Jindabyne

I sort of knew that I would enjoy Jindabyne (Theatre Clwyd), when I read the blurb on it, after all I loved director Ray Lawrences' previous film Lantana in (2001) . This film, (his first in 5 years ),turned out to be a wonderfully complicated and menacing piece of work .

In the austere landscape of New South Wales,a fading and emotionally weak ex rally driver Gabriel Byrne lives for his yearly fishing trip with his fellow 40 something small town friends. The men find the corpse of young Aboriginal woman in the river - the victim of a serial killer. Rather than spoil the trip, they decide to leave the dead woman where she is, heartlessly tethering her by twine to the riverbank, and delay reporting the body until Sunday night. The reason for this behaviour is never totally explained as the film concentrates on the ramifications of the men's actions which start to shatter the lives and relationships they have with their womenfolk.
This strange, almost dreamlike story is further complicated by the character of Byrne's wife Claire (Laura Linney), who already is nursing terrible psychological problems and family dysfunction. She had a breakdown after the birth of her son, and is way too bright and intelligent for her shallow and uncommunicative husband . Claire cannot cope with the coldness of the men's actions and through her eyes we see great yawning differences between women and emotionally isolated men, the white townsfolk and the Aborigine community, and the banality of small town life and the strangeness of the Australian outback. Add to this mix a touch of native spiritualism, a truly frightening serial killer and a small girl obsessed with the death of her mother, and you have a weird,menacing and totally interesting film. Linney is wonderful as the brittle Claire as is Deborra-Lee Furness, (right pic) her life worn and damaged best friend. After nights last night and no sleep today, I was glad that I had made the effort and drive to Theatre Clwyd to see it.