My First Wife (1984)

Director:

Paul Cox

Writers:

Paul Cox (written by)
Bob Ellis (written by)

Release Date:

13 September 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Father Daughter Relationship | Mother Daughter Relationship | Hospital | Actress Shares First Name With Character | Mother Son Relationship

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

John Hargreaves	...	John
Wendy Hughes	...	Helen
Lucy Angwin	...	Lucy
David Cameron	...	Tom
Anna Maria Monticelli	...	Hilary
Betty Lucas	...	Helen's Mother
Lucy Uralov	...	John's Mother
Robin Lovejoy	...	Helen's father
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell	...	Helen's Father
Jon Finlayson	...	Bernard
Julia Blake	...	Kirstin
Ron Falk	...	Psychiatrist
Xenia Groutas	...	John's Sister
Reg Roddick	...	Priest
Renée Geyer	...	Barmaid
Sabrina Lorenz	...	Barbra
Christopher Holligan	...	Bar singer
Linden Wilkinson	...	Doctor
Tony Llewellyn-Jones	...	Doctor
Symonetta Dennis	...	Nurse
Jentah Sobott	...	Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Terry Rodman	...	Radio station technician (uncredited)

Directed by
Paul Cox

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Paul Cox		written by
Bob Ellis		written by

Produced by
Jane Ballantyne	....	producer
Paul Cox	....	producer
Tony Llewellyn-Jones	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ann Boyd
Renée Geyer

Cinematography by
Yuri Sokol

Film Editing by
Tim Lewis

Production Design by
Asher Bilu

Production Management
Santhana K. Naidu	....	production supervisor

Art Department
Walter Sperl	....	set dresser

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Ammitzboll	....	grip
Brendan Lavelle	....	clapper loader
Nino Gaetano Martinetti	....	camera operator
Maria Stratford	....	photographer

Editorial Department
Peter McBain	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Joanne McLennan	....	continuity
Virginia Rouse	....	runner

Production Companies

• Dofine Productions
• Film Victoria

Distributors

• Artificial Eye (1985) (UK)
• Continental Video (1986) (USA) (video)
• International Spectrafilm (1985) (USA)
• Palace Academy Home Video
• Roadshow Entertainment (Australia)
• Roadshow Home Video (Australia) (VHS)

Other Companies

• South Australian Film Corporation, The  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:PG | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Dofine Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Journey with Paul Cox (1996)

Requiem For a Marriage

My First Wife is an excruciatingly emotional film about the break-up of a marriage in contemporary Australia. There's not much new in it, and the dialogue isn't especially brilliant, but it's exceeding well done and sharply observant. Director and co-author Paul Cox based the story partly on events in his own life, and it shows. I feel a little cool about the film, as it delves into extremely intimate feelings with a mix of openness and artlessness that I find at times offputting. There are things that we are told about the husband that it might be better not to know, or to have told differently. The cast, led by John Hargreaves and Wendy Hughes, is flawless. Like so many films from Australia and Great Britain over the last twenty years, My First Wife has about it an undercurrent of pessimism that goes beyond its putative subject matter, as if the real subject were the Anglo-Saxon world in general, and its imminent demise, which, as is suggested in this film, richly deserved.