User reviews

Whilst this is not a masterpiece of film making, I found it an enjoyable piece of entertainment. Who could not enjoy watching a young Helen Mirren spending much of the time naked? The story is about an artist(James Mason) going to live on an Island in the Great Barrier Reef where he meets young Cora(Mirren)who lives with her horrid granny. He gets Cora to pose naked for him on many occasions. There is some drama along the way and also some comedy mainly from Jack MacGowran, (especially when being pursued by a man mad woman) plus some lovely scenic shots of the island. But by far the best scenery on show is the lovely Helen. Just sit back and enjoy!!

I confess, I watched this for Helen Mirren. All I ever heard of the legendary actress is how amazing she was when she was younger so having never seen one of her early works I gave this a shot.

For a start I have to say Helen Mirren is a stunning elegant woman and a fantastic actress, in her younger days people were not exaggerating......she was beyond beautiful.

In this Australian film with English leads we watch an ailing painter find his muse on a secluded island while taking a break from it all. Sadly that pretty much embodies the storyline and aside from a couple of quirky side characters and goofball antics the movie has very little substance.

Instead of rooting for our leading man I found myself a bit concerned by him, I found him rather perverted and it could be argued a bit exploitative.

Age Of Consent isn't a bad film and is in fact quite charming and visually stunning but beyond that has little going for it.

Come for the movie, stay for the Helen Mirren.

I get the impression many actresses look back with regret on early roles featuring nudity but here I'd imagine Mirren would look back fondly as this is a respectful piece and she looks very in her element.

As always, Helen Mirren is delightful to see. And James Mason finally gets to be with his Lolita. And oh, I did find Mason's mate more aggravating than an Australian fly. For those who haven't experienced them, Australian flies will just never leave you alone. They're aggressive little insects who are attracted to any body with water. Don't sweat, and yet, how can one help but sweat when Helen Mirren is around. She's a gorgeous woman, always has been and will be. A great actress too. This romp does her justice as a start in film. Don't forget to her her cameo appearance in "Oh Lucky Man", made around this same time.

He only wanted her for her body--to paint, of course....

I just saw this film and found it absolutely delightful. As others have noted, Helen Mirren is a wonder as a young girl working out the relationship between her body's strength and its beauty, and how each can help her get what she wants. There is one moment, when she takes control of a motorboat after having dumped a would-be lover overboard, when I saw the future Jane Tennison. James Mason is also marvelous as the obsessive painter. The natural setting, on the Great Barrier Reef, is liberating and beautiful but the heart of the movie is the little cabin which goes from a dump to a layered, painted work of art. This man's passion to make things, to create color and line on every available surface, seems to fill the movie's surface too. Near the end, when Cora enters the cabin and we see her surrounded by his paintings of her, the relationship between art and life seems to be a very happy one. It's too bad Michael Powell didn't get to make more films in the 1960s and early 70s. I think that if I could have seen this film at the time it was made (when I was a girl in my late teens, for whom nudity was not an option) it would have meant a lot to me.

In spite of the scandalous looking title, "Age of Consent" is not about a woman losing her virginity or a lolita-type relationship (because Helen Mirren looks underage the same way that Anne Hathaway looks underage). "Age of Consent" is simply about an artist (James Mason) searching for his artistic inspiration in Australia and finally finding his very own muse named Cora (Helen Mirren) who does a lot of naked posing for him.

Now if you are looking for a thought provoking or profound film about the human condition, "Age of Consent" is not for you. But if you already had a few beers on a Friday night and are looking for some light entertainment with a bit of charm, then this film is just right. "Age of Consent" has everything you (as one of the guys) would want to see in a film after getting drunk: a funny dog (Godfrey, who almost steals the show), a naked 24 year old Helen Mirren, lots of nature, some amusing locals, a naked 24 year old Helen Mirren, more nature, marine life and oh yes, getting to see 24 year old Helen Mirren nude! It is not a masterpiece, but I have to admit I watched "Age of Consent" to the end.

