Review: Ladies In Black

fifty2ndstreet
Sep 22, 2018
3 min read

“Warm, funny, not too Australian. A great movie for an afternoon at the cinema.”

Ladies in Black, based on a musical (which I was unaware of when going to see the film), is a light and enjoyable comedy / drama from director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Mao’s Last Dancer). The film follows the story of a group of women who work at Goodes department store in Sydney in 1959. Department stores were quite different in those days, clearly shown by the piano player who serenades customers when the doors open to start the day. The film is very bright in its visuals, bringing a lot of sunshine into a period of time that is often presented in fairly grey colours. Beresford uses a number of interesting effects to show 1959 Sydney (with trams included), and does a good job of capturing the time period and not restricting the setting to inside buildings or outside in basic locations that don’t show the world around them.

The film focuses primarily on Lisa (Angourie Rice), a sixteen year old has just finished school and awaiting her exam results. Its her first day at work at Goodes as an temporary assistant for the busy Christmas period. Surrounding her are a variety of female characters in different life situations, such as single and seeking interesting men Fay (Rachel Taylor), Patty (Alison McGirr) whose husbands inability to communicate or show affection is causing major marital problems, and Magda (Julia Ormond), the immigrant refugee who is disliked by most because of her posh ways and European manners.

Ladies in Black doesn’t fall into the trap of beating you over the head with Australian-isms. Sure, there is plenty of them, but they naturally woven in to the story. As are most of the references to 1959, which period films often over do. A side note, I enjoyed a scene in which two of the girls are discussing what movie to see. One points at The Nuns Story, commenting on how wonderful Audrey Hepburn is, but the other says it looks too serious. She then says, what about On the Beach with Gregory Peck, commenting on how dreamy he is… On the Beach of course is about the aftermath of a nuclear war and the human race dying out.

Shane Jacobson's role is basically to say things like 'crickey' whenever the women get up to anything, and then go to the pub and ignore the whole thing.

The story is very light, but it suits the tone of the film. The characters are interesting and you want to see them resolve their issues and achieve their goals. The film focuses on the positive changes occurring in Australia in the late fifties, as new things started to come into the country through immigration. However, the film doesn’t really explore racism during the period, with most of the responses to change being more of a cultural shock, resolved by simply tasting this new weird food or drink.

The cast is well lead by young Rice, who gives a strong performance as both a naive girl released into the world, as well as the smart determined character who is open to exploring new things. Julia Ormond brings Hollywood experience to the film and is very good as the world wise match making Magda, and a source of much of the humour in the film. Shane Jacobson is also in the film, but of course he is, he has to be in every Australian movie these days, having taken up the role left vacant by Bill Hunter.

Ladies in Black is not a laugh a minute comedy. It’s more of a light drama with an old fashioned sense of humour. The film is more in line with The Dish, which years ago I felt suffered from people expecting The Castle, but instead got a quaint story that focused on character and built humour out of natural situations. If The Dish was a film you enjoyed, then this film will suit you. Go along and see it, because we need more Australian movies like this one.