Fran, a single mother, is selflessly devoted to her children. But something is lacking in her life, and that something is the love of a man her own age. Her efforts to juggle a love life with her home life are largely unsuccessful.
Acting
Noni Hazlehurst's performance — every exhausted glance tells a novel.
Direction
Glenda Hambly's unflinching eye for women's unglamorous truth.
Writing
Dialogue that sounds like actual humans, not movie humans.
Director
Glenda Hambly
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Fran arrived during Australia's 'women's film' boom, when government funding finally let female directors tell working-class stories Hollywood ignored. It's basically the Aussie answer to Jeanne Dielman, but with more pub scenes.
Noni Hazlehurst was already a beloved children's TV host when she took this role — imagine Mr. Rogers playing a sexually frustrated single mom. The cognitive dissonance helped the film's reception but also shows how narrowly Australian audiences allowed women to exist on screen.
AU
