MY BRILLIANT CAREER (1979)

Country: Australia

Genre(s): Drama / Romance

Director: Gillian Armstrong

Cast: Judy Davis / Sam Neill / Wendy Hughes

Plot

Dreaming of a future as a musician or writer, rebellious Sybylla rejects the life of marriage and respectability her family expects of her.  However, when a childhood friend becomes her suitor, she is torn between the life others want for her and her own dreams of independence.

What I Liked

With well-developed, likeable characters played to perfection by a talented cast, “My Brilliant Career” is an enjoyable period piece executed with quality at every level.  Never does one have the feeling of watching something contrived.  Director Gillian Armstrong uses a steady hand to accentuate both the elegance and the barrenness of the Australian outback, allowing for some terrific cinematography and beautiful settings and costumes, without ever letting style overcome the realism and naturalness of the setting and characters.  In short, the director, cast, and crew never let their own egos and pretentions once get in the way of telling the story of a time, place, and people.  Judy Davis is utterly believable as head-strong nonconformist Sybylla, a young dreamer too smart and ambitious for her own good.  Sam Neil brings a likable casualness (or is it childish swagger) to Harry Beecham, the cavalier charmer who loves her.  All of the supporting characters are well-written and add to the authentic feel of the setting, each one dealing with the social circumstances the best way he or she knows how.  Their relationships are never simple, but imbued with very truthful combinations of love, respect, joy, frustration, and resentment that are brought to life by the capable cast.

What I Disliked

A young woman, brainy and willful, causes scandal by breaking social convention and looking to marry for love, frustrating her elders and confounding her multiple suitors.  Where have I heard this story before?  Oh yes.  Every period romance.  Ever.

I remember reading a seventeenth century French novel in college called The Princess of Cleves that had a similar plot and much of Jane Austen’s work is extremely close to the plot described above.  "My Brilliant Career" moves the same tale to Australia and gives it a feminist twist that was considered timely in the 1970s; otherwise, the plot is not at all distinct from its predecessors.  Sometimes I think it would be nice to see a novel where the young lady, raised from birth to believe in the necessity of her being married off young to a man of good social standing, does so and lives happily every after.  Both because this might have been the case for a lot of people of the time and because it would be a break from being fed the same plot (just dressed in different styles of ballroom gowns) over and over again.  Of course, I realize that would be extremely politically incorrect and would also mean there would be no conflict, making my proposition unfeasible.  But you get my point.  In terms of plot and conflict, “My Brilliant Career” should be titled “My Rehashed Cliché.”  It’s a good thing that this particular version of the time-worn tale was executed with such excellence, for this film feels neither worn nor cliché at first viewing.

For all of its strengths and partly because of them, "My Brilliant Career" never really feels like a special movie, just a very good one.  Nothing about it feels unique, groundbreaking, or even particularly moving.  The filmmakers went for realism over flash or melodrama and are to be commended for it.  The problem is that it just never really has the feel that it belongs on a list of the elite.

Most Memorable Scene

A pillow-fight romp through a splendorous yard and garden toward the middle of the film bursts with a wonderful sense of fun and escapism.  Not the kind of escapism one finds in fantasy, science fiction, cheap romance, or comic books.  But escapism for the movie’s characters themselves.  They cast off the social weights their elders have put upon their shoulders and break free into the open, laughing, running, and enjoying their lives.  It’s a terrific way to bring Sybylla and Harry close to one another in a quick way that keeps the pace of the film moving without ever feeling their relationship has advanced too unnaturally.  Not to mention it is a joyful moment that is certainly a pleasure to watch.

My Rating: 3 out of 5