Bliss And Lantana Comparison

Ray Lawrence is an Australian film and television director who has made three critically acclaimed feature films over two decades. His first film, Bliss, initially struggled to gain an audience, but later grew to become an art-house hit (Byrnes, n.d.-a). Following Bliss, it wasn’t until 16 years later that he released his next film Lantana, and then another 5 years until the release of Jindabyne. These films are unique in that they tend to have more focus on the development of the characters rather than the progression of a narrative. Through these films Lawrence has developed a reputation for his one-take shoots and use of natural light. This essay will explore more deeply the similarities and differences between Lawrence’s most recent films

Lantana and Jindabyne, after briefly look into his previous work on Bliss.
Prior to Lantana and Jindabyne, Lawrence’s feature film career began with Bliss - an adaptation of Peter Carey’s novel by the same name - in 1985.

The film is said to be ahead of its time, and it initially struggled to gain an audience. During its first screening at the Cannes Film Festival, 400 people walked out of the original 130 minute cut. In Australia, no distributors wanted to touch it until the ‘R’ classification it received for the depiction of incest between Harry’s children, was overturned. The film was cut down to 112 minutes for theatrical release and eventually grew an audience and went on to win the AFI awards for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Adapted Screen play for 1985 (Byrnes, n.d.-a). Despite the success, it took Lawrence another 15 years to get funding for his next feature film,

Lantana.
Ray Lawrence’s 2001 film, Lantana, is an adaptation of Andrew Bovell’s play Speaking in Tongues, and tells the story of four couples, who are going through varying challenges in their relationships. One of the couples, John and Valerie, are barely on speaking terms after losing their daughter. Another, Leon and Sonja, are being torn apart by Leon’s unfaithfulness and emotional issues. Leon is having an affair with another woman, Jane, whose estranged husband Pete, wants to return home. The fourth couple, Nik and Paula, are neighbours of Jane and are quite content in their relationship. All their lives are connected in some way, but it isn’t until John’s wife Valerie mysteriously disappears that the connection becomes much deeper. The film then observes the way the all of the characters deal with the situation and their relationship with each other.
Jindabyne is also a film about the way characters deal with death. Based on a short story by American writer Raymond Carver titled So much water so close to home, Jindabyne follows the lives of four couples who live and work in Jindabyne. The film observes the way the lives and relationships of Stewart and Claire; Carl and Jude; Rocco and Carmel; and Billy and Elissa, change after the men neglected to quickly report the body of a murdered Aboriginal woman they found while on a fishing trip.
In both of these films it can be observed that Lawrence’s style of storytelling is much less about a narrative external journey and more about the observation of the characters as they deal with the change in circumstances, and the journey they take within themselves.
Lawrence has chosen to adapt the films from texts with ensemble casts that provide an opportunity to reveal a range of emotions and reactions to the circumstances. All of the couples in the stories are going through their own struggles in their lives and relationships daily. Then when major events occur through the film, the struggles they tried to keep inside come to the surface with greater intensity. Lawrence is fascinated by people’s relationships, and has said, “It interests me how people manage to stay together and also what makes them leave.” The way that each couple is affected by the events is different to the other couples. Then within the couples, the way the man and the woman deal with what is in front of them is also different. This heightens the conflict as all the characters work to deal with themselves as well as each other. In Jindabyne, the conflict is taken beyond that of the couples and the group, as it also brings in the community of Aboriginal people who have their own view of the actions of the men, and are disgusted by what they’ve done. The choice was made, by writer Beatrix Christian, when adapting Raymond Carver’s original story So much water so close to home, to change the murdered woman to an Aboriginal, and this completely changed the dynamic of the story. (Byrnes)
The confronting reality of death is a theme that runs strongly through both of these films. The first shot of lantana is a slow track over a bush of lantana that shows the lush green leaves and beautiful flowers before moving into the bush. From there the film cuts to another shot that shows the thorns of the bush as it gradually reveals the body of a dead woman. From there the trail of death continues as it is revealed that John and Valarie lost their daughter a few years prior which has put tension on their relationship. This continues to the disappearance – and consequential death- of Valerie which then drives the story and opens up the other characters as their lives become intertwined.
In Jindabyne, the film opens up with a man stalking a young Aboriginal woman who he presumably rapes before he murders her. This murder is a pivotal point in the film, for without it, the lives of the four men would remain the way they are. But the murder does happen, and it changes the course of those men’s lives. The death shows an insight into the minds of those men, and reveals something about their nature that would have never been revealed otherwise.
Both films are full of symbolism and metaphors.

Lantana is metaphoric of the weed after which it is named. It is a thick bush that is hard to get rid of, but has a beautiful flower. This metaphor is established from the opening shot discussed before, that shows the beautiful green leaves and flowers before delving into the thorns that lay beneath, and the body of the deceased woman. The idea of what lies behind the beautiful flowers of someone’s life is something that runs through the film, and is revealed in the characters as the story goes on. The plant, lantana, is present throughout the film appearing again as the bush that Nik throws Valerie’s shoe into - again enforcing the metaphor of something behind the exterior flowers. Similarly, Jindabyne uses the metaphor of the town under the water as a representation of things being deeper than what is seen on the surface. For all of the characters in the film, there is something inside them that is always there, until something happens that brings those things to the

surface.
Lawrence is known for the unique style of directing he uses to get the performances he wants. He works very quickly, doing mostly one-take shoots with very little rehearsal to get the natural performance he wants from the actors. This is an approach that many of the actors find shocking, but the cinematography for Jindabyne, David Williamson, supports the method as a great way to shoot because it was natural and he didn’t really know what was going to happen (Bateman, Charny, Jarman, 2006).
The desire for things to look natural continues into the way Lawrence approaches lighting the films. The Director of Photography for Lantana, Mandy Walker, noted that there is only about 5% lighting in the film, the rest is just natural light. The only times that scenes were lit was when it was absolutely necessary, such as the scene where Valerie’s car breaks down in the middle of the forest. Due to there being no available lights in the forest, they used a large balloon light mounted on a crane to provide the ‘moonlight’ (Chapman, 2001b). Lawrence said they “could have never done this film if it was lit” (Chapman, 2001b, 35min 30sec).
Though Lawrence has only released three feature films in two decades, he has certainly made an impact on Australian cinema. His choice of storytelling is confronting and introspective which really makes you think. His method of working quickly with one-take shoots and natural lighting has given his work a unique style.