Rain (2001 film)

Rain

French theatrical poster for Rain
Directed by Christine Jeffs
Produced by Philippa Campbell
Written by Christine Jeffs
Starring Marton Csokas
Aaron Murphy
Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki
Alistair Browning
Editing by Paul Maxwell
Release date(s) 2001 (New Zealand)
2002 (USA)
Country New Zealand
Language English

Rain is a 2001 New Zealand film directed by Christine Jeffs. A debut film by Jeffs, it was released in New Zealand in 2001 and internationally in 2002. It concerns the coming of age of 13-year-old Janey, and is based on the novel Rain, written by Kirsty Gunn. Rain was produced by Philippa Campbell.

Contents

Cast

Actor Role
Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki Janey
Marton Csokas Cady
Aaron Murphy Jim
Alison Routledge Heather
Sarah Peirse Kate
Alistair Browning Ed

Plot

Janey is on vacation with her brother Jim, mother Kate, and father Ed, at their beach house on the Mahurangi Peninsula in New Zealand. Ed and Kate, who are on the verge of divorce, sit in the backyard all day drinking whiskey, leaving their young children to amuse and fend for themselves. Cady, a local boatie who is having an affair with Kate, catches Janey's pubescent eye. In response to his wife's problems with alcohol and infidelity, Ed turns to alcohol, neglecting his children almost as much as his wife. When Janey sees Cady photographing Kate on his boat, she persuades him to take pictures of her as well. Then, like her mother, she wants something else from him.

Leaving little Jim alone on the beach, Janey leads Cady high into the woods. After posing for him, she takes his camera and tells him how to pose. She adjusts his shirt and tells him to strip off. Then she puts his camera aside and starts touching him all over. They kiss, her head tilts back, and the screen goes black-and-white.

In the next scene, Janey lies alone in the woods naked. She is next seen walking back down the woody hillside to the beach. Off in the distance she sees her brother's little body. She runs the length of the beach to him, screaming his name.

When she reaches him she launches into frenzied CPR: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, breathe! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, breathe!" Her father arrives and takes over the CPR. Janey begs him, "Make him breathe!" and when he says he is trying, she yells at him that he isn't. They eventually have to realize that they are too late to save Jim and to save the family.

See also

External links