PEACHES
Directed by Craig Monahan
Part I: Film Information
Tagline: The closer you look, the more you will find.
Synopsis:This story is of a young girl trying to discover the mysteries of her parents past, while dealing with her community’s economic change. She learns that life can be restricted by loss and fear- but only if you let it. As she discovers her past, she finds what determines her future.
Lead Actors
Hugo Weaving as Alan: Weaving is well known for acting in Australia, but is also recognized internationally for his performances in the US blockbusters, directed by the Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix (1999) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003) as Agent Smith. Another international well known feature he plays a role in is The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as Elrond, Lord of the Elves. An Australian film that won three AFI Awards and was directed by Craig Monahan, which he also starred in, was The Interview in 1998, along with many other films such as Proof and The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert.
Jacqueline McKenzie as Jude: McKenzie was born in Sydney, NSW and has featured in many Australian films such as Romper Stomperand The Battlers. She ventured to Hollywood and starred in the films Deep Blue Sea andThe Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. She was awarded Best Actress from both the AFI and the Australian Film Critics Circle for her role in the feature Angel Baby.
Emma Lung as Steph: Emma Lung grew up in Sydney as a teenager and has since then featured in the television series White Collar Blue and Channel Ten’s The Cooks. Besides the role of Steph in the film Peaches, she has had a role in Garage Days and most recently Footy Legends in 2005.
Supporting Actors
Matthew Le Nevez - Brian
Sam Healy – Jass
Tyson Contor – Johnny
Ed Rosser – Steph’s Grandpa
Catherine – Kath
Production Credits
Director/Producer: Craig Monahan
Craig Monahan graduated from AFTRS and went on to produce music videos. Later he wrote and directed the 1998 feature The Interview, starring Tony Martin and Hugo Weaving, which went on to win three Australian Film Institute awards for Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Picture.
Producer: Don Reynolds
Reynolds having been in the film industry for over 35 years has produced several films out of London and New Zealand, including The Quiet Earth, Ruby Ring and Goodbye Pork Pie.
Executive Producers: Nick Stilladis and Judith McCann
Director of Photography: Ernest (Ernie) Clark
Production Designer: Robert Herriot
Composer: David Hirschfelder
Editor: Suresh Ayyar
Scriptwriter: Sue Smith
Production Company:Peach Films Pty Ltd
Specifications
Classification: Drama
Runtime: 103 minutes
Rating: MA 15+
Filmed: 2003
Country: Australia
Location: Berri and the Riverside, South Australia
Total Gross $AUD: $406,604
Distributor: Hopscotch Films
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Release Date: Peaches opened internationally in cinemas on the 9th of June 2005.
Awards and Nominations
AFI Awards: Best Film 2005 (nominee)
Awgie Award: Feature Film- Original to Sue Smith in 2004 (nominee)
Grand Prix des Ameriques to Craig Monahan in 2004 (nominee)
Links
Interviews and News
Reviews
There are many reviews done on this film Peaches, found on the internet which I have linked. There are also several interviews, one especially with the director, Craig Monahan, on the site ‘in film’. To find information mainly on the details of this film, like the cast and crew, the best sites I found for those were IMBD and AFC, which both have links to above.
Part II: Critical Review
Peaches,is a love story about a young woman growing up and trying to discover the mysteries and tales of her family’s past. The film covers issues such as loss, love, change and economic rationalism. Emma Lung acts as the main character Steph, called ‘the miracle baby’ as she was born on the day of her parent’s death. She had been brought up by her adoptive mother Jude, played by Jacqueline McKenzie, which was her birth mother’s best friend. Suffering from dyslexia, Steph dropped out of school to start work at the Peach line, where her parents in fact met and where she would go on to meet her future lover Alan, played by Hugo Weaving.
On the night of her 18th birthday, her Grandfather (Ed Rosser), gives Steph her birth mother’s hidden diary. But as Steph can not read because of her dyslexia, she finds trust in friend Brian (Matthew Le Nevez) to read it to her. As her relationships develop with her friend Brian and lover Alan, Steph discovers the adventures of her parents past and the dreams they had of leaving the Peach line.
