My First Wife

My First Wife
My First Wife
	Promotional poster
Directed by	Paul Cox
Written by	Bob Ellis; Paul Cox
Produced by	Paul Cox; Jane Ballantyne
Starring	John Hargreaves; Wendy Hughes; David Cameron
Cinematography	Yuri Sokol
Edited by	Tim Lewis
Music by	Ann Boyd; Renée Geyer
Release date	13 September 1984;
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	A$690,000
Box office	A$413,199 (Australia)

My First Wife is a 1984 Australian drama film directed by Paul Cox. The film won several AFI Awards in 1984.

Plot

The film follows the dissolution of John and Helen's marriage and the aftermath.

Cast

John Hargreaves as John
Wendy Hughes as Helen
Lucy Angwin as Lucy
David Cameron as Tom
Anna Maria Monticelli as Hilary
Betty Lucas as Helen's Mother
Lucy Uralov as John's Mother
Robin Lovejoy as John's father
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell as Helen's Father
Jon Finlayson as Bernard
Julia Blake as Kirstin

Production

The film was based on the breakdown of Cox's marriage. He started writing the script, showed it to Bob Ellis and the two men wrote the screenplay together. (Ellis says they spent a day and a half on it.^[2])

The film was shot mostly at a house in Williamstown in Melbourne.^[1]

Music

Choir: Members of the Tudor Choristers directed by David Carolane

Christoph Willibald Gluck: "Orpheus & Euridice".

Berliner Symphoniker – Hermann Prey

Conductor – Horst Stein

Joseph Haydn - "Paukenmesse"

Bayerischen Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

Conductor – Rafael Kubelik, Polygram

Ann Boyd - "As I crossed a Bridge of Dreams", "Cycle of love", Faber Music Ltd.

Carl Orff - "Carmine Burana"

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus, Conducted by Vaclev Smetacek, Supraphon

Rene Geyer - "Hot Minuets", Mushroom Records, Australia

Frans Sussmayr - "Grandfather's Birthday Celebration", Hungarian Radio Children's Chorus, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Conductor – Laszlo Csanyl

Box office

My First Wife grossed $413,199 at the box office in Australia,^[3] which is equivalent to $1,049,525 in 2009 dollars.

Awards

My First Wife won in 1984 AFI Awards in the Best Actor in a Lead Role (John Hargreaves), Best Director (Paul Cox), Best Original Screenplay (Paul Cox, Bob Ellis) categories and was nominated in 4 more categories. Paul Cox also won the 1986 Grand Prix award at Film Fest Gent in 1986.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p99-100
^ Interview with Bob Ellis, 13 August 1996 Archived 24 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 14 October 2012
^ "Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
^ IMDb awards

Murray, Scott; (ed.) (1994). Australian Cinema. St.Leonards, NSW.: Allen & Unwin/AFC. p. 275. ISBN 1-86373-311-6. {{cite book}}: |author2= has generic name (help)

External links

My First Wife at IMDb
My First Wife at the Australian screen

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[stratton2-1] David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p99-100

[2] Interview with Bob Ellis, 13 August 1996 Archived 24 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 14 October 2012

[3] "Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2010.

[4] IMDb awards

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