Puberty Blues
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| Puberty Blues | |
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| Directed by | Bruce Beresford |
| Written by | Gabrielle Carey (novel}, Margaret Kelly Kathy Lette |
| Starring | Nell Schofield, Jad Capelja, Geoff Rhoe |
| Release date(s) | 1981 |
| Running time | 87 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Puberty Blues is a 1981 Australian film.
The film is based on the 1979 novel Puberty Blues, by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette, which is a proto-feminist teen novel about two 13 year-old girls from the Sutherland Shire in Sydney, Australia. The girls attempt to create a popular social status by integrating themselves with the "Greenhill gang" of surfers.
For censorship reasons, in the film their age was upped to 16. Much of the content of the novel appears in the film, with several passages of text recounted by the film's protagonist Debbie (Nell Schofield) in a voice over narration. The film closely follows the story and character trajectory of the novel. Some of the novel's characters are composites in the film. The tone of the novel is generally darker than that of the film, and in the novel Debbie and her best friend Sue who join the surfer gang are shown to be much more willing participants in activities than they are in the film. Some of the darker moments of the book have been removed or softened for the film. The film adds a comedy beach brawl between the surfers and the lifeguards that does not feature in the novel.
Much of the obscure surfer slang of the novel has been omitted from the film. The novel features some discussion about television series Number 96. One passage of the novel that mentions the title is recounted by the film's protagonist in a voice over narration, but because the series had ended by the time of the 1981 film the series title is replaced by the generic term "television" for the film.
[edit] Soundtrack
Music by Les Gock.
The theme song "Puberty Blues" was written by Tim Finn. In the film it was sung by Sharon O'Neill. It was released by Jenny Morris as a single on Mushroom Records in December 1981.
[edit] References
- Murray, Scott (editor), Australian Film, 1978-1994, Oxford, 1995. ISBN 0-19-553777-7
[edit] External links
- Puberty Blues at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview with Kathy Lette
- Puberty Blues at the National Film and Sound Archive
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