The Last Wave

Synopsis

David Burton is a corporate lawyer in Sydney . The city is subject to torrential rains, hail and other strange weather phenomena. One day he is appointed to defend five aborigines who have killed a comrade. The lawyer is trying to find out more and understands that this is a tribal murder.

Technical sheet

• French title: La Dernière Vague
• Original title: The Last Wave
• Director: Peter Weir
• Scenario: Peter Weir , Tony Morphett and Petru Popescu
• Music: Charles Wain
• Photography: Russell Boyd , assisted by John Seale (cameraman)
• Editing: Max Lemon
• Sets: Goran Warff
• Costumes: Annie Bleakley
• Production: McElroy & McElroy ( Hal McElroy and Jim McElroy )
• Production Companies: The Australian Film Commission, Ayer Productions, Derek Power and McElroy & McElroy
• Distribution: Cinema International Corporation
• Country of origin: Australia
• Budget: AUD 818,000 ¹
• Format: Colors – 1.85: 1 – Mono – 35 mm
• Genre: fantastic drama
• Duration: 106 minutes
• Release dates ² :
  •  France :November 1977 (Paris Film Festival)
  •  Australia : December 15 , 1977
  •  France : November 27 , 2001³ ( DVD )

Distribution

• Richard Chamberlain (VF: Bernard Tiphaine ) : David Burton
• Olivia Hamnett : Annie Burton
• David Gulpilil : Chris Lee
• Frederick Parslow : Rev. Burton
• Vivean Gray : D ^r . Whitburn
• Nandjiwarra Amagula : Charlie
• Walter Amagula : Gerry Lee
• Roy Bara : Larry
• Cedrick Lalara : Lindsey
• Morris Lalara : Jacko
• Peter Carroll : Michael Zeadler
• Athol Compton : Billy Corman
• Hedley Cullen : The judge
• Michael Duffield : Andrew Potter
• Wallas Eaton : The Medical Examiner
• Jo England : The babysitter
• John Frawley : The Police Inspector
• Jennifer De Greenlaw : Zeadler’s secretary
• Richard Henderson : The prosecutor
• Penny Leach : The teacher
• Merv Lillie : The boss of the pub
• John Meagher : The employee of the morgue
• Guido Rametta : Guido
• Malcolm Robertson : Don Fishburn
• Greg Rowe : Carl, a schoolboy
• Katrina Sedgwick : Sophie Burton, the eldest daughter of Annie and David
• Ingrid Weir : Grace Burton, the youngest daughter of Annie and David
• Tony Llewellyn-Jones : A guest at Andrew Potter’s party

Around the film

• Filming took place in March and April 1977 in Adelaide , Avalon Beach , Bondi , City of Mitcham , Coast, Flinders Ranges , Hammond and Sydney ⁴ .
• Ingrid Weir, the daughter of the 4-year-old filmmaker, makes a small appearance as Grace Burton.

Distinctions

Awards

• Special Jury Prize at the 1978 Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival ⁵ .
• Best Photography and Best Sound (Don Connolly, Greg Bell and Phil Judd) at the Australian Film Institute Awards in 1978.
• Best actor for Richard Chamberlain, during the International Film Festival of Catalonia in 1982.

Appointments

• Australian Film Institute Awards 1978 : Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Editing and Best Actor for Richard Chamberlain.
• Academy of science fiction movies, fantasy and horror 1980 : Best Fantastic Film and Best Director.

Bibliography

• (in) Stephanie Gauper , ” Aborigine spirituality as the grounding theme in the film of Peter Weir ” , The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought , Vol.  42, n ^o 2winter 2001, p.  212-227.
• (in) Douglas Keesey , ” Weir (d) Australia: Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave ” , Reads: Literature Interpretation Theory , vol.  8 No ^bones 3-4 “Anxieties, fears and phobias” ,1998, p.  331-346 ( DOI 10.1080 / 10436929808580207 ).
• (in) William D. Routt , ” Are you a fish? Are you a snake? : An Obvious reading and Some notes on The Last Wave ” , Continuum. Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol.  8, n ^o 2 “Critical Multiculturalism” ,1994, p.  215-231 (DOI  10.1080 / 10304319409365677 ).
• (in) Theodore E. sheckels , ” Fear in Peter Weir’s Australian Movies: A Matter of Control ” , Antipodes , vol.  23, n ^o 1 “Fear in Australian Literature and Film” ,June 2009, p.  75-80 ( read online  [ archive ] ).

External links

• (en) The Last Wave [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
• The Last Wave [ archive ] on Allociné

Notes and references