carries the film. The technical contributions - direction, cinematography, sets, lighting, sound, costumes, make-up - are all first rate.

If one has not read the book, I am sure the movie - in the 1980s - would be satisfying. But this story deserves so much more. Today, it would probably be done as miniseries - freeing the writer to bring out the characters, their relationships and their emotions, all of which are vital to understanding PS' journey to find himself.

Surely one of the best modern films about childhood, this swept the Australian Academy Awards and remains a thrilling film experience. When a young boy is left orphaned, his two aunts wage a bitter custody war over him. We see the adults' actions from the boy's point of view, with all the wonder, confusion, and naive wisdom such an outlook would provide. The events have a wry edge even in tragedy and remain gripping even in happiness. Stay tuned through the final credits for one of the best epilogues in film history.

Wendy Hughes plays the dark side of Auntie Mame, and she is both entrancing and repulsive, ludicrous and heartbreaking. The late John Hargreaves delivers a shattering cameo, and young Nicholas Gledhill deserves to be named in the company of Jean-Pierre Leaud, Anton Glanzelius, and Haley Joel Osment. The child's-eye direction is never less than astonishing, while the cinematography and music are gorgeous enough to take your breath away. If you thought the squabble over Elian Gonzalez was great drama, wait till you see this!

Nicholas Gledhill's portrayal of a child is one of the best I've ever seen. He was eight at the time, and the character seems more like five---and a really excellent capture of the body language and expression of a child of that age mystified by the odd grown-up world around him. The worst distraction in the film was the music, which never seemed appropriate, like it had been composed for a different film, in an earlier decade. A few acting performances were overbaked, but in general it was OK. Oddly, Nicholas never appeared in another film.

The film is a superb adaptation of the book. As is true of most adaptations, it doesn't quite live up to the book. Read the book first--and then see the movie. The acting is first-rate. The little boy, Nicholas Gledhill, is amazing. And Wendy Hughes is stunning--what a shame she has never caught on with American audiences in her relatively unproductive American film and television career. The film is another example of the high quality work that comes out of Australia with such frequency.

Two estranged sisters vie for custody of their preteen nephew, not always considering his feelings, in this compelling Australian drama from 'Travelling North' director Carl Schultz. As per the title, the film pivots around what everyone says about the boy behind his back, and the film is blessed by a deliciously complex sound design in which background discussions overlap with whatever the boy is doing. Nicholas Gledhill is very well cast as the protagonist with an expressive face that tells all as he listens to the adults converse, extrapolating what he can. John Seale does a great job shooting Gledhill in intentionally intrusive close-ups and with several gliding shots throughout, 'Careful He Might Hear You' is an incredibly good- looking film. If the movie does not totally work, it is due to becoming too sentimental for its own good, especially towards the end. Wendy Hughes (as the wealthier aunt) could have also benefited for some more characterisation as she comes off a little too much like an evil stepmother. Generally speaking though, this is a captivating look at two sisters with opposite approaches to life both trying to parent properly in wildly different ways and how the boy learns to finally assert himself when things do not go the way he wants. In other words, it is just as much a tale of growing up as it is a story of sibling rivalry regarding custody of him.