''My Brilliant Career'' is a 1979 Australian

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Gillian Armstrong, and starring

Judy Davis Judith Davis (born 23 April 1955) is an Australian actress in film, television, and on stage. With a career spanning over 40 years, she has been commended for her versatility and regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. Frequen ...

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

, and

Wendy Hughes Wendy Hughes (29 July 19528 March 2014) was an Australian actress known for her work in theatre, film and television. Her career spanned more than forty years and established her reputation as one of Australia's finest and most prolific actors. ...

. Based on the 1901 novel of the same name by

Miles Franklin Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While ...

, it follows a young woman in rural, late-19th-century Australia whose aspirations to become a writer are impeded first by her social circumstance, and later by a budding romance. Filmed in the Monaro region, New South Wales in 1978, ''My Brilliant Career'' was released in Australia in August 1979, and later premiered in the United States at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

. It received significant critical acclaim, and was nominated for numerous

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

, winning three, while Davis won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. In the United States, it received nominations for the

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for Best Costume Design, and the Golden Globe Award for

Best Foreign Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. Contemporarily, the film is regarded as being part of the

Australian New Wave The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the ea ...

of cinema. In 2018, it underwent restoration by the Australian National Sound and Film Archive, and was issued on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

the Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

the following year.

Plot

In 1897 in rural Australia, Sybylla, a headstrong, free-spirited young woman, dreams of a better life to the detriment of helping run her family's country farm. Considered a

larrikin Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions". In the 19th and early 20th centurie ...

by her family, Sybylla dreams of having a career in writing or the performing arts. Her parents, upset by her notions of grandeur and believing her to be stalling her life, inform Sybylla that they can no longer afford to keep her in the household. They send her to board with her wealthy maternal grandmother in hopes of teaching her socially accepted manners and behaviour. Upon arriving, Sybylla swiftly feels out of place in her new environs. She is soon courted by two local men, jackaroo Frank Hawdon, whom she ignores, and well-to-do childhood friend Harry Beecham, of whom she grows increasingly fond. Sybylla is sent to spend time at the Beecham estate, and her feelings increase toward Harry. She returns to her grandmother's home when Harry is sent on a tour of their properties, with everyone on both estates coyly approving of their romance. Sybylla's Aunt Helen warns her against Harry's courtship, and advises that Sybylla marry for friendship rather than love. Frank attempts to derail Harry and Sybylla's budding relationship by sparking rumours, which leads to increasing tensions between the two. Harry and Sybylla take turns attempting to make the other jealous at a ball, leading to Harry's surprise proposal. Sybylla gruffly rejects him, to everyone's surprise. Harry later reveals his rush was to protect Sybylla from his potential financial collapse. Sybylla counters by asking Harry to wait while she discovers herself, and asks him to delay his proposal for two years. Sybylla is summoned by her grandmother, and is told she must take a job as governess and housekeeper to the

indigent Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

family of an illiterate neighbour to whom her father owes money. Working in squalor, she manages to teach the children to read using the newspapers and book pages wallpapering their home. To her delight, Sybylla is eventually sent home when the parents become incorrectly convinced that she is wooing their eldest son. Harry visits and proposes again, but Sybylla again rejects him, stating her intent to become a writer; she tenderly explains that a marriage between the two would be emotionally damaging. Returning to her family's farm, Sybylla completes a manuscript of her first novel, ''My Brilliant Career'', which she hopefully mails off to a Scottish publishing house.

Cast

Production

Development

Margaret Fink had purchased the rights to

's novel of the same name, and the

Australian Film Development Corporation The Australian Film Development Corporation was an organisation created and funded by the Australian Government in the 1970s, intended to allow filmmakers in the Australian film industry to create movies for everyone to see. In 1975 it was repl ...

suggested she hire a writer to adapt it and Fink selected

Eleanor Witcombe Eleanor Katrine Witcombe (20 September 1923 – 21 October 2018) was an Australian writer who worked extensively in radio, film and television. Early life and education Witcombe was born in Yorketown, South Australia where her father ran a far ...

. Gillian Armstrong met Fink while working as an assistant art director on the latter's ''

The Removalists ''The Removalists'' is a play written by Australian playwright David Williamson in 1971. The main issues the play addresses are violence, specifically domestic violence, and the abuse of power and authority. The story is supposed to be a microc ...

'' (1975) and Fink was impressed with her short film "A Hundred a Day". She subsequently hired Armstrong to direct.

