THE GODDESS OF 1967

Australia, 2000, 119 minutes, Colour.
Rose Byrne, Rikiya Kurokawa, Nicholas Hope, Elise Mc Credie, Tina Bursill.
Directed by Clara Law.

The Goddess of 1967 has become a cult film. Screened at the Venice film festival in 2000, it won the best acting award for Rose Byrne.

The film was written by Eddie Fong, the husband of the director, Clara Law. They collaborated on a number of films in Hong Kong before they moved to Australia in the mid-90s. Some of her Chinese films include Farewell China, Autumn Moon, Temptations of a Monk. In Australia she made Floating Life about migrants settling in Sydney (1996). She also did the documentary, Letters to Ali, 2004, a journey from Melbourne to the internment settlements in Port Hedland.

The Goddess of 1967 is a French-made family car, the Citroen. A wealthy Japanese man wants to own one and comes to Australia. He encounters a bizarre situation, parents lying dead in a house, a blind girl who leads him on a journey through the desert. The journey is a journey of discovery for her, a journey back into her past where she was treated shamefully and abused. For him, there is the challenge of driving with his eyes shut, going into his inner self, having a different journey in a different culture.

With the title and the focus on ‘Goddess’, there are also some religious implications – in some ways the film wants to look into the soul of Australia. There are also themes of belief in God, forgiveness, pain. With its focus on women, the film could be considered also an attempt by the director to look into the soul of Australian women.

1. The title? Its religious tone? The focus on the car and its reputation? A car of the 60s? The contrast between the world of Japanese technology and the world of the Australian desert? The appeal of the film, to Australians, Japanese, internationally?

2. The definition of the car, the Citroen, the Goddess? The claims of the commercials?

3. A Chinese perspective, a Hong Kong perspective? Migrants and absorbing Australian culture of the 1990s? The Japanese perspective?

4. The film as a road movie, the car, the open road through the desert, the Australian landscapes, Australian characters, Australian history? A journey into interiors?

5. The visual style of the film, experimental styles? The Japanese? Australia and the present, the rear projection? Black and white? The past and colour? The experience of life in colour? The importance of the sounds, the musical score, the songs? The voice? The comparisons between Australia and Japan?

6. The 1967 story, the repercussions for later? What the film was saying about the past, abuses, interpretation of the past?

7. The prologue, J.M. and the computer, the word ‘god’, wanting to buy the Citroen? His having to go to Australia? His fear of snakes? His girlfriend? The friend killed? The internet and the car? Going to Australia? The Japanese male, in his context? Out of context in Australia? The time-stop-motion style used for him?

8. The man and his wife, the money, the dance, the girl and the show, the little girl?

9. Culture shock, meeting B.G., seeing the dead people in the house? His dismay? The issue of the car? The ownership? B.G. leading him on, driving, the five days through the desert, the different experiences?

10. B.G., her age, blindness? The impression she made, outgoing, cavalier? The little girl and leaving? The car and the dark? The experience of driving? The issue of trust? The shooting of drivers?

11. The interaction between the two, the stay, the bed and later, sexual issues? The issue of trust? The importance of the lizard story, the dance?

12. The desert, the distances, the driving, the effect?

13. The flashbacks, the history of B.G., her story, her mother, the issue of God and forgiveness, pain, the chastity belt? Lizard and forgiveness? Isolated characters and their having to deal with one another?

14. The return to thirty years earlier, ten years, three years? The abuse? The rape?

15. What had been achieved with B.G. and her journey? Coming to terms with the past? J.M., the change of culture, the car, the learning experience, the encounter with B.G? Their futures?