RETROSPECT: PUBERTY BLUES (1981)
October 27th 2009 07:04
Jad Capelja as Sue and Nell Schofield as Debbie in Puberty Blues.
Perhaps more than any of their other collaborations, Puberty Blues illustrates the supreme skill of director Bruce Beresford and cinematographer Don McAlpine. It’s not their best film together, but Puberty Blues’ ability to shake off a disappointing script and one of the most irritating theme songs in history speaks volumes about their exacting craftsmanship.
Based on the ‘Salami Sisters’’ (Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey) iconic book of the same name, Puberty Blues follows the efforts of Debbie (Nell Schofield) and Sue (Jad Capelja) to ingratiate themselves with the cool kids of Sydney’s Greenhill Beach.
Greenhill is the hangout of the groovy surfers and their cliquey girlfriends. The boys spend their days after school on the waves and the girls act as their foot servants, folding towels, collecting Chicko Rolls and providing a steady stream of cigarettes and sex for their Cro-Magnon men.
It’s very much a case of putting yourself out to find your way in, as Debbie and Sue discover once they’ve cracked their way onto Greenhill’s sandy milieu. The girls aren’t even allowed to surf or eat in front of the boys, and pretty soon the life of booze, drugs and casual sex becomes depressingly tiresome.
It’s a classic coming-of-age story and one that earned the teenage Lette and Carey plenty of kudos when first published in the late 70s. But in the hands of screenwriter Margaret Kelly, things don’t go so well.
While there’s plenty of solid subtext on the sexism being meted out by both the teenage men and the older generations, Kelly struggles to construct a mounting narrative for Puberty Blues, the film’s episodic nature continually draining it of dramatic momentum. Her characters let her down, also, with the boys in the story being given particularly short thrift. Sure, the majority were social lummoxes, but when tragedy strikes one of the (slightly) more sensitive male characters late in the film you have a hard time collecting an emotional payoff.
Thankfully, Beresford, McApline and an engaging central cast were on hand to help right the ship.
Beresford has a gift with young performers and it was obviously in full swing on the set of Puberty Blues. He keeps the tone light and prank-worthy throughout, helping create a comic timing that’s admirable in such a young cast. Schofield is particularly good in the lead role of Debbie, possessing a subtle turn of expression and inner strength, helping add plenty of logic to the screenplay’s final scenes.
And McApline’s work behind the camera is frequently superb. Every scene is carefully framed, the cinematographer being particularly at ease on the expansive beaches capturing the surfers’ tricks and showboating.
It’s these onscreen elements that make Puberty Blues ridiculously watchable and worth checking out, even if the audience can’t quite get with Kelly’s quickly sketched characters and flat plotting. It may not quite share the iconic status of its source material, but Puberty Blues still has enough charm to allow you to wile away an easy hour and a half. Just make sure you mute the opening and closing credits.
Puberty Blues is part of the Australian Cinema Collection now available on DVD from Umbrella Entertainment.
Check out the trailer below:
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Mountain Fog
Comment by Matt Shea
Thanks.
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Nell was pretty good as a kid, always funny seeing her introducing films on Foxtel in recent years, for a long time I never even realised it was the same person.
Comment by Matt Shea
Yeah - me too - I didn't know who she was. She's great in this, as is Capelja - it's a shame that neither of them went on to bigger things.
Comment by Anonymous