The Eye of the Storm

Patrick White earned a Nobel Prize for literature. Having read only one of his novels and found it 'heavy', I was keen to see what someone could do to The Eye of the Storm. Given the director was Fred Schepisi, I knew it would be 'different'. First find a screenwriter. Judy Morris is an accomplished actor. I expected to see an 'actor's' film, with great lines and self-evident visuals. Yes, Judy Morris can write, and rather more clearly than Patrick White. Look for her in one of the scenes! Next find a cast. "Storm' has brilliant people. To nominate just one, Helen Morse proves that she can sing and dance, skills that I'd not seen before. Rush and Rampling carry the action, with Alexandra, Schepisi's daughter, a clever foil. Judy Davis has a face that seems to accommodate any role.

No, I won't be reading this novel. What we see here is a great motion picture. We've become accustomed to Australian films depicting poverty, isolation, and mayhem. This has an air of opulence and connectedness.

THE EYE OF THE STORM is the story of a dying matriarch and her estranged adult children, both of whom have been big disappointments to her. The "kiddies," as she calls them, come home to Sydney on word that their mother is dying. But the bittersweet reunion only stirs up old resentments and disappointments on all sides. Flashbacks fill in the story of the mother as she sinks into dementia.

Superb acting by Charlotte Rampling as the unchanging mother who lavishes her attention (and gifts) on her nurses and housekeeper while dismissing her own children as greedy moochers. Judy Davis plays the uptight Dorothy, a divorced woman who married a prince but retained only the title after her marriage crumbled. Geoffrey Rush plays Basil, the unsuccessful actor whose time for stardom has passed. They both wrangle with the unflinching mother and her lawyer and battle the house staff who treat them as enemies.

It's a battle of wills (pun intended) as the children fight the mother, who at the last moment tries to change her will to disinherit her own children after she learns of their plan to put her in a home.

The three stars are nothing short of superb. Helen Morse plays Lotte the housekeeper, who entertains the old woman with bits from her old German cabaret act. Alexandra Schepisi plays the nurse with designs on Basil. John Gaden plays the lawyer. Colin Friels plays the sleazy politician.

The location cinematography is gorgeous. Directed by Fred Schepisi, based on a novel by Patrick White.

A long and engrossing film, well worth finding and savoring.

Rather humourous in the first half the whole thing turns dramatic when the mother legs get closer to the tomb. I found this very well played.

Alright so it's a little 'literary' and the 70s it is ostensibly set in are a little wobbly (it's like you have to remind yourself periodically it's not contemporary), but this unusual family drama is full of surprises and twists as well as a rich and rewarding script that exposes and confronts all the petty squabbles and festering resentments of many a family, and which typically come to a head when a patriarch or matriarch (in this case, Charlotte Rampling) is on the way out. She is serene and strangely humorous, as if she's made her peace and has new insight, while children Basil (Geoffrey Rush) and Dorothy (Judy Davis) continue to clash egos, because both of them have them in spades! The kind of film you can revisit and probably find more each time.

I can't see anyone under 50 even being remotely interested in this "Patrick White In Drag" type film (to quote another IMDb user). The 2 hours reminded me of those hours spent in non air- conditioned portable classrooms (for me, in the late 60's) wading through arcane English literature classes wherein Patrick White was regarded as "worthy"...or "significant".

"Storm" has all the features we have come to expect from "quality" Australian film-making - a great cast, polished direction, impeccable production values etc etc ... but it's as dull and disconnected as the world White writes about. Who really gives a stuff about an imploding grazing family presided over by a a dying monster ... nominally set in the 1970s, but really (as in most of White's writing) set in the 1930s?

On a $15m budget ... it probably needs a world wide gross of $100m to break even. Ye Gods - who green-lit this? How much Government funding went into it? (Its $1.6m domestic gross should just about pay for the Prints and Advertising" budget & little more).

We have a bustling new generation - make that two generations - of film-makers pushing the envelope and making "Animal Kingdom", "Daybreakers", "Red Dog" etc who seem to be at least aware of their audience and their responsibility for getting a return for their investors. Film-making is an expensive business ... and "Storm" is just a sad old melodrama, outdated, over-priced and isolated from the real world, doomed to fail financially. I can understand why audiences congratulate themselves for having sat through it ("splendid and intelligent" - another IMDb post), but it's just an Anglo middle class statement from people who are longing for the days of "Careful He Might Hear You" or "The Devil's Playground".

At least the English Class in those old portables only lasted 50 minutes...