Australia,
1985, 94 min
Shown in 1986
CREDITS
- dir
-
Glenda Hambly
- prod
-
David Rapsey
- scr
-
Glenda Hambly
- cam
-
Jan Kenny
- cast
-
Noni Hazlehurst, Annie Byron, Alan Fletcher, Narell Simpson, Travis Ward, Rosie Logie, Danny Adcock
- source
-
Australian Film Commission, L.A.
OTHER
Fran is a tough, lucid and emotionally-charged film, carried by the virtuoso performance of Noni Hazlehurst. Hazlehurst, awarded the 1982 Australian Film Institute’s Best Actress Award for Monkey Grip, won again in 1985 for Fran, with awards also going to Annie Byron (Best Supporting Actress) and Glenda Hambly (Best Screenplay). As Fran, Hazlehurst plays an attractive and friendly 30-year-old, struggling to come to grips with marriage and motherhood in a depressing Australian suburb. Abandoned by her husband upon discovery of her infidelities, she is left with three small children. An affair temporarily eases her loneliness, but leaves the Welfare Department with custody of her children. Her life still spirals downward. Finally, her anger is unleashed upon her neighbor and best friend, Marge (Annie Byron). And she is left at film’s end alone and devastated. However, Fran is never without sympathy. The astonishingly well-realized performance by Hazlehurst mixes charm and irresponsibility, pain and humor. Fran is a decidedly dark film, but genuine in its depth and force.
–U.S. Festival
FACTOID #78
Now among California’s political luminaries, former ambassador Shirley Temple Black and Representative Nancy Pelosi both worked at the Festival in their days as civilians. Temple assisted in film selection in the mid-’60s and Pelosi planned Festival events in the ’70s.
