The Year My Voice Broke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 film by director John Duigan. It stars Noah Taylor and Loene Carmen. It is often cited by film critics as the best Australian film made in the past 25 years. It won the 1987 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film.
[edit] Plot
Danny (Noah Taylor), an underdeveloped adolescent, falls in love with his best friend Freya (Loene Carmen) in a small town in rural New South Wales, Australia. Unfortunately, her heart is set on Trevor (Ben Mendelsohn), a local jock and troublemaker who shelters Danny from the cruelty of other children at school. Although Danny provides most of the invisible narration (and comedy), the story focuses primarily on Freya's burgeoning identity as a woman: her sexuality, her place in society (an orphan, Freya starts to question her familial past, especially about her mother), and after she is impregnated, her future. The film uses the pastoral geography to symbolize the heightened emotions of certain characters- the rocky craigs near the town manifest Danny's bittersweet feelings for her, the local "haunted house" externalizes Freya's troubled past and increasingly muddled future (in many ways inspired by the works of Henry James). When the local police kill Trevor after he steals a car, Freya decides to stay with a family member in the city. She and Danny share one last goodbye at the local train station; it is then that Danny realizes he will never see his friend again.
Along with its compelling storyline, complex characterizations, and poignant denouement, film critics also cited the film's lush photography, shot in and around Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia, as one of the key elements of the film's emotional power.
The main theme used in the film is The Lark Ascending by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. At a 2005 special event screening in Sydney, director John Duigan stated he chose the piece as he felt it complimented Danny's adolescent yearning.
