Love, Lust & Lies 2009

Readily described as Australia’s answer to Michael Apted’s Seven Up films, the series of five films made by Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career, Little Women) since 1974 is very much its own phenomenon. She was in her early 20s, and her three subjects were 14-year-old Adelaide school friends Josie, Diane and Kerry when they made Smokes and Lollies. At 47 two are grandmothers. The film teems with their progeny – particularly their daughters – and partners old and new. They speak frankly with laughter, sadness and occasional bitterness about love, marriage, divorce, motherhood, work and the attendant disappointments and dreams. A whole tapestry of modern working class female experience is lovingly revealed, and New Zealanders, if less forthright, will recognise every moment of it. Generous excerpts from the earlier films render prior acquaintance unnecessary and afford the same fundamental poignance as those Apted films: from youth to middle age, life passes before our eyes. — BG

“The series is an extraordinary record, not just of social change but of the obstacles to it. It’s equally a moving and challenging insight into the heroism of ordinary lives… Armstrong, like me, is from the 70s generation of feminists. What we called the Women’s Liberation Movement in those days was as much about inequalities of class as of gender. It was the particular way these two intersected which concerned us. Somehow I feel that though we have made many gains, that perspective has been lost amid debates these days about glass ceilings and representation on boards. Love, Lust & Lies is a searing reminder of its importance.” — Julie Rigg, ABC Radio