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Recent Exhibitions
Love and Death Overview | Free Film Program
Love & Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria
Free Film Program
Friday 7 June 12.30
{The Pre-Raphaelite Revolt<,b} 30 mins
Dir: David Thompson, 1967. 16mm. Source: ACMI
Traces the movement of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which protested the outmoded academic conventions of the day and wanted to emulate the naturalism of the Italian Renaissance painters before Raphael. Studies the early works of Ford Madox Brown, John Everett Millais, John Ruskin, Holman Hunt, Arthur Hughes and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Sir John Everett Millais 60 mins
United Kingdom, 1974. Dir: Anita Sterner. VHS Source: ACMI
Made to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Millais' birth. This program retraces his life and work through letters to and from his contemporaries and through a large collection of paintings and drawings.
{Sunday 9 June 12.30<,b}
Her Majesty Mrs Brown 100 mins
United Kingdom, 1997. Dir: John Madden VHS Rated PG. Source: ACMI
Set at the height of Victorian England, 'Mrs Brown' tells of the extraordinary relationship between a Queen and a commoner. Judi Dench gives a stunning performance (which was reflected by her Best Actress nomination), as Queen Victoria who begins a doomed, and ultimately tragic relationship with her servant, John Brown (Billy Connolly). Brown brings comfort and life to the Queen's long period of mourning following the death of her husband, Albert. Where others failed to cheer her up, Brown succeeds, and in doing so secures the Queen's respect and friendship. The Victorian court is suspicious of their leader's new found happiness which forces the Queen and Brown to make some painful choices about their relationship, their own needs, and the monarchy. Cast includes Antony Sher, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Pasco and David Westhead.
Friday 14 June 12.30
Darkest England 52 mins
Great Britain, 1984. Dir: Michael Eaton. VHS Source: ACMI
A made-for-television film about the ruling ideology of Victorian England. Vices were inherent in virtues: civilising the savage meant imperialism, prosperity also meant poverty, and clean living meant repressed sexuality. In focussing on a middle-class doctor, Eaton provides a series of narrative tableaux; he also uses Victorian texts, images, maps and bizarre interludes to explore these apparent contradictions. Instead of the closure of naturalistic costume drama, a process of historical enquiry is opened up by the use of what Eaton calls 'intellectual montage'.
Sunday 16 June 12.30
Tess 164 mins
U K 1978. Dir: Roman Polanski. Rated PG 16mm. Source: Sixteen Millimetre Australia
A faithful rendition of Thomas Hardy's story of Victorian sexual and social hypocrisy. The pure village maiden Tess, supposed poor relation of the wealthy D'Urbervilles is seduced by one man and treated unfairly by another. Nastassia Kinski is perfect in the role of the doomed Tess.
Friday 21 June 12.30
England in the Middle Ages 43 mins
U K 1981.Dir: David Boulton. VHS Source: ACMI
An overview of four hundred years of British history. Deals with the impact of the Norman Invasion; the Doomsday Book; the structure of medieval society; the importance of religion, castles, cathedrals and abbeys; the development of towns and trade; the Magna Carta; the Crusades; the beginnings of parliament; the Black Death; the decline of the fuedal system; the Peasant Revolt; the rise of the university and the Hundred Years War
{Great English Writers<,b} 42 mins
U K 1986. Centre Productions. VHS Source: ACMI
Consists of three discrete programs, each one of about 14min on three great English writers. The programs are: 1." The World of William Shakespeare"; 2."The World of Charles Dickens" and 3. "The World of Geoffrey Chaucer". Each places the writer and his work into an historical context, utilising location shooting and illustrations from old paintings and lithographs.
Friday 28 June 12.30
Famous men and fair women 26 mins
U K 1974. Prod: BBC. VHS Source: ACMI
Julia Margaret Cameron was an outstanding photographer of the Victorian period. Despite the restrictions of her social position, she became a recognised artist of portrait photography. Many notable individuals such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Lord Tennyson, were included amongst her subjects. The film gives insight into the social and cultural environment and the moral attitudes that affected concepts of beauty. Demonstrations of photographic procedures used during the 1800's such as the sliding box camera, plates etc., is also shown.
1851, The Crystal Year 29 mins
USA 1966. Dir: James Trainor. 16mm Source: ACMI
The erection of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, for the Great Exhibition of 1951 is seen as symbolic of serene Victorianism and society's confidence in the triumphs of the Industrial Revolution. Some of the causes of social unrest are shown, and Karl Marx working nearby in the British Museum represents the movements for social reform to come
Wednesday 3 July 12.30
Orpheo 11 mins
USA 1971. Dir: Caroline Leaf. No spoken commentary. 16mm. Source: ACMI
Animated interpretation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Alice in Wonderland 66 mins
USA 1951. Dir: Dallas Bower, Marc Mourette. 16mm. Source: ACMI
This adaptation of Lewis Caroll's book, combining real-life action and animation, is faithfull to the spirit of a 'roman a clef' set in 19th century England, with characters in the book representing real life personalities such as Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Dean of Oxford University. The film was shot at La Victorine Studios (Nice, France) during 1948 and released in Paris in May 1949.
Thursday 4 July 12.30
Jabberwocky 14 mins
Czechoslavakia, 1973. Dir: Jan Svankmajer. VHS. Source: ACMI
Using Lewis Carrol’s famous poem as a starting point, this film uses an animated sequence of images composed of Victoriana props, toys and games of childhood to create a surrealist fantasy.
Ghost stories from the Pickwick Papers 60 mins
U K 1987. Prod: Emerald City Productions. VHS. Source: ACMI
A trio of Dicken's most suspenseful chilling tales is brought to life through animation.
Sunday 7 July 12.30
The French Lieutenant’s Woman 124 mins
U K 1981, Dir: Karel Reisz. VHS. Source: ACMI
Based on the brilliant novel by John Fowles, with screenplay written by Harold Pinter, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" is at once a classic Victorian love story and an ironic look at an age of double-standard morality. Sarah Woodruff's chance meeting with Charles Smithson, a young man-about-town who subsequently discards his pretty young fiancee in a wave of passion, sets in motion a series of events that disrupts the quiet fishing and seaside village in England, and profoundly affects the lives of its residents.
Friday 12 July 12.30
Victoria, Queen and Empress 63 mins
Great Britain 1977, BBC. Video (U-matic). Source: ACMI
The eighth of a nine part series showing some of the treasures in the Royal Collection. The later years of Victoria's reign, after the death of Prince Albert, produced the styles and themes which are today most usually characterised 'Victorian'.
PLEASE NOTE
This programme is correct at time of publication. Please telephone the Queensland Art Gallery on 3840 7255 to confirm screenings.
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