I absolutely loved this film of Gillian Armstrong`s based on the Booker prize-winning novel by Peter Carey. It was never going to be an easy work to adapt to the big screen, but what a success those involved have made of it - this is a story of two eccentrics - Oscar - Ralph Fiennes - brought up a Plymouth Brethren for whom God will always be a factor in his life and Lucinda, a rich orphan whose love of glass leads her to invest in a glass factory in Sydney. Oscar and Lucinda meet on board ship where they discover a mutual love of gambling...... Oscar, poor soul, discovered his addiction some time earlier.....
There is something intrinsically moving about the fateful story of these two people - I love Oscar`s quixotic trek to Northern New South Wales to deliver a glass church to the man he believes Lucinda loves - I love Richard Roxburgh`s villain and the landscape - I love the way this film touched me in a terribly Australian way - it struck some atavistic core and I`m so grateful. Ralph Fiennes plays Oscar as a twitchily vulnerable creature, Cate Blanchett also brings to the surface Lucinda`s vulnerability - they made me care for these two odd characters so much. I`m not mad on the story`s resolution - it made me angry actually, but I can`t blame the filmmakers for that...... all the skill that Gillian Armstrong and her talented team - cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson, editor Nicholas Beauman, designer Luciana Arrighi bring to this film bowled me over - I cried, I`ll admit it...
