Ladies in Black – a day at the cinema
Horsham’s ROBERT BLAKELEY, after soaking up a cinema experience, has provided his thoughts about an Australian movie that is attracting broad plaudits and generating discussion across the country. Here are his observations – took my wife Jenny and Grace ‘Nonna’ Panozzo to see Ladies in Black at Horsham Centre Cinemas.
The centre was doing a roaring trade on the school holidays and our film was also packed to the rafters with patrons.
The topical issue of migrants in postwar Australia went under the spotlight in this rather enchanting and romantic period piece by acclaimed Australian director Bruce Beresford, also responsible for Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies and Mao’s Last Dancer.
The plot revolves around the relationships of the ‘ladies in black’ who work in the fashion area of fictitious Sydney department store Goode’s in 1959.
‘Lisa’ is the shy but determined schoolgirl from North Sydney High on a holiday job who wants to be an artist, poet or actor.
Her father, a gruff linotype operator at a Sydney newspaper, does not want her to go to university. However, her mother has other ideas.
At the store, Lisa firstly charms the other shop assistants – ‘Fay’ and ‘Patty’ – with her pleasant manner and efficient work habits.
She is taken under the wing of the imperious head of high fashion ‘Magda’,
Ia Slovenian, who introduces her to continental cuisine, literature and music.
The film follows the journeys of Lisa, Fay and Patty over the long summer break.
It is joyous and uplifting. The viewer sees the positive contribution migrants from Europe made in post-war Australia and the love those migrants had for Australia as a country and home.
The humour is gentle with only a few benign asides about Melbourne. Occasionally, a migrant mixes a metaphor.
The movie shows the positive reaction of Lisa’s parents when their daughter spreads her wings.
It hints at the stoicism of floor supervisor ‘Miss Cartwright’ who has to deal with an aged and infirm mother at home by herself.
Thus, it presents a cohesive and caring view of Australian society in the post-war period.
Migration is valued and Australians are flexible.
There are no comments about ‘bloody wogs’ and very few about ‘new Australians’.
This stance can be compared with today’s reaction to migration which in many cases can be more suspicious and unflattering, especially given the big increase in Australia’s population in the past 20 years, mainly boosted by migrants.
To improve, the film needed to address post-war Australian society in a more gritty, and less idealised and middle-class way.
There was much more of a class divide back then and religion played a far greater role. For instance, many ‘refos’ were Catholic and the religion of power and influence in Australia was Protestant.
People were more tribal and parochial. Sydneysiders were wary and sceptical of the southerners from Victoria and vice-a-versa.
I would have liked to see these issues tackled rather than just touched on.
The slang and vernacular of the period could have been incorporated more to enhance the feel of the period.
There were some minor problems of context with the great horses Galilie and Rising Fast shown on television winning races in 1959. But Galilie raced in the mid-1960s and Rising Fast raced in the mid-1950s.
Overall, however, the film is fresh and bright. It is well acted and well scripted and appeals to our better angels.
The Horsham Centre Cinemas audience was swept along and thoroughly enjoyed the proceedings, as did my wife Jenny and Nonna. The choc tops were great, too. • The Weekly Advertiser welcomes community story or column submissions. It reserves the right on whether to publish submitted work based on individual assessment.