by Frank Wilkins
Lantana is a thick and thorny shrub that flourishes in the tropical clime of Australia. Like the bush of the same name, Lantana covers its surface with flowering relationships that when examined more closely, reveal a dark and tangled undergrowth of passion and delusion.
Lantana swept the major categories at the 2001 Australian Film Institute Awards, Australia's version of The Academy Awards© including all acting, directing and film categories. Fifteen minutes into the film, it's clearly obvious why. It opens with a scene of a dead body lying in an entanglement of Lantana bushes. We are immediately sucked into the mystery as we see nothing but a few brief glimpses of a dress and some torn stockings. Much like in the opening scenes of Lynch's Mulholland Drive, there is a dark and disturbing beauty that fills the screen, hinting of something gone horribly awry yet calming with beautifully framed shots awash with color.
The story's main character is Leon Zat (Anthony La Paglia), a police detective whose marriage is coming apart and is becoming dulled to the senses of love and marriage. He carries his insensitivities and frustrations into his work, sometimes beating criminals in fits of rage and anger. His wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) is no longer able to connect with him and soon begins to learn of his affair.
Andrew Bovell's script introduces us to the lives of no fewer than a half dozen other characters and couples whose lives and loves intersect in wonderfully developed and intertwined character arcs. Although the onslaught of characters seems overwhelming at first, it is surprisingly easy to keep tabs on everyone and begin to develop your own solution to the mystery. Almost everyone has something to hide, and we constantly keep wondering and guessing as the plot weaves a tapestry of broken trust and deadly deceit.
The plot begins to center around the investigation of the disappearance of Sonja's therapist (Barbara Hershey) who is currently dealing with the abduction and murder months earlier of her own child. Her husband (Geoffrey Rush) does nothing to heal the wounds and in fact manages to drive a wedge between their love for each other. The ongoing investigation acts as a string that pulls together the intricate lives and feelings of all the characters as we see many interesting and uncomfortable interactions.
The object of Leon's affair, Jane (Rachel Blake), involves herself in the lives of her nextdoor neighbors, Nik and Paula. She begins to suspect Nik in the disappearance of the missing woman. This brings the investigation to Jane's house and things get very uncomfortable, as Leon must question Jane about the investigation.
Although the story may sound confusing and uninteresting, Director Ray Lawrence creates a mesmerizing noir atmosphere of human misery and vulnerability as people reach particular stages in their lives where they must reexamine their relationships and rediscover their loves for each other. Working from Bovell's script, Lawrence lays out the dots of character emotion and allows us to connect them, without making us feel manipulated or domineered. He challenges us to think and encourages us to throw our own relationships into the mix. The people are not beautiful in the typical Hollywood sense and this lends a nice believability to the story. Are you listening Hollywood?
Lantana is, of course, about the story. The movie could stand on its plot alone, but Lawrence and Bovell's delightful mastery of metaphorical themes and creative artistry bring the movie to a higher level, making it one of the best foreign films in quite some time.
Frank Wilkins
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Lantana (2001)