The Peach line deals with economic issues, which involve Steph’s guardian, Jude, standing up for the work people’s rights against her former boyfriend and runner of the factory, Alan. This in itself causes issues between Jude and Steph, triggering Steph to rebel and want to escape from the small town in South Australia to Queensland.
This film was very different to ones of the director’s, Craig Monahan, past. Peaches, was from a strong female point of view, unlike a former movie, The Interview, directed and written by Craig Monahan. That film was about a dark world of crime in Australia involving a lot of twists and manipulation of characters. A reason that might be the difference between these movies is that Monahan didn’t write Peaches, it was in fact Sue Smith.
Sue Smith is better known for her writing for the television series Brides of Christ and The Leaving of Liverpool. This would explain the written style of Peaches as well. I think Peacheswas written for more of a television movie, thea9 a feature film. I liked the script, it was sensitive and intelligent and it beautifully showed matters of complex family relationships. But what I found was a flaw was the way in which every loose end was tied up and how each character’s issues were resolved. A reviewer, Christina Bruce comments, “This Australian production looks very much like something made for television and not for the big screen and it fails because it hasn’t pushed the boundaries enough,” (SearchSA.com, 2005). Despite this, Sue Smith develops these complex characters very well.
I found the acting to be very well directed by Craig Monahan. Hugo Weaving commanded the screen. His change in his character’s personality over the nineteen year period shown in the film was done professionally. He went from a “stuttering, shy working class idealist, to a hard nosed managerial prick,” commented a reviewer Ronnie Scheib (Variety.com, 2005). Emma Lung also gave a great performance. She played the role of being an innocent, confused child like character, trying to grow up and experience what it was like for her mother in the “good old days”. Her character was believable also because of the help from character Jude, acting as an over protective figure, provoked because of her strong love for Steph, and the memory of the loss of Steph’s parents.
The sexual relationship between characters Steph and Alan in the film could be seen as inappropriate and controversial. But in an interview with Craig Monahan he reported that, “Everyone is of age, no one is being hurt, no one is being dominated; it’s tenderness. They’re both getting something out of it,” (infilm.com, 2005). These types of relationships do actually happen, so it’s not something that worried me. Steph seemed aggravated because she felt she missed out on the ‘good stuff’ her parents and their two closest friends, Jude and Alan, got to experience. Hence, her motivation to begin an affair with older man Alan, who had previously been there in the ‘good old days’, and could possibly take her back. For Alan, it was his yearning to know what it was like to take a risk again.
The film featured many flashbacks when the diary was being read, and in these clips it showed how the ‘foursome’ played pranks on the town and came up with crazy, exciting ideas. The film seemed to express for all of the characters, their want and need to escape, either to the past, or out of the town. This motivation was directly shown by character the Brian, with his poster of Queensland. I felt by using this direction of the script, it gave away the ending or any mystery that may have been built up at how the film would finish. This escape to Queensland was quite a cliché move made in this film, as are in many Australian films. “Another tragically southern Australian stereotype used in Peaches is the desire of many characters to escape the cannery and “travel to Queensland”. I mean, come on—are we on the set of Neighbours here?! Every second character in this film seems to want to up and move to the bloody tropics!” remarked reviewer, Sam Martin (M/C Reviews, 2005).
What I really like about Peaches was the cinematography. Ernest Clark did a brilliant job of showing Australia’s sweeping landscapes, “with images of the classic Australian countryside juxtaposed against the industrial setting of the peach cannery” (M/C Reviews, 2005). Ernest Clark seemed to shoot with the lighting at almost a ‘peachy’ colour a lot of the time, especially at times when the characters where at peace. Clark made some fantastic aerial shots showing South Australia’s landscapes and great views. One I particularly liked was when Steph and Brian were sitting on top of a cliff over the river, reading the diary. The sun was setting and with a panning shot covering the view as well as the characters, it created a perfectly serene tone for the scene. Another shot and edit I liked was when Steph was crying in the toilet, then stood up and looked at the roof. It cut straight to her at a club and immediately set up the next sequence of events that would progress. Ernest Clark has done other cinematography work in films such as Moving Targets (1987), An Indecent Obsession (1985) and The Settlement (1983).
