Cecil says: Ladies in Black is the kind of film I could go and see over and over again, and probably always pick up new little insights into life in 1959 (the year of my birth, funnily enough, so I don’t have actual memories of that time myself!). It stands alongside Strictly Ballroom as one of those films I will no doubt see more than once and not tire of, so it must be my top film of 2018, I think.
There are so
many aspects that make this a charming watch: the coming-of-age (but not at all
in a sexual way) of school-leaver Lisa (one of the big moves she makes to ‘come
of age’ is to drop her androgynous name ‘Lesley’ and start a new life at work
as ‘Lisa”); the arrival and gradual acceptance of ‘new’ migrants from other
parts of Europe than the UK and Ireland; the social limits on behaviour and
propriety, leading to some hilarious and some touching moments, as two of the
Ladies in Black deal with developing relationships.
It’s all set
in Sydney, so any shots with backdrop to the City and CBD are obviously computer-generated,
but there is also careful filming on the harbour, managing to avoid any new
build that has sprung up since the 1950s, and use of that beautiful old
department store building in the city with its original façade.
As a child
in Sydney in 1967, I became a geeky ‘collector’ of bus numbers and
destinations, so I know that Circular Quay was the main bus destination in
those days (rather than the current-day Wynyard), so the child geek in me was
pleased to see Circular Quay on the front of many of the buses shown in Ladies
in Black.
There were
slightly melodramatic characters like Magda, who managed the up-market couture
dresses in the store and was obviously used to mixing in finer circles than
other shop assistants, but was having to adapt to Australia’s more
working-class but increasingly affluent society.
And there
were the lovely cameo characters like Miss Cartwright, who had a soft spot for
Lisa from the start, and obviously wants her to make the most of the
opportunities open to young women in 1959 that weren’t there for women oi her
generation. She’s almost the most beautiful character in the film, managing to
overcome any regrets at an unfulfilled life herself to wish well to a new
generation starting out.
I was a bit
confused at first over the two brunettes who were friends and colleagues of Fay. I thought they were the same person at the start, which is another reason
to see this film again.
And in a
sense, although Lisa was the central character, it was Fay whose story we
followed as closely and who spoke for her own generation at the time:
intelligent but not educated; fed up with boorish men in their lives; but
lacking opportunities to break out, until the arrival of the new immigrants
into Australia.
Well, these are just a few of the highlights for me. I’m sure on second viewing, I’ll find more favourite bits to comment on, so look forward to when it comes back to some cinemas for a second run…
*****
Bea says: I was very keen to see this film because when I saw the preview (at the
cinema attending another film) I saw that one of the storylines is about the
arrival of the "New Australians" during the 1940s-early 1970s and
their assimilation into Australian life. I am very interested in this
topic, as I am the daughter of New Australians myself, and I have just started
to notice with pleasure more in Australian literature and film on this -
I suspect because the children of the New Australians are now well into adulthood
and are writing and making films and art about their influences.
However, Ladies in Black in actually based on an early novel by
Madeleine St John - who I know from her later, award winning work The Essence
of the Thing; I had no idea she was even Australian, and from my (brief) recent
research into her after seeing Ladies in Black I don't think she is of New
Australian stock. It turns out she was at Sydney University with Bruce
Beresford, the film's director, and I suspect that Ladies in Black is a coming
of age, semi-autobiographical work of hers; she is likely to have identified
pretty strongly with Lisa (Lesley), who is busy having her horizons opened (by
the New Australians) and reinventing herself during her summer department store
job, before starting her first term at Sydney University. I have to say
that Sydney University is a pretty magical place; I spent a year teaching
there on a contract in 2017, and my heart skipped with excitement whenever I
walked through the main campus - it really feels like a historic place where
any possibility can happen...
Other than Lisa's storyline, we follow several other of the department
store staff, who are all at different moments in their lives and so the film
explores such things as finding a partner, marriage and infertility,
spinsterhood, work and life decisions, but with Beresford's light touch, wry
sense of humour and beautiful cinematography.
It certainly really spoke to me, and to Cecil, but I have heard mixed
reviews amongst friends. But I say - go and see it; it may speak volumes
to you about your life, or not, but if not it will certainly be a pleasant
diversion, particularly if you have any memories of Sydney life in earlier
decades. I also gifted the DVD to my parents for Christmas.
*****
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