JUST OUT OF REACH
Australia, 1980, 62 minutes, Colour.
Lorna Lesley, Sam Neill, Martin Vaughan, Judi Farr, Ian Gilmour.
Directed by Linda Blagg.
Just Out Of Reach is a short feature written and directed by Linda Blagg, the maker of a number of short films. It is a slice of life, contemporary realism about a young girl at school, her affair with a university lecturer and her disastrous marriage. She is a depressive personality and the film opens with her suicide attempt. The film observes contemporary urban society in Australia, its pressures, lack of communication and the effect on such a personality. The film is wise in its perceptions - although it has a rhetorical voice-over commentary by the main character which veers towards the banal and the over-solemn, especially with existential overtones. However, the action and the characterisations carry the film. Lorna Lesley is very effective in the central role. She has shown versatility in such films as Newsfront, Little Boy Lost, Chain Reaction, Maybe This Time. Sam Neill, the New Zealander in My Brilliant Career, is the callow self-centred lecturer-poet. There is a very good supporting cast. Photography is by Russell Boyd who filmed Picnic at Hanging Rock, Chain Reaction and other outstanding films. Material worth discussing.
1. The quality of this short feature, its overall impact? For what audience was it made? The feminine point of view, the feminine response? The Australian response to this slice of contemporary life?
2. Small budget, short running time, the early work of the writer-director her feminine point of view? The effective use of the resources?
3. The structure of the film and audience involvement: Cath and her being taken to hospital: the flashback to her schooldays, university studies, early married life? The gaps between the periods? The short time comparatively in Cathy's life? Each section throwing light on the other? The return to the hospital?
4. An effective slice of life - observation of contemporary lifestyles, critique? How accurate, the sensitivity of the observation? The effect of this kind of mirror for an audience? Understanding, compassion?
5. Lorna Lesley's performance as Cathy - its versatility, her ageing over a period of years and changing? The film's focus on Cathy as a personality, her place within her family? Suburban life? Her absent father, her strict mother? The tense relationships with her parents - love, criticism, intolerance? Her younger sister? School and her abilities, poetic attitudes, not following the group line? Her relationship with boys, the sexual relationship with her boyfriend and what she expected, her disappointment? Her absorbing of literature, existential philosophy? The importance of the voice-over and her commentary on herself, her life? Over-solemn and banal - but probably corresponding to the thoughts of a girl like this? Her relationships with people? Her hopes - and the significance of the title? Her disappointments in her school life? Her change and her going to the university? Her meeting Mike again? Her school crush on him? Their living together? The possibility of marrying? Discussions with Mike, with her parents and their hostile attitudes, with her sister? Her limited world, age and experience? The transition to early married life? The low-key wedding, Mike and his preoccupation with his poetry, Cathy's exasperation and her one night and confessing it to her husband, his reaction? The separation and the reaction of her parents, her sister? Mike and his being with another woman?
6. The depressed personality and its background? Observed, explained or not? The ordinary routine of Cathy's life and its similarity to so many other people? Her attempts to slash her wrists and her fear, her father's discovery of this, the genuine suicide attempt? Did she want to die or not?
7. The portrait of Mike - the pleasant young teacher. his casual approach, the girls with a crush on him? Cathy’s response in class? His giving the book to her? Her meeting him again. the infatuation. sharing outings - especially of the university student-lecturer style. art galleries etc.? The circle in which they moved? The lack of preparation for their marriage? What did they share? Mike and his preoccupation with his poetry, his pretentiousness, his method for writing poem? His reaction to Cathy’s spending the night with another man? The decision to separate? Their meetings and his gentle manner yet his being with another girl? Callow and self-centred? How much responsibility was his for the failure of the marriage. Cathy's suicide attempt?
8. Cathy's boyfriend when at school. the fumbling adolescent relationships, the search for sexual fulfilment and its failure? The highlighting of immaturity and the lack of permanent relationships? The portrait of teenagers at school?
9. The film's vivid portrait of Cathy's parents - father and his absence, migrant background, fighting with his wife, complaining about his daughter, violent with her when she returned home late. seeing her suicide attempt, growling, trying to love her but not being able to communicate sufficiently? Her mother and her severity? Her sister and the success of her life? Their contribution to Cathy's breakdown., the impossibility of their understanding her?
10. The background of Australian suburbs, the work., traditions, moral values and change, the generation gap, university lifestyle, parties?
11. How insightful the presentation of character, themes of contemporary living? The possibility of a younger audience identifying with the characters and plot, gaining insight?
