#ann turner

[underrtheskinn]

Irresistible (2006)

[celluloidrainbow]

FLESH ON GLASS (1981) dir. Ann Turner Kate’s love for her brother’s wife and the ensuing feelings of guilt lead her to an obsession with the supernatural as the two women find themselves torn between the convent, heterosexual domesticity and a romantic ideal that both struggle to comprehend. (link in title)

[cinematicjourney]

Celia (1989) | dir. Ann Turner

[certainwoman]

Celia (1989), dir. Ann Turner

[waste-it-on-something-useful]

Celia (Ann Turner, 1989)

[kulitskaya]

CELIA (1989) dir. Ann Turner

[dearly]

Irresistible (2006)

[sloshed-cinema]

Celia (1989)

After having experienced so many interpretations of the Cold War from either side of the primary aggressors, both propaganda and dissent-piece, it’s interesting to hear input from ostensibly a third party.  Australia suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese Empire during World War II, and had its own response in the post-war years.  But this isn’t the tradition of McCarthyism or the manner of the Bolsheviks.  The Communists of this film are pure ideologues, Alice wanting to separate the reason they got on board from the present horrors of Stalinism.  This is about Othering, the Tanners vilified as evil to Celia even though neither parent can quite explain why.  Ray flirts with Alice, first wanting to cheat with her and then fix her, almost raping her at intervals.  His wife Pat becomes deeply empathetic to her, frustrated with her husband’s jingoism.  This is a foil to Ray’s mother, who entertained Communist empathies during her life.  Her presence is treble.  Celia hangs onto her both in the tactile form of the Noh mask as well as the horrible glimpses of her outside the window.

Pets and the Australian rabbit scare become part and parcel of the film’s anxiety.  How do people treat pets?  For the parents, these animals are currency, a way to barter favor at a price with their children.  Celia cannot get a rabbit, which she cherishes, because it’s ‘vermin’, while her political friend gets one which is an early casualty of the culling.  In a cruel twist of fate, when both girls go to recover their pets, Celia’s is dead in a culvert whereas Br’er Rabbit is still around.  This rabbit whom Celia so adores becomes a symbol of this transgression, an undesirable element counter to the sacred Australian economy, damn the emotional toll. This is countered by the puppy, callously rejected by the girls as a symbol of the fascist elements of their parentage.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘rabbit’.

Marxist inflections.

Alice kicks absolute ass.

Close-up of that one Neoliberal girl who looks on sadly but does nothing to help.

Kids serve adults beer.

BIG DRINK

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

A blood oath is made.

Hobyahs appear onscreen.