User Reviews

This film typifies the early 70s arthouse films of the 1970s Australian cinema revival - it is black-and-white, stylised, satirical, and somewhat frustrating. But it is worth seeing for its portrayal of the stultifying boredom of office work in the 60s and 70s, and its capturing of the various 'types' who inhabited the bureaucracies of the time. The main actors of note were stage actors John Wood, Kate Fitzpatrick, and Max Cullen, of whom Wood and Cullen went on to long TV and film careers. Wood played Clyde, the most boisterous of the men at the office, for whom joking helped relieve the boredom and frustration; Fitzpatrick played Mara, the enigmatic office beauty who dreams of travel to escape the boredom and menial tasks she is given as a woman, and Cullen plays Paddy, an amiable Irish immigrant. There are also two young newcomers, Peter and Elly, who form a relationship, and whose disappearance at the picnic provides the only drama in the film. Did they quit the boring job and run away together, or did something sinister happen to them in the bush at night? The film has a lot of interesting glimpses of life in the 70s, but moves quite slowly with a lot of pointless segments, perhaps to illustrate the pointlessness of life for these people. The film also highlights Aussie male behaviour, both in the workplace, with its suppressed competitiveness and aggressive sexual innuendos, and at play, in the bullying football match and drinking session at the picnic. Overall, it is a picture of people unhappy with the mundanity of their situation. The film portrays this feeling successfully, but fails to provide an engaging enough narrative to be really successful.