I really enjoyed the different emotions exposed in the film. There were fun times shown which was accompanied by a beautiful score by David Hirschfelder. Most of these fun points were the memories of Steph’s mother, Jass (Sam Healy) in the recollection of the diary. For example, when Jude and Jass danced on one of the balconies at the peach cannery naked, with nothing to cover them but huge feathers, everyone watching the display was laughing and the two girls looked like they were having a good time as well. Another fun part was when the foursome stole the peach float and drove it up to the old shed. These points exaggerated the desire for the characters need for escape, as it showed the past being a lot of fun, compared to the harsh reality of the peach line going downhill into economic depression. Some more emotional parts in the film was when Steph’s mother stands up at the peach line and tells everyone to go ‘fuck themselves’. A lot of what was said was very passionate and very well acted by Sam Healy.
This film fits into the genre category of Drama because its main themes and issues are on relationships and discovery, which are serious and have a quality of being dramatic. A definition found online meaning the genre drama is defined as, “A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action,” (thefreedictionary.com, 2005). Peaches, portrays a series of real life situations that have a dramatic progression throughout the story, and have an emotional effect on the viewers. This was done by using family situations that many people can relate to. For example, losing family or loved ones and the effect that it has on the people left behind. The crashing of the car was shot and edited really well. By putting it in slow motion and the music that was playing over the top of the scene, as well as the expressions of the two characters faces, helped place the viewers to feel and care for what was going on.
In relation to other Australian films, this film does have a similar genre or type of theme as many others. As I mentioned before, a lot of Australian films feel the need to write about getting away or escaping as a way of dealing with the obstacles or problems that affect the characters in their films. Many also use small country towns. Peaches, was based in a town called Swanreach in South Australia. The reason for this is because it can allow their characters to reach a small ‘community bond’, have local history that everyone in the town knows about (like the giant peach float the ‘foursome’ hid up in the old shed), and the fact that it can allow the characters to wish for ‘a way out’ from the small town life. All of the housing shown in Peaches was old country style housing, with weathered walls and large verandas. Swanreach had one main hotel which most of the town gathered at to have a few drinks after working at the local peach cannery all day, which was the main source of work for the town. There were a lot of shots of greenery and orchids which educated the viewers that the town was in rural areas. So many Australian movies base their films in places like this, except most of them show the bush and dry landscapes opposed to the orchids and green grass. It was refreshing to see beautiful examples of Australian outback, instead of the harsh ways of the rural areas of Australia.
This film was released internationally in 2005, which is quite recent. Although Peacheswas made in Australia, I don’t think that it necessarily has to be directed at just Australian viewers. A reviewer for Radio Nation in 2006, Julie Rigg, reported that, “One of the reasons I like this film is that it actually comes from the reality of life today in country Australia, and it treats the dramas of people living those lives respectfully.” This film showed what is actually happening in rural areas of Australia today. Many small towns are dying because of droughts and factors like canneries closing down. Not only issues like the effects on country towns today affect people, but also the relationships between different people; lovers, family, friends and communities. These are types of things everyone anywhere can relate to, which is why I liked Peaches and why I think it could still be appreciated in other countries other then Australia.
The film ends with Jude and Alan trying to resolve their issues after Steph has left to go to Queensland with Brian. The finishing line for their closing scene was Jude saying, “What kind of drive do you have in mind?” meaning that they too might follow their old dream of leaving Swanreach to go to Queensland. The final and closing clip for the film is of Brian and Steph at the exact place Brian had a picture of and had dreamed to go to. Both characters looked happy and as if they too have closure because it wasn’t just their dream that they had accomplished, but Steph’s parents as well because it’s where they were heading when they had the car accident that killed them. So it seems all dreams were finally lived. It was a nice way to finish, although I think maybe it was a little too predictable.
Works Cited