Movie Girl - I just wanted to add something I think is important - the real heart of the story. First I have to say I was still in high school when this film was made and never saw it until a friend sent me a copy recently.

I do think they went a bit far with the nude scenes, but the girl very nicely played by Helen Mirren was genuinely naive and was suddenly realizing that she had a nice figure. At the same time Cora as the young girl picked up on the fact that she was becoming attracted to this erudite artist with the great voice, of course. - James Mason was the "elderly" artist. She had genuinely fallen for him and was very hurt that he had made their association a "paying" affair. He bought her fish and did not seem personally interested in her. He also painted her in nude scenes.

Cora's aunt? is always wrongly suspecting her of a sexual rendezvous and trails her around. When she falls over a cliff, the girl has little remorse.

During the story we see Cora reject the man in the boat making sexual advances and also the guy who shows up in the cottage who is curious about the artist's paintings. (So we see that Cora is not a person who is promiscuous, nor is the artist, usually.). The painter explains to his overly curious visitor that it is not a personal affair.

All along in an invisible fashion was the title of the film, Age of Consent which meant just that. Cora was supposed to be 17 and for this very reason the painter does not make advances to her.

At the same time she does not think of this and takes it all as a rejection. The ending is quite delightful -- no spoiler intended as she accuses him of not caring about her at all and is in the water - splashing at him and he says that is not true. After the splashing scenes we can well imagine the scenes that ensue.

So as a person who usually likes older films for romance I do admire James Mason and for this reason watched the film. I think he and Helen Mirren made this story into something more than a risqué adventure. The key element at the end was love for both, though the painter was too old for his model. It was all in the perception of both.

And what of the girl he had sex with in the beginning? Well, I guess he was carried away. James Mason later married this girl, Clarissa Kaye in the 70's. I was glad to read that James escaped from his disastrous first marriage; sadly did not marry again until years later.

One thing more - Some people ventured the opinion that the term Age of Consent was outdated but I do not believe this is so. It made a nice undercurrent for the film and its ultimate denouement.

This is the first time seeing Helen Mirren and she is young and quite pretty. I have seen her in many other movies and at least one TV series since and I still think her on-screen presence is powerful. Although her performance showed some on-screen nudity in this, it is not in any way a bad thing. It is quite a thing of beauty. I rate the movie a 7 out of 10.

