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The acclaimed debut of Judy Davis is the best reason to see
My Brilliant Career, and the award-winning film is highly recommended as the feature debut of director Gillian Armstrong. This was an early entry in the magnificent "New Australian Cinema" movement that yielded such classics as
Picnic at Hanging Rock,
Gallipoli, and
Breaker Morant, and 27-year-old Armstrong (who would later direct the popular 1994 version of
Little Women) brought just the right feminist touch to this stately adaptation of the 1901 semi-autobiographical novel by Miles Franklin. Davis (who was 23 at the time) plays 16-year-old Sybylla Melvyn, on the verge of womanhood in turn-of-the-century Australia and determined to have a "brilliant career" as an independent writer and lover of life, but her attraction to a wealthy bachelor (Sam Neill, charming as always), and the pressures of her family to lead a conventional life of devoted domesticity, turn this into a romantic and highly observant drama of personal dilemma and free-spirited conviction. It's no surprise that Davis and Armstrong went on to brilliant careers themselves (Davis starred in David Lean's
A Passage to India just a few years later).
--Jeff Shannon
DVD features
Blue Underground's two-disc special edition DVD offers a glorious high-definition transfer, restoring the film's idyllic locations and lavishly appointed interiors to their original warmth and beauty. Director Gillian Armstrong provides a lively, intelligent, and informatively anecdotal commentary, including the revelation that Judy Davis disliked her role and plain on-screen appearance, yet still gave a star-making performance that catapulted them both to success. Disc 2 interviews with Armstrong and producer Margaret Fink offer a retrospective appreciation of their charmed production (as Fink observes, the film looks fantastic for its modest budget), and footage from
My Brilliant Career's triumphant Cannes premiere reveals how surprised Armstrong, Fink, and Davis were to be in the limelight of the film world. "The Miles Franklin Story" is a 4-minute featurette about the teenage novelist whose popular book was the basis of the film, and a DVD-ROM study guide is included to promote a deeper appreciation of this important milestone of Australian cinema.
--Jeff Shannon
