Displaying items by tag: Jasmin Tarasin

LIFE COULD BE A DREAM

Australia, 2026, 82 minutes, Colour.

Maeve Dermody, Alexander England, Sonny McGee.

Directed by Jasmin Tarasin.

Life often is a dream. However, it can also be a nightmare.

And this is the subject of this brief Australian drama. It is strongly emphasised as the film opens, information about domestic violence. And, after we have experienced the nightmare, before the final credits, the theme is again explicitly noted and help suggested. This is indeed a message film.

The central character is Sarah. She has been married to Jake for many years, and they have a son, Otis, in his mid teens.

The film opens in the present, Sarah anxious and upset, Otis supportive, Jake absent, her birthday coming, his casual phone calls, establishing attention to the home.

There is some narrative in the present, especially with Sarah deciding to leave with Otis, her being a real estate agent going into a house that she is preparing for sale, her state of anxiety, getting energy from a great deal of swimming, hiding from Jake. Otis is supportively is mother, understanding, helping with the cooking, but finding the situation sometimes oppressive, befriending a young girl in the local store.

But, there are important flashbacks, the initial encounter between Sarah and Jake, falling in love, pregnancy, marriage, the role of Sarah’s mother, Jake and his charm. Then Jake becomes vindictive, trying to track down Sarah and Otis, spinning a story to the young girl at the local store to get information.

As different from other domestic violence stories, there is not a great deal of explicit violence. Rather, the emphasis is on the emotional and psychological violence, the continuous uncertainties, the sense of menace.

Maeve Dermody plays Sarah. Sonny McGee is a convincing Otis, a teenager, supportive, sometimes bewildered. And Alexander England is the threatening Jake.

A film to experience and discuss rather than an entertainment.

1. The title? Life possibilities, hope? But dreams as nightmares?
2. The Australian setting, homes, the mansion, interiors, the grounds, the swimming pool, the sea and the beach? The musical score?
3. The initial information about domestic violence, repeated at the end? Audience response, the initial alert, reactions throughout the film? Empathy with Sarah, with her son? Antipathy towards Jake?
4. The story in the present, Sarah, her decision to leave, talking with Jake on the phone, his being away, the delay in return, the birthday celebration? Her relationship with Otis, his age, his response to his father?
5. The emphasis on water, swimming, the pool, Sarah relying on swimming? With Otis? The cliffs with Jake? The beach with Otis?
6. The scenes at home, Sarah, anxiety, moods, dreams and memories, the continued swimming? Her work, selling homes, the decision to go to the home with Otis?
7. Settling into the home, preparing for the sale, the rooms, meals? The encounter with the gardener?
8. Sarah, the significance of the flashbacks, the cumulative effect of her relationship with Jake, the initial encounter, falling in love, her mother and wanting to meet Jake, happy with each other, his personality, treatment of Sara, the pregnancy, Otis noting the time of the wedding at his birth?
9. Otis, supportive of his mother, cooking, helping her, the swimming play, but wanting his friends?
10. Going to the store, the young girl, discussion about school, the various meetings, Otis going out with her, swimming pool, their hands on the bottom of the pool, their legs out, like Otis with his mother?
11. Jake, his return, the phone calls, anger, the visuals on the phone, tormenting Sara? His coming to the town, visiting the girl in the shop, his story about being in uncle, her suspicions of him?
12. The future, for Sara, getting help, a new life, Otis, relationship with his father, with his mother?
13. And the final information again about domestic violence?