Great old charmer, this. Has Sam Neill ever looked so handsome since? Has Judy Davis ever been so challenging? Even when she took on the role of George Sand for Impromptu she wasn’t this feisty and uncompromising—Sand was kind of a sap, per her Romantic age. The contrast between bush life of the outback, all cow-milking and dust and squalor, with the pretentious late-Victorian parlor entertainments is stark and compelling. Great stuff!

I was very proud of this movie for not coping out in the end. Really liked it, but I love Judy Davis.