MUSHROOMS

Australia, 1995, 92 minutes, Colour.
Julia Blake, Lynette Curran, Simon Chilvers.
Directed by Alan Madden.

Mushrooms was written and directed by Alan Madden. Its focus is on two elderly sisters, they have lodgers, and when one dies they have to dispose of the body (shades and echoes of Arsenic and Old Lace). The film relies for its success on the performances of Julia Blake and Lynette Curran as the sisters. They are excellent and obviously enjoy themselves in these eccentric roles.

1.An entertaining black comedy? Echoes of Arsenic and Old Lace, Australian style?

2.The Sydney locations, suburban streets, the ocean and cliffs, the cemetery, the church, the police precinct? The contrast with the interiors of the house, the rooms, the cellar, the backyard? The musical score and its range of moods?

3.The title, the humour, the theme?

4.Images of death: the cemetery, the graves, the urns? Grubb and his death, being cut up? The bathroom sequence and his dismemberment?

5.The opening with Flo, Julia Blake's style, hat and glasses, fur, the funeral? The irony of the discovery of her shoplifting? The contrast with Minnie, her dishevelled dress, staying within the house, the distorted lens for her view of outside, her phobias? Flo and Minnie and their past, friendships, husbands, affairs, the house as a sanctuary for stolen goods (and the scenes of the videos, the microwaves...)? Their attitude towards the police? Minnie advertising for the guest, Flo and her fears?

6.Grubb as a character, the theft, in the streets, the police pursuit, his reading the notice, demanding the room, the confrontation with Flo, his threatening her? Hiding and taking her room? The drinking, the irony of his death and the gas? The dismemberment - and the tattoo of "Mother" on his behind? (And its reappearing at the meal?) Flo and Minnie and their taking his arms to the railway crossing? The setting up of the mystery - and Inspector Instep and his detailed following through (even to realising where the arms were thrown from)? Grubb and his money and the two women getting it?

7.Instep and his age and experience, widower and his love for his wife, talking to Nell on the cliff? His wanting a room, becoming the boarder, attracted to Minnie? The assistant policeman getting his cases? Settling in, antagonism towards Flo, the meal, talk, cups of tea? Their suspicion of his behaviour? His noting the number of the video - and throwing it away? The humour of his cooking the meal and their enjoying the roast - Grubb? His investigation, the local authority and not wanting waves? His associate and his mockery? Solving the mystery, deleting it from the computer? The relationship with Minnie, their nights together? His fear that he might be being poisoned and his eating the drumstick? Giving them the chooks, working in the garden? Finding the money? His being put off the case, asked to organise the social? The humour of everybody enjoying the results of ill-gotten gains? His own personal integrity, the truth and the bureaucracy? His relationship with the two women? Their future? A comic-serious character?

8.Flo and her serious attitudes, ladylike, correcting English? Minnie and her phobias - but still middle aged, sexy? Their friendship, clashes? Their meals? The gas and the death of Grubb? Their drinking, the decision to dispose of him, the dismemberment and its humour? The freezer? Flo discovering the tattoo at her meal? The chooks, mincing the remains? The humorous collage of all the meals of eggs? Their going out to dispose of the arms? Minnie's fear? The going to the church and the wedding? Change of attitudes towards the sergeant? The mushrooms and the complete disappearance of Grubb? Instep and his not revealing the truth? The build-up to the social - the attraction of both women to Instep? The happy ending?

9.The tongue-in-cheek style of the film, the opening funeral with the surfie going past, the marriage and the black groom and the white wife and the people in the church? The macabre touches with the dismemberment, the freezer, the cannibalism? The tongue-in-cheek sex dialogue?

10.The picture of the police, the head of the precinct and his wanting to be in control, everybody knowing him, not wanting waves? Resenting that Grubb was in his jurisdiction? His assistant, the mockery of Instep, his own lack of ability?

11.The humour of words, visuals, music, editing and pace?