Brilliant Davis

Feminism hardly ever looks as good on screen as when it’s being portrayed by director Gillian Armstrong, who’s adaptation of “My Brilliant Career” could basically serve as a precursor to her fabulous 1994 adaptation of “Little Women”. Both are about irrepressible young girls- both creatives- who believe in themselves long before the turn-of-the-century world does.


Her debut film comes from Australia, where Judy Davis (also making a strong film debut here) plays Sybylla Melvyn. Living on an impoverished farm in the bush with her family, Sybylla dreams of leaving to have some career in the arts but the frizzy haired girl is perceived as a plain, gawky thing with very little talent to spare. What she lacks in that she makes up for in rambunctious, wild spirit which only makes her a source of more grief and annoyance to her family, who ship her off to a wealthy grandmother that seeks to push thoughts of a career out of her head to make her a lady and get her married off, an idea she detests out of hand.


And despite her plain appearance and rather poor self esteem from her family’s seemingly low opinion of her, she is accosted by suitors every once in a while, like Harry Beechum (Sam Neill). He is a gentleman that she wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting but he likes her friskiness and propensity for trouble and she begins to warm toward him as well, yet she refuses his marriage proposal on the basis that she has yet to establish herself as a woman who has achieved her goal.


The problem with that is that Sybylla seems far more reluctant in knowing where to start than Jo does in “Little Women”. She has yet to figure out the world and so seems to have a scant idea of her place in it or what she should be writing about. It gives the romance at the center a bit more dimension as she seems to like Harry but refuses to allow him to take a primary role in her life, a scenario that makes him not only have to wait but periodically also have to contend with her humiliations as she tries to spurn him. The film gets feminism right as it relates to both genders- for women it’s a sense of discovery, for men it’s often frustrating.


But Armstrong finds the whimsy and boldness of character that defines many love stories and this is absolutely a handsomely shot film of the Australian countryside; boasting wonderful period detail, opulent looks at rich society and the pure squalor of the other side of town. Where the movie really succeeds though is in the Judy Davis performance; even when this character has her head in the clouds and is known as “useless and plain” there is an unpredictable, creative fire to her. She’s headstrong and willing to show her rough edges to people; she’s not afraid to talk back or to impulsively live life the way she feels she’s meant to and in that both Armstrong and her have managed to portray fearless, untamed dreaming in a way that makes us want to hang on.