THE AGE OF CONSENT made in 1969 on Dunk Island of the great barrier (coral) reef was quite a success in Australia in its day. Apparently though it was heavily cut Internationally with some nude scenes deleted and the first 10 minutes shortened. Well the planet can now rejoice because a carefully restored complete version is now available and has had a premiere screening in Sydney in the magnificent 2300 seat State Theatre as part of the 2005 Sydney Film Festival. It will appear Internationally in festivals and then on DVD for all to savor. The story is by Norman Lindsay, a world renowned artists whose bacchanalian paintings of luscious nude sirens have caused erotic reactions (good and bad) for over 100 years. (See the film SIRENS)..... THE AGE OF CONSENT details an artist (here called Bradley Morrison) similar to Lindsay, played by a fit and tanned James Mason who travels to tropical isolation in an attempt to regain his artist eye. He does of course with the form of shapely nude teenage island muse, Cora: Helen Mirrenin her first voluptuous role. There is so much to enjoy in THE AGE OF CONSENT from Mason and Mirren's balanced careful performances to the secondary characters, mainly in the form of spectacular handsome and virile 24 year old Harold Hopkins, an Australian actor in one of his first appearances. He has been unjustly ignored in this film's reputation and it is time to celebrate his appearance (as the spunky gauche youth, Ted) and recognize his astonishing good looks and hilarious turn trying to be Cora's boyfriend. Ten years ahead of Mel Gibson and far better looking, fitter and far more screen presence. Unfortunately his film career did not succeed as well. Today, Hopkins is not well known and looks more like Andy Warhol. Celebrated Brit director Michael Powell whose comedy THEY'RE A WEIRD MOB was a massive local success in 1966 turned his adept hand to this romantic tropical artistic fruit salad with generally very enjoyable results. Certain sequences just between Mirren and Mason are so effective that the viewer is left with the extraordinary feeling of having actually been there with them that day on the beach. Sadly this was Powell's last film in a career lasting over 30 years producing endurable classics in both the UK and Oz. Subplots involving Mason's racing pal who pesters him for cash and follows him about, to Cora's hag-like granny who berates her beauty are overplayed and create pantomime, but this is a small detraction from what is a generally astonishingly visually beautiful romantic drama of loneliness and artistic endeavor. The color photography, I was thrilled to learn, was achieved by duplicating the original Technicolour method of a three reel tint (YCM) on black and white stock then matching all three to create a color negative. As I marveled at the sublime color of this restored print I had wondered how it was so perfect. An after-film Q&A segment revealed this color film(ed) method and I am happy to pass on this important piece of tech info. THE AGE OF CONSENT is a film of its time but also with content explicit and exquisite for a new century audience. If one gets the opportunity to see this restored version, it contains visual delights and location atmosphere captured carefully and restored lovingly that transfers to the viewer with humorous ease. Yes Mirren has hairy legs and Mason doesn't wear underpants and the lesser characters are Aussie parrots..but that's part of the story! Enjoy THE AGE OF CONSENT. It is a film of which Helen Mirren today would be especially so proud...as would Harold Hopkins. One scene where Cora wistfully buys herself a cheap children's plastic handbag at the local store is genuinely touching depicting her lonely wish to own something 'nice'. The delusion and loneliness captured perfectly for this beautiful sad girl stuck in paradise but without real appreciation (except for Mason). The opening scene is now hilarious with a risqué painting of the Columbia woman Logo as part of a provocative art exhibition.

I remember there was a lot of media hype in Australia about this movie when it was first released. I thought it was a bit of an oddity then, and it definitely is today.

Bradley Morahan (James Mason), a successful Australian artist based in New York is dissatisfied with his art and his life. He heads for North Queensland and a remote island on the Great Barrier Reef. Here he meets some of the locals including a young girl, Cora (Helen Mirren), whose grandmother is an eccentric old beachcomber.

Despite constant reminders from her grandmother that she is underage, Cora becomes Bradley's model and muse, restoring his belief in his art and himself. "You've given me back my eyes; you've taught me to love things again ", he exclaims at the end of the movie as their relationship blossoms, despite the 30-year age gap.

Based on a novel by Norman Lindsay, the film was made about the time he died. Decades earlier, Norman Lindsay had outraged prudish Australian society with his art, which often featured well-rounded, naked nymphs cavorting with leering satyrs.

But as this movie showed, society had caught up with his ideas and even surpassed them in what was termed permissible - he seemed a bit out of touch by this time, and had outlived his particular crusade against Puritanism.

Unfortunately, the art on show in "Age of Consent" doesn't show much of Lindsay's influence - he was a brilliant artist. Bradley's paintings and sketches in the movie are a combination of the work of two Australian artists: John Coburn produced the strongly patterned New York paintings, and Paul Delprat did the scenes on the island in what could only be called a naïve style.

The biggest connection to Lindsay's art is actually Helen Mirren, who had 'the equipment', as Michael Parkinson once described her voluptuous figure, that would have had kept Norman Lindsay happily working away at his easel for hours.

The restored version of the film also features Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe's lyrical score, which was replaced with one by the more experienced British film composer, Stanley Myers. Interestingly, Myers' score seemed a more revved up version of Sculthorpe's work.

It was pretty much Helen Mirren's first film, but it was a considerable way into James Mason's career. What a presence he had. The mellifluous, honey-toned voice was as hypnotic as ever, despite a half-hearted attempt at an Australian accent. The rest of the cast were mainly Australian, playing characters of varying levels of eccentricity and annoyance. Irish actor Jack MacGowran as Nat Kelly is particularly strident. The comedy in the film is definitely of the broad variety and was no funnier back in 1969 than it is now.

