It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Absolutely Fantastic

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

At first this movie made no sense to me: why did the husband allow the wife to sleep with his brother, why did the wife do it, why did the husband put up with his obnoxious brother anyhow, why was the barman so curt with his first (and only) come-on to the wife that he seemed more like a rapist than a rogue, why did the rapist/rogue lose interest so quickly (as the wife is very beautiful), and why in the heck did the wife ever want the barman at all? None of these things made any sense to me (not to mention that to me the barman was not anything as dashing as his part gave him credit for being).Then when I watched it again -- mostly because my screen had been messed up (with way too little lighting the first time) -- I started noticing other things I too often take for granted perhaps: how loving and loyal the husband was to his brother, how loving the wife and husband were to one another, how mechanical (read very boring) the sex was between the husband and wife, how premature the ejaculation between the wife and husband's brother (the first and only time they had sex with one another, with the husband's full consent), how disloyal and disrespectful the husband's brother was to anyone and everyone, what a total jerk the barman was from front to finish. Asking myself again what was the significance that the wife's mother was a total floozy. The wife and her mother chose different paths in life, but maybe for this one episode the daughter was reflecting the mother's ways more...Then things started to occur to me: that perhaps part of the reason the wife felt like her life seemed so devoid of meaning was not only that she had no children but also that sex had already become so "ho-hum" between her and her husband. Perhaps she would never have considered a liaison with any other man the rest of her life had it not been for her husband allowing, and thus encouraging, that she basically whore for his brother that one time. Perhaps his premature ejaculation brought her to a higher degree of frustration. While on the one hand she was loyal and having mechanical sex with her husband, she loved him and he her and it was okay; but now that she had a chance to hope for something to feel a bit special in that regard, with the brother, it was a total wash. Now her husband and unleashed something, by allowing that tryst with he brother. Now her anime within sought fulfillment, and supposed it could get a passionate response from the rogue/rapist. Really she went a bit crazy, and surely the sex drive can make most men and women act crazed and foolish, especially when no holds are barred.There was a very touching scene where the wife says the barman "must love her" because otherwise how could she possibly feel the way she did? What she felt was so exciting and felt so good and any woman that beautiful knows she is beautiful. There was simply no reason for the barman not to want her; so she thought and felt. He was really such a jerk, and actually the only person in the film I feel was a bit mis-cast. For this role I would have liked to have seen a man with much more magnetism, charisma.Anyhow, as the movie goes on we find the husband reacting with trying to get her back and being incredibly loving toward her -- not at all the kind of husband we are used to seeing in so many movies and in so many scenes in real life that becomes angry and violent.Really this woman could have lost her husband so easily by her actions, and for quite a while was totally okay with losing him. That he took her back and loved her as he did was so beautiful to me. The movie ended as if we were at the end of the film in "The Wizard of Oz." She had wanted something interesting to happen, it had happened, the "bad guys" were gone now -- (both the upstart brother and the jerk barman) -- and this was her home where she was cherished.Beautiful.

After seeing this movie, I was prompted to write and comment, once again, about the roles that husbands are afforded in almost every movie w/ a love triangle. This film offers a stark illustration of this fact. For the sake of the story, we are asked to suspend disbelief and watch as every husband portrayed in the film, is cuckolded- & offers no instance of protest, or resistance. So let me get this straight- the " GOOD WIFE" in the film, is a lustful, amoral character- who presumably destroys her marriage to pursue a worthless cad. By itself, this isn't an unbelievable tale. My pet peeve however, is how the women's spouses are portrayed, in movies of this sort. The B. Brown character not only doesn't get angry, he offers his wife to his brother, excuses her behavior w/ the barman, and willingly, immediately, and w/out reservation, offers "instant forgiveness" to his cheating wife- another predictable staple for this character. The other husband in the movie who catches his wife w/ another man, reacts the same way. In other words, every husband is weak, ineffectual & too inadequate, to show anger, towards their straying wives! No, the women are all capable of destructive actions, but the husbands?- their reaction to these actions, is reserved, measured, & minimal at best. This character is essential to filmmakers, but is so prevalent, that it's becoming a cliché' within itself! The first film that actually offers a sympathetic, strong portrayal of a betrayed man, which by the way is the usual portrayal given to betrayed wives, will be a revelation. An actual male character who doesn't whine & weakly accepts his wife's cheating. One who decides that SHE is not worthy of him- would be a first! Instead we are faced w/ the same character- gutless, weak, no balls, and willing to accept any & all humiliations, for the sake of fantasy. By no means am I one of these right-wing, "defenders of families" freaks- but it's not hard to see that the portrayal of husbands in these movies, would give one pause. What reality are these filmmakers living in- & maybe, just once, they'll join ours!

Rachel Ward gives an incredible performance in this movie of a woman so obsessed with a man, that she slowly loses all dignity and her standing in the community. This is a powerful movie but could have been much better if the scene where she sleeps with her husbands brother in the beginning was left out. I really think the movie could be improved if that scene, which has nothing to do with the events that follow, could be edited out. That scene makes Ward's character seem to be a sleaze and only hurts the main story. If you can fast forward through that, you will see a well respected woman who loses everything in pursuit of a real jerk. Oh, how truthful this film is.

I saw this movie for the second time again after having seen it when it first came out in 1987. I enjoyed it just as much now as I did then. The characters are interesting and thought-provoking especially the main character, Marge Hills played by Rachel Ward. It's about a woman who lives in a small town in Australia ca.1939. She has a loving husband but feels that life is passing her by and that exciting things only happen to other people. Enter Sam Neill. He comes to town and things change drastically for her. I felt sorry for her character which rapidly becomes pathetic. This is a movie for people who don't need a whole lot of action and special effects. I also liked seeing Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward teamed up again. The first time was in The Thorn Birds where I believe they actually met and, sometime afterward, eventually got married.