A Woman's Tale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barry Dickins
Paul Cox
Santhana K. Naidu
Gosia Dobrowolska
Norman Kaye
Chris Haywood
Max Gillies
Ernie Gray
| A Woman's Tale | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Paul Cox |
| Written by | Paul Cox Barry Dickins |
| Produced by | William T. Marshall (executive) Paul Cox Santhana K. Naidu |
| Starring | Sheila Florance Gosia Dobrowolska Norman Kaye Chris Haywood Max Gillies Ernie Gray |
| Cinematography | Nino Gaetanno Martinetti |
| Edited by | Russell Hurley |
| Music by | Paul Grabowsky |
| Distributed by | Orion Classics |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Box office | A$49,584 (Australia) $405,137 (US) |
A Woman's Tale is a 1991 Australian film directed by Paul Cox and starring Sheila Florance, Gosia Dobrowolska, Norman Kaye, Chris Haywood, Max Gillies and Ernie Gray. It was the final performance of Sheila Florence, who was dying of cancer as the film was being shot. She died, aged 75, nine days after being awarded the 1991 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.[1]
Martha is an elderly woman living alone in her flat and dying of cancer. Her love of life leads to an ambivalence about her age; her unique moral code leads to her playing cupid for her friend and nurse Anna and Anna's married lover Peter; her worrisome son Jonathan wants her to move into a home; her neighbour Billy has dementia.
Martha remembers the death of her baby in a bombing attack during World War Two.
She is hospitalised after a serious fall.
Cast
- Sheila Florance as Martha
- Gosia Dobrowolska as Anna
- Norman Kaye as Billy
- Chris Haywood as Jonathan
- Ernie Gray as Peter
- Alex Menglet as Con 2
- Monica Maughan as Billy's daughter
- Max Gillies as Billy's son-in-law
- Tony Llewellyn-Jones as Celebrant
- Victoria Eagger as Nurse 1
- Melita Jurisic as Judy (voice)
Production
Florance had a long relationship with Paul Cox having appeared in his first feature. She wanted to star in a movie and Cox devised the idea, inspired by the story of a woman whose house burned down.[2] Cox later said, "We always used to joke that I would make her a star. When I heard suddenly that she was dying of cancer I visited her immediately. There was no sentimentality or anything on her part—she was an incredible woman—but she said jokingly, “There is still time to turn me into a star, but let's be quick.” I went home and spent three days and three nights writing the script and then with Barry Dickins and Sheila we did another draft."[3]
In August 1990, Florence took a draft of the script with her to England, where she was doing a tour due to her popularity in Prisoner. She became critically ill and was in hospital; she received last rites, but recovered after some operations and returned to Australia to make the film. It was shot over 24 days.[4]
Cox said " She was given eight weeks to live and so we made A Woman's Tale with this hanging over us. This motivated us, of course, but Sheila had a degree of greatness about her. She was a very powerful woman.[3]
Florence died in Melbourne Hospital on 12 October 1991. She had been too ill to attend the AFI ceremony.[5]
Release
The film screened at the Telluride Film Festival.[2]
