Age of Consent (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Age of Consent
Age of Consent Video Cover
Directed by	Michael Powell
Produced by	Michael Powell James Mason
Written by	Norman Lindsay
Starring	James Mason Helen Mirren
Music by	Peter Sculthorpe
Cinematography	Hannes Staudinger
Editing by	Anthony Buckley
Release date(s)	May 14, 1969 Australia
Running time	103 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Age of Consent (1969) is the penultimate feature film directed by British film-maker Michael Powell. The screenplay was adapted from the 1935 novel by Norman Lindsay, and is based on him.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 References 3.1 External links

[edit] Plot

Bradley Morahan (James Mason) is an Australian artist who feels he has become jaded by success and life in New York City. He decides that he needs to regain the edge he had as a young artist and returns to Australia.

He sets up in a shack on the shore of a small, sparsely-inhabited island on the Great Barrier Reef. There he meets young Cora Ryan (Helen Mirren), who has grown up wild, with her only relative, her difficult, gin-guzzling grandmother 'Ma' (Neva Carr-Glynn). Cora sells Bradley what she has caught in the sea and later a chicken, which she has stolen from his spinster neighbor Isabel Marley (Andonia Katsaros). When he is suspected of being the thief, he pays Isabel and gets Cora to promise not to steal anymore. To help her save enough money to fulfill her dream of becoming a hairdresser in Brisbane, he offers to pay her to be his model. She reinvigorates him, becoming his artistic muse.

Bradley's work is disrupted when his sponging longtime "friend" Nat Kelly (Jack MacGowran) shows up. Nat is hiding from the police over back alimony he owes. When Bradley turns down his request for a loan, Nat invites himself to stay with him. When the unwanted guest shows no sign of leaving, after several days, Bradley's patience becomes exhausted. Luckily, the problem is solved for him. Nat romances Isabel, hoping to get some money from her. Instead, she unexpectedly ravishes him. The next day, he hastily departs the island, but not before stealing Bradley's money and some of his drawings.

Then Ma catches Cora posing nude for Bradley and accuses him of carrying on with her underage granddaughter. Bradley protests that he has done nothing improper; finally, he gives her the little money he has left to get her to go away.

When Cora discovers that Ma has found her hidden cache of money, she chases after her. In the ensuing struggle, Ma accidentally falls down a hill and breaks her neck. Fortunately, the local policeman sees nothing sinister in the death, since the old woman was known to be frequently drunk.

Later that night, Cora goes to Bradley's shack, but is disappointed when he seems to view her only as his model. When she runs out, Bradley follows her into the water. There, she finally gets him to see her as a desirable young woman.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
James Mason	Bradley Morahan
Helen Mirren	Cora Ryan
Jack MacGowran	Nat Kelly
Neva Carr-Glyn	Ma Ryan
Andonia Katsaros	Isabel Marley
Michael Boddy	Hendricks
Harold Hopkins	Ted Farrell
Slim DeGrey	Cooley
Max Meldrum	TV Interviewer
Frank Thring	Godfrey, the Art Dealer
Clarissa Kaye-Mason	Meg
Judith McGrath	Grace (as Judy McGrath)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e Powell and Pressburger The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 1930s The Spy in Black • The Lion Has Wings (not Pressburger) 1940s Contraband • An Airman's Letter to His Mother • Forty-Ninth Parallel • One of Our Aircraft is Missing • The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp • The Volunteer • A Canterbury Tale • I Know Where I'm Going! • A Matter of Life and Death • Black Narcissus • The Red Shoes • The Small Back Room 1950s The Elusive Pimpernel • Gone to Earth • The Tales of Hoffmann • Oh... Rosalinda!! • The Battle of the River Plate • Ill Met by Moonlight 1960s Peeping Tom (not Pressburger) • They're a Weird Mob • Age of Consent (not Pressburger) 1970s The Boy Who Turned Yellow