For Love Alone (1986)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Stephen Wallace

Writers:

Christina Stead (novel)
Stephen Wallace (writer)

Release Date:

22 May 1986 (Australia)

Genre:

History | Romance

Plot:

A poor young woman in 1930's Australia falls in love with a dashing but arrogant teacher who preaches free love and watered down socialist precepts...

Plot Keywords:

Historical | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Helen Buday	...	Teresa
Sam Neill	...	James Quick
Hugo Weaving	...	Johnathan Crow
Huw Williams	...	Harry
Hugh Keays-Byrne	...	Andrew
Odile Le Clezio	...	Kitty
John Polson	...	Leo
Nicholas Opolski	...	Lance
Judi Farr	...	Aunt Bea
Anna Phillips	...	Anne
Tracey Higginson	...	Malfi
Regina Gaigalas	...	Jean
Naomi Watts	...	Leo's Girlfriend
Linden Wilkinson	...	Miss Haviland
Susie Lindeman	...	Clara

Runtime:

USA:102 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Filming Locations:

New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Western Film Productions

Trivia:

This was Naomi Watts' film debut.

Exquisite and unappreciated

I am one of the few ticket buyers in Australia who even saw this truly beautiful romantic drama upon its tiny and short release in 1986. I will state this here now,: this is possibly Australia's lost masterpiece film of the 1980s. There are so many celebrated films made here in that decade and this gorgeous and unappreciated wonder stands to be rediscovered in a major way. The cast alone is one featuring many now famous faces... including Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Helen Buday (from Max Max Thunderdome) and Actor Director John Polson (director of Swimfan and Hide And Seek). Made with the same care and craftsmanship as awarded romances like My Brilliant Career or The Getting Of Wisdom, FOR LOVE ALONE is an urban romance set in the harbourside working class of Sydney in the 1920s. So perfectly realized is the time and atmosphere that I believe this film is a great undiscovered genuine film masterpiece....and as such, deserves such a major reappraisal and loving transfer to DVD where it deserves the chorus of praise so long overdue. There are so many exquisite scenes and romantic locations I am now looking forward to seeing it again myself. Impossible to find on tape and not on DVD FOR LOVE ALONE needs to be reissued in a sparkling new 35mm print into genuine art-house cinemas. One sequence supposedly aboard an ocean liner was actually filmed in the foyer of the glorious Wintergarden theater in Rose Bay Sydney, a sensational 1928 movie palace designed by master architect Henry White. Astonishingly and infuriatingly the Wintergarden was demolished in 1987, an urban scandal that still grits teeth today. FOR LOVE ALONE is now the only record of the interior foyers of this lost palace and for that reason alone is enough to savor this truly great film. There are few films of this era and style of which I genuinely sing the praises, but I would not hesitate for a minute. The 1984 film UNDERCOVER, the 1978 film THE IRISHMAN and this one are Australia's neglected film zenith of this decade and warrant the highest loudest applause. A genuine 10 out of 10.