With a particularly messy script, the film is more of a novelty than anything else, but does feature two magnetic actors at opposite ends of their careers - it's worth a look for that alone.

There's a touch of the Gulley Jimsons as well as Paul Gaughin to the artist that James Mason plays in Michael Powell's final 'proper' feature film "Age of Consent". It isn't very good but it's also a hard film to dislike; it's as if everyone involved is having a holiday in one of the most beautiful places on earth, (Dunk Island in Queensland), and having more fun than we are.

It is, then, thin on plot but strong on scenery. Others enjoying the sun and the sand are a young Helen Mirren, (the wild spirit who becomes Mason's muse), and Jack MacGowran, (the scrounger who comes to stay). There is some wildly misplaced comedy as well as a lot of well-cured ham from the supporting cast, (Mason and Mirren, at least, are nicely subdued), and if it is something of a comedown for its director it still manages to exude a peculiar charm all its own.

A famous painter retreats to a somewhat remote island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef to inspire his creativity and finds a young woman to pose for him. Mason is fine as the painter. In one of her earliest roles, Mirren looks amazingly young and alluring as the object of Mason's desire. MacGowran provides the comedy as Mason's unwanted guest on the island. There isn't much of a plot in this laid-back and light-hearted comedy, but it features a quirky cast of characters and is quite enjoyable. The dog is cute and receives on-screen billing. The island setting is beautifully filmed under Powell's masterful direction.

An elderly artist (James Mason) thinks he has become too stale and is past his prime. His friend (and agent) persuades him to go to an off-shore island to try once more. On the island he rediscovers his muse in the form of a young girl.

This film is notable for two reasons: as the final film of Michael Powell, and for the first starring role of Helen Mirren. The film made my list of to-see because I have been going through the complete works of Powell. I must say, however, this is not one of his great works. Still a good film, but a far cry from his great entries.

What really disappointed me was just how "1960s England" the film is. The art show, the idea of looser morals... it makes the story seem less timeless than it could be. That in itself does not ruin anything, but it does not help.

This is not a good movie. In fact it's so bad, one wonders why it was made. James Mason is a bored painter... who gives an appropriately boring performance. Helen Mirren is supposed to be a naive young girl, but she's too old for the part and comes across as mildly retarded.

The rest of the cast consists of character actors who were apparently directed to overact as much as possible.

There's also a repetitive music score which does nothing to help.

The scenery is beautiful, but that's not enough. Perhaps the nudity was considered ground-breaking back then, but the movie is just indecipherable today.

Compared to the many classics Michael Powell had previously directed, this Australian film is just a light, piece of fluff, but it is worth watching to see the young Helen Mirren and another solid performance by James Mason, who must have had a particular interest in playing this part as he also co-produced the film. Don't be misled by the title, the issue of sexual relations between an older man and an under-age girl is only really hinted at, the main theme being the need for an artist to find new inspiration. The tone of the film is essentially light, and, for me, the highlight is a couple of hilarious scenes in which Jack McGowran, as Mason's scrounging mate Nat Kelly, meets his comeuppance at the hands of a man-hunting neighbor of Mason's.

