Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002)

Director:

Michael Petroni

Writer:

Michael Petroni (writer)

Release Date:

12 September 2002 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

There will be time to wonder "do I dare"

Plot:

A man returns to Victoria, Australia, where he grew up, and encounters a mysterious woman who reminds him of someone he once knew.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Friend | Poetry | Guilt | Amnesia

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Guy Pearce	...	Dr. Sam Franks
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Ruby
Frank Gallacher	...	Maurie Lewis
Lindley Joyner	...	Young Sam Franks
Brooke Harmon	...	Silvy Lewis
Peter Curtin	...	Dr. David Franks
Margot Knight	...	Dorothy Lewis
Anthony Martin	...	Russ
Dawn Klingberg	...	Mrs. Sarks
David Ravenswood	...	Lawyer
Stewart Faichney	...	Reverend Mortenbury
Diana Greentree	...	Mrs. Pickford
Ian Swan	...	Police Sergeant
Mark Perren Jones	...	Police Constable
Sally Plant	...	Student #1

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Cinevex)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Netherlands:MG6 | UK:12 | USA:R | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Instinct Entertainment

Trivia:

The title is taken from the last line of 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' by T.S. Eliot: "Till human voices wake us and we drown".

Goofs:

Continuity: When first seen at the Scrabble board, Sam's face is in full light in the close-ups, but lit from his left with shadows on the right side of his face in the medium shot.

Quotes:

Silvy Lewis: If moths are attracted to the light, why don't they come out in the day?
Young Sam Franks: ...guess in the day, light comes to them.

The Perfect Elegiac Dream Film

This is a magnificent triumph of film-making. Why is it that five years later, the writer and director Michael Petroni has not made another feature film? Is there no justice at all in the world? Everything about this film, the mood, the pace, the beautiful and sensitive cinematography, the music, the writing, the direction, and the acting are uniformly superb. No one with any sensitivity could fail to be moved by this dreamlike excursion into memory, remorse, and loss. This film deals with 'atonement' more profoundly than the film of that title which has just been made. Helena Bonham Carter gives one of the most memorable and inspired performances of her entire career in this film. Guy Pearce, who was so wonderful in 'Memento' (2000), here is even better. The teenaged boy and girl are played by Lindley Joyner and Brooke Harmon respectively, and they are spellbinding and delightfully refreshing and charming. (The boy has never made a film since, and one wonders why.) The boy's father, a man paralyzed in his emotions, is played with total conviction by Peter Curtin. His silence is eloquent, and so is Guy Pearce's. This film deals with silence, with dreaming, with visions, with memory. It is not in any way a 'supernatural film' in the conventional sense, and anyone hungry for poltergeists and demons should look elsewhere. This film is very sad, because it deals so profoundly with guilt and loss. It touches the deepest reaches of our psyches, it is a true work of art, and has a master's brush strokes on every frame.