A Matter of Convenience (TV 1987)

Set and mainly shot on location in St Kilda of the late 1980s, this is a loving evocation of a time and environment that may have slipped away. Valma, verging on midlife, wants a baby with ... See full summary »

Director:

Ben Lewin

Writer:

Ben Lewin

Stars:

Deborra-Lee Furness, Jean-Pierre Cassel, John Clarke

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Deborra-Lee Furness	...	Valma
Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Alphonse Toronto
John Clarke	...	Joe McGuiness
Kym Amad	...	Fadya
Dalibor Satalic	...	Zoltan
Adriana Frosi-Petersen	...	Mrs. Toronto
Cliff Ellen	...	Chicken Man
Nick Lathouris	...	Tom Galacci (as Nicos Lathouris)
Marion Heathfield	...	Elizabeth Taylor
Stephen Parratt	...	Pritchard
Kirk Alexander	...	Registrar 1
Peter Hosking	...	Registrar 2
Mark Little	...	Roger Purvis
Stephen Scully	...	(as Stephen Sculley)
George Kapiniaris

Storyline

Set and mainly shot on location in St Kilda of the late 1980s, this is a loving evocation of a time and environment that may have slipped away. Valma, verging on midlife, wants a baby with her partner Joe, who is a gentle, loving and well-meaning wannabe writer, but who has had absolutely no success in achieving self-sustainability, and is far from a good prospect as a reliable father. Even when he tries really hard, he finds himself in the job from hell ('a chicken factory? - is that where they make chickens?'). Alphonse is a 'businessman' who has 'a new business every year'. This year his main income comes from arranging 'marriages of convenience' ("when was marriage ever convenient??" - Alphonse) to help new immigrants fast-track to Australian residency and citizenship. Usually, Alphonse arranges 'marriages' between otherwise unmarriable immigrant women and gay Australian men - the latter because "there is no risk of funny business", and who are paid for their husbandry until the ...

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Australia France

Language:

English

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian International Film Corp. (AIFC)

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Marie Antoinette (1938)

User Reviews

I love this movie - the players, the script, the setting - a pity it never went commercial.

If you've seen Peter Weir's "Green Card" (1990) then you've heard the story; there is a lot of similarity between the two films. But in my view, Ben Lewin's (Lewin = some Ally McBeal episodes) earlier movie is meatier in every way. And I am really pleased that it's set in St Kilda and understands that district. Debra-Lee Furness ("Shame") is impressive as Valma - you can see why Hugh Jackman got involved - and John Clarke, a NZ-origin funnyman with a very very very dry sense of humour well-known on Oz TV (eg. "The Games" 2000), is perfect as her hopeless lifemate Joe. His chicken-factory sequence is brilliant, it almost made me a Vegan. Jean-Pierre Cassell, the marriage broker, appeared opposite Jean Seberg in "The Five Day Lover" about 1967 - it was interesting to see him playing a similarly sleazy character 20 years on, but hair-challenged. The two DIMA (INS to you across the water) officials are just right as red-tape-bureaucrats-with-a-heart. If you can find this movie, see it. If you can't, put some pressure on the producer, Noel Price, to get it out there.