DAYDREAM BELIEVER
Australia, 1992, 82 minutes, Colour.
Miranda Otto, Martin Kemp, Gia Carides, Kerry Walker.
Directed by Kathy Mueller.
Daydream Believer is an offbeat Australian romantic comedy. It is either very fey - or somewhat silly. However, the strength of the film is in Miranda Otto's performance - for which she was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Best Actress award. She portrays a young woman who has spent a lot of time locked in a stable as a girl and who identifies more with horses than with humans. This has its unusual consequences in her adult life. Prone to accidents, she literally crashes into a millionaire theatrical entrepreneur who breeds horses. He is played by singer Martin Kemp of the group Spandau Ballet and who was one of The Craze.
The direction is by Kathy Mueller, who has directed a number of telemovies and series including The Magistrate.
1. Pleasing comedy? Fey? Silly? Portrait of Nell?
2. The title - and the song and its lyrics? The young girl, her growing up, becoming an actress - and discovering real life?
3. The country locations, the horses? The contrast with the city, the homes, clubs? The studios? The studs and the farm? The musical score and songs?
4. The prologue with Nell as a little girl, her feelings, not relating well to others, friends, classmates? Family? In the stable, the horses? Her identifying with the horses - imagining herself a horse? Behaving like a horse? The acting and visual techniques to make this credible?
5. Nell grown up, her still identifying with horses? Getting a better hold on her life? Her perspective on herself, people? Her career and hopes? Wendy and her friendship? Sharing the flat, accident-prone? The audition for the pea commercial - and her performance? Absentminded, crashing into Digby? The accidents, the cars, the driving? Trying to make up to him? Her awkward reappearances at his home, on the stud, in the stables? At the pond and falling in the mud? Her giving him advice about the horses and the breeding? Her appearance at the auction? The question of the sperm and its disappearance? Going to work in the club, the boss and his attitude, the customers? Her friend? The male strippers? The return to the stud, the comedy with the sperm? The happy ending and the relationship?
6. Digby and his background, the theatre, finance, recordings? Horse breeding? Social life, girlfriends? The accident with Nell, the encounter, her reappearances and the chaos, his reactions? The horses, the auction? The sperm? Finding Nell - what they had in common? A future?
7. Wendy and her friendship, style, acting, sharing Nell's life, work in the strippers club?
8. Digby's social milieu, its style? Friends and society? The theatre, producers, moneymaking? Backing musicals? The recording industry?
9. The world of television, auditions? Nightclubs and bars, the personnel, their lifestyle, friendship with Nell? Her taking over the performance, her compering, verve and vitality?
10. Nell and her sailing through life - the imagery of the horses? Settling down to real life or not?
