Passion

Percy Grainger was an important Australian composer and a wonderful pianist, and this engaging film looks at both the musical aspects of Grainger's life (such as his interest in folk music and experimentation), as well as his eccentric lifestyle (his intense relationship with his mother sparked rumours of incest, and he practised sado-masochism with his lovers).

All the actors are wonderful, especially Richard Roxburgh playing the mercurial Grainger, but also Barbara Hershey as his doting, but brittle mother with whom he often shares a bed, and Emily Woof, who plays his Danish lover who submits to his erotic whims. Claudia Karvan is also excellent as Grainger's musician friend who refuses his advances but helps him as a friend.

The film is an entertaining reminder of a largely forgotten complex musical phenomenon.

The world knows Percy Grainger mostly for his folksong settings: of which the one about the English country garden is probably the most popular. Some know one or two of his more individual compositions, but (I suspect) relatively few know of his early explorations of electronic music and musical ideas that place his name with the pioneers of the avant garde of twentieth century classical music.

Percy's eccentricity was matched with a tortured(sic)sexuality that embraced a close relationship with his mother and a penchant for flagellation. The brief display of the latter is( I suppose) the reason for the "R" rating.

Richard Roxburgh's performance as Percy is excellent, and (apparently) very close to the real thing. Barbara Hershey is less convincing as Rose.

In my opinion, don't be put off by the "R" rating for this film.

I am sure many of those who stumble on this release will want to find out more about Percy Grainger and what made him and his music tick.

Not a great film, but a very entertaining one. It is very much more intelligently made than some more sanitised or fictionalised attempts to depict the nature of those who brighten our lives with their creativity.

If in Melbourne : do not miss the Percy Grainger Museum in the grounds of the University of Melbourne. It has lots of Grainger "artifacts" that document how close this film -flawed as it is - manages to recreate the setting, the times and the relationship with his mother.

It takes a phenomenal actor to pull off such a believable performance of a complex character, that being Percy Granger, worlds away from the life of the messed up David Helffgot. The photography of the period is piece perfect, but it is Roxborough's performance that will blow you away ( like he did as that corrupt detective, Roger Rogerson in Blue Murder, years prior) as the eccentric pianist who hid a dark secret, hence the reason for the R rating this film unjustly got. Grainger shared a sadomachistic relationship with his Mother, (Barbara Hershey, in a impeccable performance) that involved heavy whipping, that is passed onto his new wife, who's forced to accept the never changing Grainger for who he is. Burke and Karvan, especially, (more impressive by the minute) lend fine support, as Percy's friends. The film does end suddenly, it becomes such an engrossing view, as we really delve in and become fascinated by this famous pianist, who's name I can heavily recall, being mentioned as a kid. After all, he was of the great and most gifted pianists of them all, who always left an impression on his audience, just like Roxborough will leave an impression, with his performance of this great. Look at the world through Percy's eyes, in another landmark Aussie film.

This is a hard movie to come by in the US, but if you can find it -- and you're interested in the life and music of Percy Aldridge Grainger, you're in for a treat. It's quite historically accurate. Richard Roxborough's Grainger looks astoundingly like Grainger at this period in time. Emily Woof's Karen Holten is quite a bit prettier than the real Karen, but that was an inaccuracy I was happy to discover (!). I think what really struck me though, was how well Roxborough captured Grainger's outrageous personality. Barbara Hershey's Rose was also a treasure. If she looks considerably younger than Rose did at that period, it is more than made up for in how well she captured Rose's obsession with Percy. It's an easy film to recommend. (I should note that when she saw "Passion" my wife had no particular affinity for (or knowledge of) Grainger and his music, but she was totally captivated by the film.

It's great to have supportive parents, the more so when you are a creative artist of fragile ego. But a relationship with a parent can be a crippling thing, even when the parent is aware of the danger of smothering a child with affection and preventing him from forming adult relationships. So it was for the Australian musician and composer Percy Grainger. In this film, covering a year in his life (the fatal year of 1914) and taken from a stage play, the multi-talented Percy's relationship with his mother Rose is explored. She is his devoted fan, manager and confidant. She encourages Percy, in his early thirties, to fall in love with a beautiful young talented pupil, Karin. Rose knows that the wellsprings of Percy's creativity are less than sparkling clear. Percy uses flagellation to clear his head for work, a practice Rose naturally deplores. Percy recruits his pupil to flagellation, and Rose finds out.

This film reminded me somewhat of the play and film "Amadeus" (loved by God) which showed Mozart (whose music Grainger hated to play) as a dirty-minded child whose musical genius seemed to just flow out of him without apparent effort on his part. "Amadeus" suggested that his rival Salieri was so consumed with jealousy that he brought about Mozart's death, "killing" God in the process. Grainger hears music everywhere - it just flows into him from sounds all around, and he captures and processes it. He hears a folk song being sung in a pub, or a barrow boy's call in the street and gets them down on paper. As Grainger himself says in the film, it's the folk material adaptions he will probably be best remembered for.

Like Mozart, Grainger has a supportive parent who recognises this extraordinary talent and moulds his career as a performer. Such creativity comes at a price, in Percy's case emotional over-dependence on his mother and the lash. Percy's is a pretty fragile psyche despite his cheerful manner and artistic confidence. He is a blond, athletic babe-magnet - perhaps women spot the mother's boy and go for him - but for Percy adoring fans are put there for his convenience.

Richard Roxburgh does a great job as Percy, full of nervy vitality. Barbara Hershey as Rose looks too young at first but as events take their toll she ages fast and the two of them are very convincing together. Emily Wolf plays Karin with Germanic seriousness. Towards the end the pace slows down to a crawl. It's as if the director didn't know how to finish. However "Passion" is handsomely filmed and easy to watch and listen to, with many of Percy's pieces on the soundtrack.