EPSILON

Australia, 1995, 102 minutes, Colour.
Ulli Bive, Syd Brisbane.
Directed by Rolf de Heer.

Epsilon is a strange film by Rolf de Heer - little seen. In making the film, de Heer was aiming at poetry on screen as well as drama. However, with budget constrictions, he was not able to make the film he desired. He was able to tinker with the film and re-edit aspects of it.

De Heer had emerged in the early 90s as a successful director with Dingo and, especially with Bad Boy Bubby. Epsilon was his follow-up film. However, he was able to move on from the lack of impact of Epsilon to make The Quiet Room, Dance Me to My Song as well as The Tracker and Alexandra's Project.

The film is a fantasy about a man from Earth and a woman who comes from the stars. It is about their encounter, echoes of Adam and Eve, an environmental concern about Earth as a Garden of Eden and the threat to the environment.

1. The impact of the film, as film, as drama, as fantasy, as a message film about the planet?

2. The title, the reference to the planet, other forms of life on other planets, the comparison with life on Earth?

3. The technical impact of the film? The use of wide-screen format? Landscapes, cityscapes? The deserts and mountains, forest and waterfalls, Las Vegas and Los Angeles? Beauty and ugliness? The director editing the film, changing it? Rear and front projection, the dioramas? The planets and the sky, time-lapse photography? A visual cinema poem?

4. The musical score, its moods - and 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'?

5. The experimental style in the context of an Australian story? The quality of the dialogue, serious, humorous?

6. The pace and the opening, the landscapes, time and the shift of time, shift of place, She and her waiting?

7. He and the camp, approaching? She as human and more? He as human and less? The dramatic impact of the encounter, emotional? The meaning of the encounter? Puzzle?

8. Morning, breakfast? The explanations? The truck and the wreck?

9. His anger, puzzle, moving, time and the watch? Confusion and getting used to it? Having to do everything himself? Listening to the sermon - but like Earth, the Las Vegas system? The discussions between the two characters, their sharing?

10. Intelligence and the appreciation of Earth? Lack of intelligence and destructiveness - the story of the boiling of the frog?

11. She and her superior intelligence, philosophy, time and place, change and control, rational, relationships? Boundaries? The effect, the chopping of the tree and the reasons given? Starting again? Sexual encounter? Her decision to stay or not? No attachments in Epsilon? Love and compassion, comparisons, joy? Gone?

12. He, the effect, time and place, awareness and memories, quarantine, relationships, the limits, the girlfriend and the week, the tree and the chopping down, weeping?

13. The portrait of two characters in unusual circumstances? The exploration of emotions, intelligence? The resolution of the plot, dramatically effective? What did the audience think and feel as they finished watching the film?