Mrs. Soffel (1984)

Mrs. Soffel (1984)

Gillian Armstrong, Director

Trained at the Australian Film and Television School in Sydney, Armstrong defies categorization as a maker of “women’s films” or even “Australian films,” since her work prolifically spans her homeland and this country, evoking the best of classic Hollywood cinema, but always with a twist on generic conventions. Her techniques usually do not call attention to themselves since her editing is fluid and her creation of period settings and costumes is rich, though traditional. Like her compatriot Jane Campion (The Piano), her “commitment to solid character development and acting” (Felperin and Edelman 35) is a directorial goal.

            From her first feature, My Brilliant Career (1979), her thematic concerns have been “sexual politics and family tensions” (35). This story, set in the wild Australian outback at the turn of the century, exploits the trappings of the past to create a romantic tapestry, while at the same time celebrating a modern message of feminine independence in spite of a “smothered sensuality.” Though even contemporary female viewers have expressed a disappointment at the ending, this film suggests that the heroine cannot be a struggling writer and a happy wife.

Starstruck (1982) continues the feminist themes through a rather corny “save the family pub” plot where the star puts on a big show and wins a recording contract. This film suffers from a somewhat repetitive punk rock score though the eccentric characters are amusing.

In High Tide (1987), the director returns to a more positive feminist message while treating “the rejected motherhood role, with all its attendant joys and anxieties” (36). Though the plot is pure tear-jerker, the delightful characters are so engaging that they carry the story beyond its initial limitations. A grandmother, mother and granddaughter play across one another’s jealousies and emotional pain. Judy Davis creates a vital depth of character in a mother who stumbles upon her abandoned child in a trailer park by the sea. The grandmother has a sexual fling, though she has a regular lover, and clings to the attentions of her granddaughter she has raised for years. This film is Armstrong’s most cinematically restless, employing “nervous zip pans, fast tracking and boomshots” (36), which are effectively varied by intense close-ups that provide slow-motion studies of the characters’ emotions.

Little Women (1994), Armstrong’s first successful American film, admirably returns to the period costume drama. Though the feminist positions are completely anachronistic, sterling performances are offered by Wynona Ryder and Susan Sarandon; the film compares favorably to the 1933 George Cukor production with Katherine Hepburn (Felperin and Edelman).

Russell Boyd, Cinematographer (1944- )

            Born in Australia, Boyd worked in films there for the first decade of his career. Associated with Peter Weir on four early films, Boyd won the 1976 British Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Picnic at Hanging Rock (1985) and also shot Weir’s The Last Wave (1977), Gallipoli (1981), and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). In the first film, Boyd helped to create the authentic Australian location of an Aboriginal sacred spot, rendering the imposing rock formation alternately naturalistic and mystical. In Gallipoli, he captured the intense sunlight of the open outback in the first half of the film, while contrasting the entrapment of the narrow trenches in the second half. In The Year of Living Dangerously, Boyd contributed to the film’s mix of grim realism about third-world poverty and street violence with the magical images of shadow plays and lush vegetation. Beginning with Tender Mercies (1983), directed by Aussie Bruce Beresford. Boyd has increasingly worked on American films, more recently on such comedies as Dr. Dolittle (1998), Liar, Liar (1997), Tin Cup (1996), and White Men Can’t Jump (1992), which demand little from his considerable compositional talents. However, in his work with Australian director Gillian Armstrong, he has turned to more artistic productions: the recent Oscar and Lucinda (1997), which gave ample opportunities for rendering a fabulous landscape, the earlier dramatic character study High Tide (1987), and the quirky Starstruck.

Tonight’s Film

After Armstrong’s success with My Brilliant Career and Starstruck, both set and produced in Australia, MGM financed Mrs. Soffel, a story based on a true early-twentieth-century American tale of a warden's wife falling in love with a convict as she tries to convert him to her own Christian faith. The film should have garnered more appreciation than it did in its first run, but perhaps it is not Hollywood enough for our viewers since it uses an artsy, bleak, colorless cinematography. The mix of genres also probably muddled American reception of the film. In part, Mrs. Soffel's story is about a woman's liberation from the constraints not only of marriage, but also of religion and of Victorian medicine, which labeled her emotional frustration as "hysteria." Diane Keaton renders the wife's pathos, desperation, and rising joy with an understated energy. Mel Gibson proves an engaging bank robber whose murder trial seems hopeless, even while the newspapers portray him and his brother as charming social outlaws beloved by their fawning female public. The haunting score by Mark Isham suggests the fragility of the relationship, and the imagery of Russell Boyd is a strong element of a film that refuses to pander to audience expectations for violence to depict the melodrama of crime.

As a viewing experience, Mrs. Soffel seems a more composed film than most American productions. Boyd’s cinematography is shot in the tradition of many Aussie works with a sensitive eye toward the environment. This is evident in of the opening scene, which is somber and foreboding in its stark depiction of 1901 industrial Pittsburg, as well as the dominating architecture of the prison. Throughout, Boyd’s monochromatic images serve to set scenes firmly in the past, but also convey the emotional grayness of that Victorian culture. Even the final images of the natural landscape are limited because they are shot in winter snow with low light, conveying a sense of bleakness for the characters. For fans of film noir, also note how Boyd uses the prison bars and shadows to frame Mel Gibson’s face in his conversations with Keaton. There is also a deliberate rendering of the growing relationship, as the camera moves from full-figure profiles of her character to close-ups. Overall, it seems Boyd’s photography is thematically conceived and carefully crafted.

Works Cited

Felperin, Leslie, and Rob Edelman. “Gillian Armstrong.” International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2, Directors. 3rd ed. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom. Detroit: St. James Press, 1997. 34-37.

Upcoming Features: Cinema Down Under - Spring 2003

5/9       The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
5/16     Proof (1991) [not for children] Online handout: http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/HIR/Film/proof.htm
5/23     Muriel's Wedding (1994)
5/30     Once Were Warriors (1994) [not for children]

Handout prepared by Greg Lyons
for the Spring 2003 Cinema Down Under Film Series

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URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/HIR/Film/mrs_soffel.htm
Last updated: 16 May 2003
Cora Agatucci ~ E-Mail: cagatucci@cocc.edu
Copyright © 2002-2003, Greg Lyons and Cora Agatucci
Humanities Department, Central Oregon Community College