CENTRESPREAD

Australia, 1981, 82 minutes, Colour.
Paul Trehair, Kylie Foster, Ivor Louis, Mark Watson, Jack Neate, Carmen McCall?.
Directed by Tony Paterson.

Centrespread was unexpectedly entered in the annual competition for the Australian Film Institute Awards 1981. It was principally made as a soft-core sex film for the 'adult cinemas'. As such, it is more carefully made than the general churned out project although in essence it resembles these. It thus has an exploitive intent which detracts from any serious intentions it might have.

Centrespread does have serious intentions: it is set in a futuristic Australian society with an emphasis on computerised organisation. Computer readouts punctuate the film to give it this 1984-type flavour. The focus of the future is on the magazine, a girlie magazine which entertains people who have forgotten what independence, creativity, literature and art are like. The film also has all the trappings of the 1984 futuristic totalitarian society - many of these quite effectively done and worth noting. In his quest for a fresh girl for the new century, the photographer hero is shown at his regular work. This gives the occasion for many long sequences of the soft-core type. They are filmed in the plush and colourful styles of Vogue Magazine, Penthouse and other glossy expensive magazines.

The film is one of those which has its cake and eats it at the same time. The exploitive material is definitely there - and with great variety. However, it is set in this serious framework in which we are intended to be asking ourselves about the value of pornography and about a dehumanised future existence. There is a self-sacrificing romantic ending to reinforce this. The interiors and many of the incidental locations are reminiscent of Mad Max and its futuristic society. The photography sessions are reminiscent in content and style of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up. It is therefore disconcerting in the final sequences to see contemporary Adelaide basking in tranquil sunlight as the location for this future society.

If Centrespread is pruned for television screening, it may appear as a highly moralising film because all its exploitive exaggerations will be taken out - quite an irony. As having a footnote in the development of the Australian film industry, the film is certainly attractively made, has a mixture of good performances and very poor, some effective music. Its science fiction and futuristic touches are certainly worth some consideration.