Three Dollars

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Three Dollars
Directed by	Robert Connolly
Written by	Elliot Perlman (novel)
Starring	David Wenham Sarah Wynter Frances O'Connor
Release date(s)	2005
Running time	min.
Country	Australia
Language	English
IMDb profile

Three Dollars is a 2005 Australian film, directed by Robert Connolly and based on a novel by Elliot Perlman. It won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film and book tell the story of Eddie (David Wenham), a principled man with a seemingly stable and happy life. He has a wife, the academic Tanya (Frances O'Connor), a daughter, Abby (Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik), is paying off a house and has a job as a government land assessor. Yet when the forces of economic and social change threaten this, he realises just how fragile his reality and security is. After losing his job, he checks his bank balance and realises he has only the 'three dollars' of the title to his name.

Eddie's life also becomes entwined with that of childhood friend Amanda (Sarah Wynter), whom he unfailingly runs into every nine-and-a-half years, and every time he has just three dollars.

The book and novel are set largely in Melbourne, at a time when the policies of economic liberalisation had gained credence in Australian politics and were arguably affecting many people's lives similarly to Eddie and Tanya's and explore the choices we make between what we have and what might be.