This is a quirky and highly eccentric film. 'Over the top' is an inadequate description. The sight of James Mason with a beard and a deep tan doing an Australian accent is eerie and unsettling. He does not sustain the accent very well, but he tries mightily. And once he even convincingly says: 'It's byute!' He is meant to be a famous Australian artist, and to convince us that he is in the correct milieu, he sits in front of a book about Sidney Nolan, and just to rub it in even further, 'Sid' and Arthur Boyd are mentioned on television. So the scene is set. But what Nolan and Boyd probably never did was go and live alone in a run-down shack on an island at the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, and paint a naked nymph. Not that they didn't fancy naked nymphs, it's just that, well, the Great Barrier Reef??? A hut??? Alone??? This may be what drew Mason to the project, since he and Michael Powell jointly produced it, and that means they were serious. Mason must have wanted a jolly good holiday in the sun, far from his austere Switzerland where he lived, and a naked girl cavorting around him also must have seemed just the thing. That naked girl is none other than Miss Mironov, better known as Helen Mirren, and she was aged 24 at the time. Over the years I have become exasperated at hearing all my male friends gasp with lust about Mironov. She never did anything for me, but I am in the extreme minority, indeed have often been met with expostulations of disbelief when I confessed my indifference. What was wrong with me? That is a question many people have speculated about, without coming to any sound conclusions. If being turned off by Mironov is a sign of something, then I plead guilty. But apart from that, she is of course a superb actress, and she even does very well in this role which could easily have been silly. Instead, she manages to be convincing. And that was not easy, as the story is in so many ways ridiculous. This was Michael Powell's last effort at directing, after which he passed beyond the Great Barrier Reef. The film may be feeble in countless ways, but it is genuinely amusing and its affectionate sending-up of the Ossies by portraying wildly caricatured Ossie types was very funny. Mason's friend Nat, played by Jack MacGowran, is as outré as a character actor can get, but nevertheless believable. He overacts so emphatically that he is simply hilarious. Yes, the film is engrossing in its own bizarre fashion. For the time it was meant to be highly erotic, and doubtless was, but in those days, things were simpler. Even the phrase 'age of consent' is no longer used. After all, now that girls of ten are routinely pregnant, what is the 'age of consent' any longer but a fig leaf to mask the hypocrisy of the older people who insist on believing that young people are still demure? Today, the idea of a 24 year-old girl running around naked on a beach would not be a bit unusual, or even a 17 year-old, which is the supposed age of Mironov's character. There is no use taking this film seriously, instead it should be viewed as a comedy which was never intended to be anything but a romp. There is also a very clever dog star named Godfrey who gets a whole single screen credit to himself. (That is how whimsical this film really is!) His best trick is to rush back to the hut and slip his neck back into his collar which is tied up so that when James Mason arrives home, he does not know that Godfrey has been running along the beach playing for hours and, like all the people in this film, romping like mad.

The second film to emerge from Michael Powell's Australian exile - and his last for a mainstream audience - still remains relatively obscure, and those introduced to it are usually surprised and delighted to discover that such a record exists of a young Helen Mirren romping starkers on the Great Barrier Reef.

She herself disliked working working with Powell because he shouted a lot and was shocked at how enormous her backside looked on the big screen. Still awe-inspiring at 75, over half a century ago she even then looked more like a thirty year-old pretending to be a naive young teenager than a young woman in her early twenties.

Films may have any number of different strengths. For some it's the acting, for others the story, and in some cases it's effects, or stunts, or comedy. I'm of the mind that the chief selling point of this title is its cinematography - Hannes Staudinger's, sure, but the underwater work of Ron and Valerie Taylor is exquisite. Between the gorgeous filming locations, the cinematographers' contributions, and Michael Powell's keen eye as director, 'Age of consent' is a rather beautiful picture. The production design and art direction, too, are terrific; the visual presentation is rich and flavorful all around. True, I think the cast give fine performances (Neva Carr Glyn rather steals the show as overbearing, screeching Ma Ryan), and we're treated to light humor peppered among swell character moments throughout this comedy-drama. More sparing are discrete threads of plot in a feature where not a lot actually, specifically happens for most of these 106 minutes. Fifty years on, this may yet be most notable of all as an early role of the great Helen Mirren, only 24 years old when this was released.

