EXILE
 
Australia, 1994, 95 minutes, Colour.
Aden Young, Beth Champion, Claudia Karvan, Norman Kaye, David Field, Chris Haywood, Barry Otto, Hugo Weaving, Tony Llewellyn- Jones, Nicholas Hope, Gosia Dobrowolska.
Directed by Paul Cox.
 
Exile is based on a novel by E.L. Grant Watson, Priest Island.  Watson was the author of Paul Cox’s previous film to this, The Nun and the Bandit.
 
The setting for Exile is unclear though it was filmed in Tasmania.  There are references to monasteries three hundred years old – which suggests that the place and the time are period but timeless. 
 
The film spends a lot of time photographing the beautiful coast and crags of the island.  This gives opportunity for audiences to audiences to reflect on the locations, the atmosphere as well as the fate of the characters.
 
Aden Young portrays a young man who is condemned for sheep-stealing to exile on the island, under pain of death if he returns.  However, he had been persuaded to borrow the sheep by his fiancée (Claudia Karvan) but was caught by her ambitious father who wanted her to marry another man.  There are some sympathetic people who go to the island to visit the exile.  However, it is a serving maid (Beth Champion) whose curiosity is aroused about him and who ventures out, stays with him, bears his child and eventually marries him.  Chris Haywood plays the reluctant priest who eventually goes out to the island to do the ceremonies.
 
The film is very much a Paul Cox film, a focus on characters, a recreating of atmosphere and location, religious issues.  After this film he paused making films for some years and then returned to more comic satire with Lust and Revenge. 
 
1.            A Paul Cox film, his style, personal, contemplation? 

2.            A re-creation of a period, the look of the 19th century?  Cross time and place? 

3.            The contemplative style, the landscapes, the seascapes, the cliffs and the coast?  Isolation?  Silence?  Less dialogue in the film?  Audiences identifying with the central character, reflecting with him, sharing his memories, his imagination?  Time and space to reflect?  The score?

4.            The title, the fact of exile, exile as a punishment, life and death?  The inhumanity of the authorities?  Isolation – but an individual finding his soul?  Soul mate? 

5.            The opening, the boat, Peter being taken ashore, the marshal and the sentence, Tim and his support, the other members present, Innes?  The sentence, the taking off of the bonds?  To stay there till death?  Yet the island seen from the mainland, boats being able to visit, Tim and his visits, Mary and her arrival?

6.            Peter, the character, the proposal to Jean, her comments about borrowing the sheep, her father wanting her to marry Mc Kenzie?  Her persuading Peter to take the sheep?  His arrest?  Jean, in herself, her love for Peter, appearing in his dreams and imagination?  The crime?  Accepting fate, marrying Mc Kenzie, her pregnancy?  Married life in the village, the difficulties of the birth, the death of the child, her grief, the burial, dressing in black?  Talking with Tim, wanting to visit the island?  Her appearing in red, drowned?  Her talking to Peter, declaring she was real?  Did she visit or not? 

7.            Peter adapting to life on the island, his grief about his relationship with Jean, the visualising of the memories?  Coping, sitting and contemplating, his work in building?  Rescuing things from the sea?  Swimming?  Tilling the land, the potatoes?  Managing?

8.            His imagination and memories?  The appearance of the priest, wandering for three hundred years, the voice of Peter’s conscience, advising him?  Their conversations?  The mirror and the reflection? 

9.            The town, the people, hard attitude?  The inn?  Tim and his Christian behaviour?  Mc Kenzie and Jean’s father?  The role of the priest? 

10.         Mary and her life, servant, with Jean, fascinated by the stories about Peter, listening to them, deciding that she would go to the island, getting the boat, taking the stores and the goat, rowing, arrival, her initial fear, uncertainty?  Peter and his kindness?  The boat going out to sea?  His asking her about the relationship, the sexual relationship, her pregnancy, the birth? 

11.         Tim and his visits, giving the news?  Peter’s request for the priest to come? 

12.         Mary, the name of the baby, Wolf?  Tim persuading the priest to come, the arguments?  Seasick?  The rituals, the detailed presentation of the baptism?  The decision to marry, Mary happy, the priest and his weighing up the pros and cons, carrying out the ceremony?

13.         The affirmation of vows?  The future for Peter and Mary and their child?

14.         Peter and the effects of exile, finding his soul, soul mate, his son, himself?