Till Human Voices Wake Us Review

We meet Sam as a young fifteen year old played by Lyndley Joyner. He`s returned from boarding school to the country town of Genoa, Victoria for the summer holidays, and a budding first love with his friend Silvy, Brooke Harman, who wears callipers on her legs. Sam`s home is depressed, his father remote so Sam is drawn to the ordinariness and warmth of Silvy`s parents, played by Frank Gallacher and Margot Knight. But a tragedy happens that changes Sam`s life forever. Twenty years on with Guy Pearce in the role, Sam`s an academic, a psychologist, a cold removed person who can`t engage with life. When his father dies and Sam returns to Genoa to bury him he meets a young woman on the train, Ruby, Helena Bonham Carter. After rescuing her from drowning he begins to believe that there`s a connection between Ruby and Silvy, but Ruby has amnesia. Michael Petroni was the writer/director of this debut feature and he wants the film described as a metaphysical romance. It`s about repression and redemption. The first part of the film which deals with Sam`s youth is charmingly portrayed, when it ventures into more mysterious areas with Sam as an adult, it`s more elusive. But the performances are all terrific and the film has a poetry, a real sense of melancholy to be conquered. This is a rather different Australian film, it attempts something original and if it doesn`t succeed completely you still find yourself ruminating about it, letting the images and ideas turn over in your mind.