Thank God He Met Lizzie

It has always perplexed me why this film remains largely unheard of, whilst other, lesser Australian productions before it (e.g. "Strictly Ballroom", "Muriel's Wedding") went on to gain lasting international acclaim. The basic plot of "Thank god he met Lizzie" is deceptively simple - Guy (Richard Roxburgh) meets Lizzie (Cate Blanchett); they have a whirlwind romance and are married within six months, two people seemingly made for each other. But nothing in this film is as straightforward as it first seems, and - as the wedding night slowly unfolds - we learn that Guy has had a past relationship in his life with Jenny (Frances O'Connor) that haunts him still. As we discover more and more about Guy, Lizzie and Jenny, this film looks at what it means to be happy - and asks whether we can ever recognise happiness until it's gone.

The three leads, O'Connor, Roxburgh and Blanchett all give strong and credible performances. Roxburgh and O'Connor especially create an amazing dramatic tension as their relationship unfolds in flashbacks, and credit must be given to O'Connor for her reading of Jenny, a character who gradually moves from simple naivety to heartbreaking sensibility. The other minor characters are perhaps a who's who of Australian cinema in the '90s, but there a few if any stock caricatures here, and all provide strong support. The direction by first-time director Cherie Nowlan is brilliant, making subtle use of hand-held camera work for the most intimate moments of Guy and Jenny's failed relationship in a way that is astonishingly sympathetic and tender.

This is a film that is at times humorous, at times thoughtful, at times shocking but always powerful. Nothing is quite resolved until the final lines, and there is a poignancy that envelopes it which lasts long after the final scene has faded away. Highly recommended.

There's something about Australian film. Canada has some filmmakers worth watching, many more as a percentage than nearly anywhere. But they are of all sorts, many different worlds as if being Canadian were only a gateway to imagination.

Australia is different. There's something distinct about Australian film-making and acting. You can see it permeate all the gems from that place and from people from that place. I like it because it is deeply rooted in the sort of self-reference I study. But I also appreciate it because it serves the way I watch movies: the effects of each one giving me footholds and crevices in exploring the next.

I watched this because it has Cate; simple enough. Cate does do some Cate-ish things toward the end, and they are useful, but the stuff she creates is a sort of emotional framing device for the real matter of the thing, which is a finished but not finished romance.

Now you have to know that I am coming at an appreciation of this in part because I know it is not the story that matters, but how the story unfolds. Romance and movies are tied in this way, allure. Seduction. Reward.

I'd like to recommend this to you because of how it is put together, and the deftness of how it handles how romance and love relate to one another. I guarantee that if you watch this with someone else, you two will come away with different notions of what you have seen. And can I give a higher compliment? Its about a relationship as seen from another one. One great choice is that the two lovers aren't defined. The attraction and the failure aren't explained. He's sort of stuffy and she sort of aggressively grabs life, but things are left vague beyond that. We see the milestones of their relationship but none of the machinery. It must have taken significant disciple to open things this way to judge by how rarely we see it.

So we have this arc, this huge arc of love. And we have it presented openly and more important, cinematically. There's mastery here. In the little ways things are revealed. You'll know it from the first scene which is a very long tracking shot in a house party, where we see many parallel seductions. Its the little compositions that matter.

At the wedding reception, for example, there's introspective banter between two strangers as he first explains why there are no "types" of women left for him to accept and she counters with several certain capture strategies that we know would each work in the short run.

There are dozens of little annotations like this.

Two scenes to watch for. I imagine these two were the first to appear in the writer's mind.

Our couple have been living together for years and are decorating the Christmas tree. They are casually nude in that way that is past the honeymoon. They haven't had sex in months and that knowledge is haunting them. They both know something is over and are wondering what that implies. She is on a ladder and he is holding her legs, his cheek against her buttock, wondering. He turns to place his face in her crack and she gently but firmly swats him away with a decoration, his face but not his support. Its perfect drama by itself and in the larger flow.

Another scene. He is getting married to another woman later. The first woman isn't at the wedding but her friend is. This person is as "crazy about life" and impulse compared to the first love as that love is to the new wife. He approaches her for a dance. She awkwardly starts with some club moves, you know the dance moves that tell small stories. He interrupts and draws her close in for a tender dance instead. Its an amazing set of choices all around.

So you'll want to see this, if you love competent cinematic storytelling. And especially if you have been bitten by the Aussie movie bug and are also interested in romance.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

A very good portrayal of life. Regular life and the choices we make, and the normal looking back on it and wondering what if... excellent acting, plot and dialogue, true ending.

We are all searching for something, and we are all looking in the wrong places: in our past and in our future. What about today? Is happiness something you feel or something you remember?

Guy meets Lizzie and in a mad rush they marry. During the wedding, Guy's memories float to the turbulent relationship with the other woman - Jenny. Alexandra Long's script delivers the goods but let down by poor quality production values. The other saviour comes from O'Conner's performance as the manic Jenny.

Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett and Frances O'Connor are all good in this sometimes comic, sometimes poignant film about a man's remembrance of his previous lover on his wedding day, but O'Connor is the most memorable as the witty, affectionate ex-lover who is changed by the loss of her relationship.

The film has a lot to say about loss, luck, mistakes and regret in relationships. The film also shows parts of Sydney not often seen on film. Cate Blanchett won an AFI award for best supporting actress.