TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

Australia, 1996, 95 minutes, Colour.
Tcheky Karyo, Rachel Griffiths, Steve Jacobs, David Field.
Directed by John Hillcoat.

A melodrama set in Papua New Guinea, with an expatriate (Tcheky Karyo) obsessed with his dead wife and unable to love his new wife, a novelist who is telling this story, (Rachel Griffith) who has been transported from Melbourne to an isolated and alien place and culture. Perhaps we are not in the vein of such melodrama today as the film seems too exaggerated and not too believable, melodrama going over the top. The film borrows themes from Vertigo but can be seen as an attempt to do something different in Australian films.

1.An emotional melodrama? The florid and heated style? A film noir of '90s in florid colour? The tradition of the film noir? The tributes to films in the tradition?

2.An Australian production? Production values? The location photography in Melbourne? The bulk of the film set in Papua New Guinea? The widescreen vistas of New Guinea, the river, the town, the homes, the bars? The bush? The importance of the tropics, the weather? The Papua New Guinean people within this context? The rituals? The atmospheric texture of the film as a context for the melodramatic themes?

3.Kate as an Australian? Her writing novels? Her falling in love with Jack? The decision to marry him, to go to Papua New Guinea? The audience entering Papua New Guinea with her (though they had prior knowledge of the drama about Rose's death and Jack's response)? Her view of PNG coloured by her love for Jack? The experience of the expatriates, the moral dilemmas, the social status and social issues? Riots? Violence? Tribal responses? The film as a film of the '90s and the introduction of technology themes, especially video?

4.The importance of the musical score and its contribution to this kind of florid melodrama?

5.The opening and its mystery? Rose's death? Jack's mourning of her and his obsession? The funeral? The videos? Jack and his continually looking at the videos - and the later action of the film to give a perception to his obsession? Jack and his relationship to the Papua New Guineans, especially (Luther)? The passing of two years, Jack's going to Melbourne, the encounter with Kate? Jack and his continuing to watch the videos, Kate and her seeing his madness? Sal and the tape and the emergence of the truth?

6.The portrait of Jack, his European background, double expatriate in the tropics? Seeing his grief? His relationship with Rose, the videos, the funeral? Going to Melbourne, the credibility of his attraction to Kate, proposing and marrying? His bringing her to Papua New Guinea? Setting her up? The ordinariness of their life? The gradual change and his seeming to go troppo? The videos? The sexual relationship with Kate? His wanting her to wear Rose's red dress? His drinking? The presence of Luther and the link with the past? Suspicions? His gradual eruptions of violence? At the bar, the Australian expatriates and their drinking? Sal and his wounding him? His growing brutality towards Kate, taking her passport? Attacking Sal, dogs and the killing? The build-up to the riots? Kate and her decision to leave? His seeming to ignore this? His staying, going to the bar, seeing the singer, seeing the resemblance to Rose, lost in his obsession?

7.Rose and her presence in the tapes, her relationship with Jack? With Sal? Her reappearance later, the truth of the accident? Her innocence?

8.Kate, the return to Australia, writing the novel? The snow and the contrast with the tropics? Her experience, videos, the dress, the sexual experiences, Luther? Her friendships? The police, the tribesmen? The truth and her leaving? Her creative writing?

9.The portrait of the expatriates, their life in the tropics, their work, drinking? Sal and his work, commission? The relationship with Rose, with Jack? The brutality of Jack's killing him?

10.Luther and the Papuans? Their being taught by the expatriates, their helping them? The mystery of Luther, appearance and disappearance, suspicions, innocence?

11.The role of the police, the background of the accidental death, Jack's violence?

12.The reminiscences of such novels and films as Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca? The popularity of this kind of melodrama, heightened emotions, artificially contrived situations - to reveal the intensity and obsessions of character? How well does this work in the '90s? And in the exotic settings?