Starring: Laura Gordon, Rob Collins, Olivia DeJonge, Josh Hellman, Josh Hayes
Distributor: Mind Blowing Films
Runtime: 96 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2020
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An Australian drama, the ebbs and flows in personal relationships, and the deceiving undertows.
It is not often that we see a film photographed in Geelong and on Corio Bay – with quite an extensive coverage, the city, factories, homes, clubs, beaches and quite a commitment to the AFL club!
The film is principally a portrait of Claire (Laura Gordon), married to Dan (Rob Collins. Claire is a photographer who likes to wander the beaches and capture on camera the remains of dead creatures washed up onto the sand and rocks. She is pregnant, starts to bleed, hurries to the hospital, a miscarriage. This is in the first few minutes.
We are invited to empathise with Claire, her sadness and disappointment, touches of melancholy on the beach, a chance sighting of her husband accompanying a teenage girl into a motel room, wary of his account of what happened, love but growing suspicions.
The film also focuses on the young girl, Angie (Olivia DeJong), an aspiring model, but a girl around town with the men, especially a relationship with local football player, Dan’s best friend. Claire is suspicious, follows Angie, stalks her – but Angie is keen on Claire doing a photo shoot.
As the film progresses, we are more and more involved with each of the characters, especially when Claire discovers that Angie is pregnant, moves into mothering mode, compensating mode, further tangling the relationships.
And the screenplay reminds us that we all make mistakes, sometimes devastating mistakes, which have their consequences and their catastrophes.
While the film narrative is presented in terms of realism, there are quite a number of dream and fantasy sequences, especially on Claire’s part, which offer some complexity as to her character and motivations.
Undertow has a women’s perspective, with the screenplay and direction by Miranda Nation.
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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