The Eye of the Storm

The Eye Of The Storm

I have enjoyed many films from Australia .I recall being in Sydney and renting a different video each evening so that I could see as many Australian films as possible. This unusual film takes place in Sydney. It is a cast with notable actors. They play their roles well but you may just not enjoy the roles.
This is truly a melodrama not to be taken too seriously. If you don’t enjoy films about dysfunctional families and melodramatic mothers, leave this one for someone else.
Charlotte Rampling is delightful in her presentation of the dying aristocratic Elizabeth. She obviously is very wealthy and is preparing for her death. She has an array of nurses who look after her. Her housekeeper is a Jewish German holocaust survivor. Her role is to cook for the household and in the evening she dresses in a cabaret costume and sings and dances cabaret music for Elizabeth. One of her nurses has the job of putting wigs on Elizabeth and makeup on her face. I kept asking myself if these caring staff truly liked Elizabeth or were hoping for her death and a large bequest from her will.
Elizabeth lounges dramatically on a chaise lounge or lies in bed prepared to die. She waits for her two children to come and pay a visit.
Sir Basil (Geoffrey Rush) is an actor and playwright who returns from London to visit his mother. He is dramatic and has a complicated relationship with his mother.
Judy Davis plays the role of the daughter, Dorothy. She is called Princess because of a marriage to a minor royal that has failed. She is dramatic, full of herself and has mixed feelings for her mother. She also seems to be lacking in funds but lives a good lifestyle.
Throughout the film we are taken back in time to learn more about the mother as a younger woman. She was actually caught seducing her daughter’s boyfriend.
Basil and Dorothy try to manage the household so that there will be money left in the account. They see that the nurses and staff are being frivolous and perhaps taking advantage of a woman who is not always in control of her senses.
I found myself on a bit of a ride as I watched the children behaving in a dramatic way and not being too helpful to their mother. As time goes on they mellow to one another and come to terms with their relationship to each other as well as to the mother.
You can’t take it seriously or you will find many flaws. It is an ‘over the top’ satire of a dying matriarch and her control over her household and her family.