The Thousands

Patrick White has always seemed fusty and unapproachable to me, purely because Australians cling to his novels as the lone beacon of Australian cultural sophistication in those barren midcentury years when intellectuals habitually fled abroad. But there’s an enjoyably nostalgic parochialism to Fred Schepisi’s return from directorial hiatus. And while its suave Paul Grabowsky and Branford Marsalis jazz soundtrack sits uneasily with the early ’70s setting, it does signal the film’s self-consciously artsy intentions.

It’s very actorly, treating us to nuanced, skilful performances from Charlotte Rampling as Elizabeth, a dying old-money matriarch who hasn’t lost her manipulative touch, and Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis as Basil and Dorothy, her two pretentious expatriate children who crave her death for personal as well as financial reasons. Their tiniest glances and gestures drip with hostility and vulnerability.

I wasn’t expecting this film to contain so much broad yet shrewd social comedy. Basil and his posh boho mates are a scream, while Alexandra Schepisi (Fred’s daughter) is fresh and sympathetic as Elizabeth’s young day nurse. Helen Morse’s cabaret singer-turned housekeeper is more disturbing. The Eye of the Storm is satisfyingly robust, grown-up cinema. Take your mum… then ask her for money.