Cinema
Lonely Hearts
Paul Cox · 1982
Synopsis
Peter, a piano tuner approaching fifty who wears a wig, has just lost his mother, whom he was nursing. Through a dating agency, he meets Patricia, a shy bank clerk in her thirties who is leaving a stifling family. Peter, who also shoplifts, courts her; their friendship grows during the rehearsals of an amateur theatre company, but falters when his desire becomes too pressing.
Context
The screenplay was co-written with the humorist John Clarke. According to Australian Screen, the director, who arrived from the Netherlands in 1965, put into it in part the loneliness of his first years in Australia. He shot without screen tests, which he found humiliating, in a muted palette that TCM compares to Vermeer's. Released on 21 October 1982, the film was nominated in five categories at the AFI awards, and founded the international reputation of its author.
Who it is for
A melancholy comedy in Australian English, of a mischievous humour according to Australian Screen.
Prizes and reception
AFI Award for best film in 1982, the only one won from five nominations; Norman Kaye and Wendy Hughes are praised in it.
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