Lantana (2001)

The relationships of four couples unravel after the discovery of a young woman's body in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.

Director:

Ray Lawrence

Writers:

Andrew Bovell (play), Andrew Bovell (screenplay)

Stars:

Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Rachael Blake

36 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony LaPaglia	...	Leon
Rachael Blake	...	Jane
Kerry Armstrong	...	Sonja
Manu Bennett	...	Steve (as Jon Bennett)
Melissa Martinez	...	Lisa
Owen McKenna	...	Old Man in Pyjamas
Nicholas Cooper	...	Sam
Marc Dwyer	...	Dylan
Puven Pather	...	Drug Dealer
Lionel Tozer	...	Police Officer
Glenn Suter	...	Police Officer
Leah Purcell	...	Claudia
Barbara Hershey	...	Valerie
Natasha Guthrie	...	Young Girl
James Cullington	...	Man at Book Launch

Storyline

Trust. A dead body in bracken. A cop cheats on his unhappy wife who, in secret, sees a psychiatrist whose own marriage is corroded by grief: she thinks her husband is having an affair with a gay patient of hers. The cop's lover, Jane, is recently separated, and her neighbors - a couple with children - include a muscular unemployed man. Late one night, the doctor skids off a back road, finds a call box, and tries in vain to reach her husband. She sees headlights and flags down the driver. Later that night, Jane sees her neighbor park his truck and throw something into the lantana in a vacant lot. It's a woman's shoe. Unraveling the mystery lays bare five couples.

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Plot Keywords:

adulterous wife | lust | scantily clad female | rear entry sex | unfaithful wife | 

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Taglines:

love is the greatest mystery

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate Films [United States]

Country:

Australia Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 March 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Лантана

Filming Locations:

Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

AUD 430,696 (Australia), 6 October 2001

Opening Weekend USA:

$66,701, 16 December 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$4,460,426, 21 April 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

MBP (Germany),Jan Chapman Productions,Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

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).

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Goofs

When Sonja is in the car park, at about 54' at the bottom of the frame you can see the dolly track complete with sandbag, wedges and Mafer clamp.

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Quotes

Leon Zat: [the morning after Leon admitted having an affair] I fucked up, all right? People fuck up.
Sonja Zat: Really? Well, I don't. You know what's so easy, Leon? It's so easy to go out and find somebody. You know what's hard? What's hard is not to.

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Crazy Credits

Grateful acknowledgement of assistance to all our families

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Connections

Referenced in High Chaparall: Robert Englund (2004)

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Soundtracks

Te Busco
(1993)
Written by Víctor Víctor
Courtesy of Flamboyan Publishing / Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Performed by Celia Cruz
Courtesy of Rmm Records & Video Corp.

User Reviews

One of the year's most compelling character studies. **** (out of four)

LANTANA (2001) **** (out of four)

"Lantana" does not embody a story like most movies; it isn't about anything in particular. It's a movie about characters. Not larger-than-life super heroes, but characters who succumb to temptation, cheat on their wives, doubt their spouses, make mistakes and suffer consequences. In other words, "Lantana" is about real people. Normal, imperfect people like all of us. Not that everyone behaves like the characters here, but few films capture transgression with such compassion and sympathy.

Set in Australia, a colorful pallet of characters paints a vivid, coherent psychological portrait of infidelity, deceit, and estrangement. At the center of the film is four couples, immersed in guilt and depravity for different reasons. Everybody has something to hide. The conflicts of these people illuminate the personal crisis of a police detective (Anthony LaPaglia) as he investigates the disappearance of a local woman.

Apart from the investigation, the couples have little connection with each other. They do have one thing in common, however, that none of them communicates with their loved ones. "Lantana" proves communication enforces commitment, but a lack thereof results in disaster. This sincere, uncompromising picture places the lack of communication at the center of family problems.

The film won various Australian Film Awards for its performances, screenplay, and direction by Ray Lawrence. Lawrence clearly intended the title-referring to a tropical shrub with beautiful flowers that hide dense, thorny undergrowth-to represent the characters' private lives hidden behind an outward appearance. He's got the wrong metaphor. These characters do not appear sunny on the inside, outside, front or back. They don't wear masks or attempt to cover their frowning states of mind. They are unhappy people, and the movie never pretends otherwise.

Those qualities make the characters absorbing. Instead of providing them with outlets and opportunities to hide their faults, the film pokes, prods, and starves them of their happiness until they reach a breaking point. For some, the breaking point results in an explosion of anger. For others, it's subtle and personal. "Lantana" investigates real people who deal with real situations and encounter real consequences.

None of the characters are model citizens, yet we care deeply about each of them. When someone cries, we feel sorry for them. When someone begs for forgiveness, we try to forgive them. When someone questions their spouse, we are concerned with both sides of the marriage. These people make big mistakes; the results of their mistakes are never certain. The movie does not neatly pull things together at the end. It doesn't allow the characters an easy way out. These characters must dig themselves out of their problems.

"Lantana" is one of the most compelling, involving films of the year. It's based on a play called "Speaking in Tongues" by Andrew Bovell, who also wrote the fluid screenplay. I want to see this play. If these characters feel so alive, so real, so tormented on screen, think of their power in person.