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Lantana
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Lantana (2001) -- Psychiatrist Valerie Somers disappears one night; Det. Leon Zat is called to investigate; his wife has been getting advice from Somers.

Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   9,698 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 3% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Ray Lawrence
Writers:
Andrew Bovell (play)
Andrew Bovell (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Lantana on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 October 2001 (Australia) more
Tagline:
It's tangled more
Plot:
Psychiatrist Valerie Somers disappears one night; Det. Leon Zat is called to investigate; his wife has been getting advice from Somers. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
34 wins & 22 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Green Screens
 (From FilmInk.com.au. 2 February 2009, 4:10 PM, PST)

Screen Australia Loves You Too
 (From FilmInk.com.au. 17 December 2008, 6:09 PM, PST)

User Comments:
Something close to a masterpiece more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Anthony LaPaglia ... Detective Leon Zat

Rachael Blake ... Jane 'Janie' O'May
Kerry Armstrong ... Sonja Zat

Manu Bennett ... Steve Valdez (as Jon Bennett)
Melissa Martinez ... Lisa
Owen McKenna ... Old man in pajamas
Nicholas Cooper ... Sam Zat
Marc Dwyer ... Dylan Zat
Puven Pather ... Drug dealer

Lionel Tozer ... Police officer
Glenn Suter ... Police officer
Leah Purcell ... Detective Claudia Wiss

Barbara Hershey ... Dr. Valerie Somers
Natasha Guthrie ... Young girl
James Cullington ... Man at book launch
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for language and sexuality.
Runtime:
121 min
Country:
Australia | Germany
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Certification:
Iceland:16 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:AA | Singapore:M18

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The first film to win all of the top six categories of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards: best picture, best director, best actress, best actor, best supporting actress, best supporting actor. It also won for best adapted screenplay. This record remained unbroken until all 13 AFI categories were swept by Somersault (2004). more
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: When Sonja and Leon are in bed, the crew is reflected in a large standing mirror. more
Quotes:
Leon Zat: I tell my wife everything.
John Knox: That suprises me.
Leon Zat: Why?
John Knox: Most men hold something back.
more
Movie Connections:
References En passion (1969) more
Soundtrack:
Respeta Mi Tambo more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
28 out of 31 people found the following comment useful:-
Something close to a masterpiece, 8 May 2003

In this starkly realistic examination of love and infidelity among the thirtysomething crowd from down under we learn that you may desire to cheat on your spouse, but it's better if you don't.

Leon Zat, a police detective played with an original and striking demeanor by Anthony LaPaglia, cheats on his wife and finds that his adultery compromises not only his marriage but his performance on the job. He becomes irritable and flies off the handle at things of little importance, and becomes consumed with guilt.

He is not alone. The marriage of John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) and psychiatrist Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) is falling apart as Knox seeks something from the outside and Somers is torn apart with the suspicion that he is having a homosexual affair, perhaps with one of her clients. Meanwhile Jane O'May (Zat's adulteress played by Rachael Blake) finds that she needs a man, or maybe two, other than her estranged husband. Even Sonja Zat (Kerry Armstrong) feels the pressure and yearns to feel attractive, perhaps with younger men.

More than halfway through we have an apparent murder and an investigation during the course of which some of the adulteries come to light and cause the participants to examine themselves and their lives closely.

Andrew Dovell wrote the subtle, richly attired script, full of penetrating dialogue and an uncompromising veracity, adapting it from his play Speaking in Tongues. Ray Lawrence directed in an unusual but compelling manner in which the scenes are sharply focused and cut to linger in our minds. Again and again I was startled with just how exactly right was something a character said or did. Lawrence's exacting attention to detail gives the film a textured and deeply layered feel so that one has the sense of real life fully lived. The cast is uniformly excellent although LaPaglia stands out because of his most demanding role. His performance is one of the best I have seen in recent years. The only weakness in the film is a somewhat lethargic start, partially caused by Lawrence's cinéma vérité scene construction and editing. What he likes to do is lead us to a realization along with the characters and then punctuate the experience by lingering on the scene, or in other cases by cutting quickly away. Often what other directors might show, he leaves to our imagination, and at other times he shows something seemingly trivial which nonetheless stays in our mind. John Knox's affair, for example, is not shown. Jane O'May and her husband's reconciliation is left to our mind's eye. Yet the scene with Valerie Somers in the lighted telephone booth (with graffiti) is shown at length and then what happens next is not. These are interesting directorial choices.

The ending comes upon us, as it sometimes should, unexpectedly, but then resonates so that we can see and feel the resolution. Not everything is tied up. Again we are left in some cases to use our own imagination.

This original film, one of the best of the new millennium I have seen, stayed with me long after they ran the closing credits. It is well worth the two hours.

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