None of this is to downplay any of the work that went into this movie, for it's well made all around. This is lightly amusing, lightly engaging, and all around a pleasant viewing experience no matter what glimmers of more severe drama may appear around the edges. That it saves pretty much all its concrete plot for the last two-fifths of the length is perhaps another matter; 'Age of consent' feels imbalanced, with all its (light) weight in the back end. The result is a title that mostly just comes and goes rather fleetingly, without any especial spark or vitality to help it stick. It's enjoyable, and worth checking out, and surely most suggested for fans of those involved. As there's so little distinct substance to particularly grab onto, however, it's also hard to give any major recommendation. Save it for a quiet day, perhaps, and just relax and see where the movie takes you.

A very pleasant surprise. I had expected Michael Powell's last feature to be mediocre at best, with the one selling point of a nude, young Helen Mirren, but it's actually a pretty good movie. Not the director's best, of course, but it's quite sweet and beautiful. James Mason plays an Australian painter who has difficulty perfecting an Australian accent. He flees the city for an island in the Great Barrier Reef, where he can relax and paint. There he meets a 17 year old girl (Mirren in her first film role) who dreams of moving to the big city. He's entranced by her beauty, and agrees to fund her dreams if she'll pose for him, often nude. Despite the lurid title, the film isn't sensationalistic or pornographic. Mason's interest, despite what some of the townsfolk might think, is purely artistic. It's much like the film, actually. You might watch it for the naked lady, but you stick around for the artistry. And Powell's artistry is intact, fully. Besides the enveloping cinematography (not to mention some beautiful underwater photography), you'll find plenty of Archers-esquire touches, like the dog chasing toads out the door. The story is pretty thin, but that's not uncommon amongst Powell's many travelogue films. It's often very funny, especially with Jack MacGowran and Neva Carr-Glynn. Oh yeah, and Helen Mirren, 24, gets naked a lot. That's definitely worth checking out!

This is an odd movie in many ways but it has a lot of drama and humor. The dog was very amusing as was the drunk old lady. Others have commented on the content of this movie but I would say the title is misleading.

This was a wonderful movie. Those who criticise it probably missed the sixties. It was a liberating expression of moral freedom in its time. Cora spent most of the film frolicking about naked and what a wonderful lindsayan figure of a woman she was! I just loved this movie and would recommend it to anyone to see. Take a moment out to travel back in time to the beginnings of your moral freedoms.

... but the people can be awful. Take Jack MacGowran's character, the worst kind of leech and thief you can imagine; a guy you would really like to bash with a tire iron if you had one. He'll trade on a past acquaintance to invite himself into your cabin, then eat your food, drink your beer and proceed to steal your money and some art work into the bargain. Then there's Granny, played by Neva Carr-Glynn, a real piece of work. Bigoted and stupid in equal measure, she steals from Cora and calls her a prostitute, while drinking constantly. James Mason has to suffer these people while trying to overcome Helen Mirren's prudish reluctance to posing naked. Four good performances, plus some supporting actors doing well. Fun.

Helen Mirren's fine acting as the feral yet alluring Cora, poor country girl-turned-artist's model, and the natural beauty of the Great Barrier Reef (above and below water) are the chief assets in this rather hamfisted comedy/romance/art film directed by Michael Powell in 1969 (his last feature length film) and co-produced by and starring James Mason as a world famous (and world weary) artist looking to recharge his batteries. Mason's effete manner is believable enough, but his dodgy 'Oz' accent is not. The film's weakest aspect is its strained attempt at (sex) comedy. There is little to propel the film forward to its largely unsatisfying conclusion. All of the plot points seem to be forced. Frank Thring, a decade after his magnificent portrayal of Pilate in "Ben Hur", is wasted in a cameo role as an art dealer.

Michael Powell's short featurette from 1978, "Return to the Edge of the World", was, in contrast, much more satisfying, and hearkened back to his earlier days when he directed "The Edge of the World" in 1937, a much more artistically (and morally) satisfying film, made prior to his teaming with Emeric Pressburger for a string of successful motion pictures in the 1940s.

"Age of Consent" is really only for Powell completists, or those who want to see a young Helen Mirren au naturel.