FRAUDS

Australia, 1993, 94 minutes, Colour.
Phil Collins, Josephine Byrnes, Hugo Weaving.
Directed by Stephan Elliot.

Frauds is the first film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. It was nominated for screening in the Cannes film festival – with very mixed responses. It also had a very difficult time in getting a release. It is a bizarre story about a man who gets involved in insurance fraud, the result of a traumatised childhood, especially a clash with his brother. This makes the agent determined to control everyone and everything. He is victimising a young couple, played by Hugo Weaving and Josephine Byrnes. The agent is played by British singer and actor Phil Collins.

The film is said to have been cut – and some people have found the plot disjointed. However, the film was praised for its production design and sets. This is especially the case with the agent’s décor in his house.

However, Elliott went on to make The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in the following year – to great acclaim and it has become not only an Australian favourite but a favourite around the world. He also made the crime thriller in the US and Canada, Eye of the Beholder, with Ewan McGregor? and Ashley Judd.

However, his other Australian film, Welcome to Woop Woop, was not so well received – a really oddball picture of Central Australia, a strange community which makes the Li'l Abner Dogpatch family seem comparatively normal.

1.Interesting and entertaining black comedy? A comedy of ironies?

2.The title and its focus on the character and their behaviour?

3.The Sydney settings? Homes? Roland's home and the elaborate decor? The editing and pace? Musical score?

4.The prologue? Roland as a baby? With his brother? The dice? The friends? Death?

5.Beth and Jonathan and their marriage, brittle, playing games? Michael and Margaret? Soldiers and bets?

6.Beth and the children, Jonathan's work? The robbery leading to death? The court and the verdict?

7.Roland and the dice, targets, visits, the dapper presence? Insurance, the paint, obnoxious? The fraud and his hold? The cutlery, the truth? The discovery? Interrupt the baby?

8.Beth and the police, sick, fear, exasperated? The baby? Games?

9.Jonathan and the soldiers, the truth? The game, the dice? The home and all the tricks? Carnival atmosphere? Matthew? The plan?

10.Beth and the birthday, caught? Roland and his presence? Jonathan and the set-up? The confrontation, the phone? The saw, the fight? Matthew?

11.A story of wits and games? Characters two of a kind? Beth and her freedom?

12.The atmosphere of frauds and tricks, confidence tricks, adults playing children's games? The influence of the past on the present? Children and their malice, adult children and their malice?

13.A film of odd characters? Ironic comedy? Visuals? A story of boys and toys?