Greater Union Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 cinema complexes cu ...

invested $200,000 in the project, the NSW Film Corporation invested $450,000 with the balance coming from private investors. Armstrong brought in editor Ted Ogden to work on the script, which caused tension between her and Witcombe. For a time Witcombe threatened to take her name off the credits but ultimately decided not to. Commenting on her aspirations for the film, Armstrong said in 1979: "I wanted to make the statement that the heroine is a full woman who can develop her talents and have a career. I didn't want to reinforce the old stereotypes that a woman who has a career only does so only because she can't get a man."

Casting

The role of Sybylla was cast in January 1978 but when the actress was tested in costume it was felt she was wrong for the role. Judy Davis was cast instead; it was her first leading role.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

of ''My Brilliant Career'' took place over eight weeks in October and November 1978 in the

Monaro region Monaro ( ), once frequently spelled "Manaro", or in early years of settlement "Maneroo" is a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro. While t ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Some scenes were shot at the Ryrie homestead at Michelago, New South Wales with

Camden Park Estate The Camden Park Estate incorporating the Belgenny Farm is a heritage-listed large working historical farm located at Elizabeth Macarthur Avenue, in the south-western Sydney suburb of Camden South in the Camden Council local government area of ...

featuring as Harry Beecham's 'Five Bob Downs' property. The film's theme music was an arrangement from "Of Foreign Lands and People" from Robert Schumann's ''

Kinderszenen ' (, "Scenes from Childhood"), Op. 15, by Robert Schumann, is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838. History and description Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version. The unused mo ...

''."''My Brilliant Career'' – music credits"
ozmovies.com.au Davis plays her on-screen piano part herself. Other pieces of classical music used in the film include arrangements of "Träumerei" from ''Kinderszenen'', and of the Piano Quartet in E minor by Schumann.

Release

''My Brilliant Career'' was shown at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 1979 and received a warm reception. The film had its international debut in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

at the

on 1 February 1980, followed by a release in Japan on 2 January 1982, and in Poland on 23 July 2007 at

Era New Horizons Film Festival New Horizons Film Festival (previously: Era New Horizons; pl: Nowe Horyzonty) is an international film festival held annually in July in Wrocław, Poland. It has been organised since 2001. It is one of the biggest and most popular film festivals ...

Box office

''My Brilliant Career'' grossed $3,052,000 at the box office in Australia.

Critical response

Charles Champlin of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' lauded the film for its "resolute and courageous ending," also deeming it "beautifully written, photographed, directed, and acted." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

also praised the film, noting in her review: "''My Brilliant Career'' doesn't need to trumpet either its or its heroine's originality this loudly. The facts speak for themselves—and so does the radiance with which Miss Armstrong and Miss Davis invest so many memorable moments." It has an 86% approval rating on

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from 21 reviews.

Accolades

Home media

Blue Underground Blue Underground is an American company specializing in releasing authoritative editions of cult and exploitation movies on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. It was originally formed as a shell company to oversee 'making of' documentaries during founder ...

released ''My Brilliant Career'' in a two-disc special edition

in 2005. A

edition was subsequently issued by Blue Underground in 2009. In 2018, the Australian National Film and Sound Archive restored the film, and this restoration was subsequently issued on DVD and Blu-ray in 2019 by the U.S. home media company

Legacy

''My Brilliant Career'' has been noted by film historians as a part of the

of cinema. In a retrospective essay celebrating the film's inclusion in the Criterion Collection, film scholar

Carrie Rickey Carrie Rickey (born November 26, 1952) is a feminist American art and film critic. Rickey is the film critic at ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' and often contributes to ''The New York Times'', ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and ''Village Voice''. Her e ...

notes that both the film and its source novel alive have "become part of Australian identity." Though Judy Davis received critical acclaim for her performance, director Gillian Armstrong stated that Davis was never fond of the film and disliked her character.

References

Sources

External links

*
''My Brilliant Career''
ozmovies.com.au
''My Brilliant Career'' at Australian Screen from the National sound and film archive
* {{AACTA Award Best Film 1979 films 1979 drama films Australian coming-of-age drama films 1970s coming-of-age drama films Films based on Australian novels Films about writers Films directed by Gillian Armstrong Films set in New South Wales Films set in colonial Australia Films shot in Australia Australian independent films 1979 directorial debut films 1979 independent films 1970s feminist films 1970s English-language films