I had an opportunity to speak to Australian film director Kim Farrant about her latest film Strangerland, starring Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes. The audio portion of the interview can be found below:
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I found Kim to be very open and honest in the interview. I was quite surprised hearing about the passing of her father and the dark path that lead onto. That dark place ended up being sort of a foundation for the film. “I found myself in a very dark place, and from that place I acted out sexually,” Farrant says. Her experience going through those trying times must have given her a unique understanding of what people go through when they are faced with certain emotional and sexual feelings that are detrimental to their well being.
Aside from the issue of sexual repression and suppression, in the movie there is a very real look at the pain and suffering that a family goes through when their child goes missing. Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes do a terrific job of illustrating that. The parents are the ones who have to live through these terrors of uncertainty and Farrant made sure that they are the ones that are depicted. “We were paying homage to the reality of parents,” she says.
In the film the parents unravel, the mother’s sexual struggles come to the surface, while the father’s anger issues rise to the forefront. The marriage is put to a significant test with the disappearance of the kids threaten’s to break the family apart. I asked Kim about the self discovery of the characters during the crisis. “Sometimes there is a blessing in a crisis,” Farrant said.
What made this film suspenseful and realistic to me was the uncertain ending. In the interview Kim elaborates on that, and why she decided to end the movie with no clear answers. This was a really interesting interview with some real good great answers from Kim. I appreciated her honesty and she does a great job of explaining her thought regarding to the making of the film.
I definitely feel like Strangerland is a movie that you can learn a lot from. The issues of relationships, sexual desires, parenting, and marriage are all presented. Farrant seems to have a great sense of relating to people through reality and honesty, both personally and with her work. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of her future projects.
Strangerland is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
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