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Lantana (film)
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| Lantana
|
Image:LantanaDVD.jpg
Sometimes love isn't enough
|
| Directed by
| Ray Lawrence
|
| Produced by
| Jan Chapmen
|
| Written by
| Andrew Bovell
|
| Starring
| Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey, Kerry Armstrong, Rachael Blake, Vince Colosimo, Russell Dykstra, Daniela Farinacci, Peter Phelps, Leah Purcell, Glenn Robbins
|
| Music by
| Paul Kelly
|
| Cinematography
| Mandy Walker ACS
|
| Running time
| 155 min
|
| Country
| Australia
|
| Language
| English
|
| IMDb profile
|
Lantana is a 2001 Australian film, directed by Ray Lawrence. It is based on the play Speaking In Tongues by Andrew Bovell, which premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company. The film won seven AFI Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (LaPaglia), Best Actress (Armstrong), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Contents
- 1 Plot
- 2 Cast
- 3 Critical Reaction
- 4 External links
|
Plot
Lantana is set in suburban Sydney and focuses on the relationships between the characters in the film. The central event of the film is the disappearance and death of a woman whose body is shown at the start of the film, but whose identity is not revealed until later.
The name
Lantana derives from the plant
Lantana, a weed prevalent in suburban Sydney. It is a metaphor for the tangled, intertwined relationships that are present in the film.
The movie opens up with Leon (Anthony LaPaglia) having sex with Jane (Rachael Blake) in a motel room. Jane, recently separated from her husband, is an acquaintance of Leon's wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong). Sonja is a homemaker and mother of two with a passion for Latin dance and a deep sense of unease about her marriage to Leon. She is being treated by Valerie (Barbara Hershey), a therapist who is still deeply mourning the murder of her eleven-year-old daughter, Eleanor. Valerie is married to John, (Geoffrey Rush) who feels increasingly alienated from his wife. He is also angry about the fact that she wrote a book about their daughter's murder.
Later in the film, Leon has drinks with Peter, Jane's soon-to-be ex-husband, without ever finding out who he is. Peter appeared earlier in the film; he showed up unannounced at Jane's house when she wasn't home and questioned the neighbor, Nick (Vince Colosimo), about her activities. Nick is married to Paula (Daniella Farinacci), a nurse. Paula, who is friendly with Jane, feels somewhat suspicious of her after Nick claims that Jane came on to him. Jane ends up reporting him to the police after she witnesses him doing something that links him to the disappearance of one of the characters.
Cast
Critical Reaction
The film garnered much critical reaction from international film critics who praised it for being very realistic whilst maintaining a metaphorical message.
[citation needed] It premiered in the
UK on
Channel 4 in December 2006.
