A Woman’s Tale movie storyline. Australian director Paul Cox, skilled at intense psychological stories about lone souls looking for comfort in a cold world, was at his best with this original script co-written by the director and Barry Dickins.
Martha is a 78-year-old woman living out her final days. Not a maudlin tale of a lonely woman wasting away, A Woman’s Tale focuses on a human who manages to maintain an amazing vitality in the face of death. She encourages her young nurse, Anna, to use her flat for romantic trysts; she looks in on Billy, an elderly neighbor, and she resists attempts by her son Johanathan to place her in a nursing home. Sheila Florance’s performance as Martha is a marvel, especially given the art-imitates-life aspect of production: Florance was terminally ill, and she died soon after she was nominated for the Best Actress Award for Australia’s Academy Awards.
A Woman’s Tale is a 1991 Australian film directed by Paul Cox. It stars Sheila Florance, Gosia Dobrowolska, Norman Kaye, Chris Haywood and Ernie Gray.
A Woman’s Tale (1991)
Directed by: Paul Cox
Starring: Sheila Florance, Gosia Dobrowolska, Norman Kaye, Chris Haywood, Ernie Gray, Myrtle Woods, Bruce Myles, Alex Menglet, François Bernard, Monica Maughan
Screenplay by: Paul Cox, Barry Dickins
Production Design by: Neil Angwin
Cinematography by: Nino Gaetano Martinetti
Film Editing by: Russell Hurley
Costume Design by: Aphrodite Kondos
Music by: Paul Grabowsky
Distributed by: Orion Classics
Release Date: December 18, 1991
Hits: 97
