Snapshot

Sometime around 2008 or 2009, while promoting his Ozsploitation documentary Not Quite Hollywood, director Mark Hartley accompanied at least a dozen name Australian producers and directors to a Los Angeles film festival, and we saw them all together at a special ArcLight screening. In one evening we got a crash course in Australian cinema, from the vulgar to the sublime, from My Brilliant Career through Mad Max and all points between.

Powerhouse Indicator has just released a pair of good Australian genre thrillers on Blu-ray. Richard Franklin’s original Patrick became an international hit; it stars Susan Penhaligon and Robert Helpmann, and was actually remade by Mark Hartley about ten years ago. Less well known is the 1979 thriller Snapshot, which in America received a delayed release here under a shameless copycat title, The Day after Halloween. The two movies share a popular writer, Everett De Roche; Snapshot is interesting because it can’t quite make up its mind about its own identity.

Although they played in the art film circuit, we have to admit that we caught up with the ‘wave’ of Australian prestige filmmaking on the new cable TV channels, and also the Los Angeles industry-related “Z” Channel. The Australian movies had unfamiliar actors (Sam Neill, Bruno Lawrence, Judy Davis) but approached genres (horror, adventure, romance) in a pleasingly traditional way. Snapshot really isn’t gory enough to compete with ’70s horror pictures. It’s really a character study of a young woman’s introduction to the fast lane of modeling. It’s a bit like John Schlesinger’s Darling, with less glitz and more personal jeopardy. Its very interesting leading lady Sigrid Thornton would proceed to a still-ongoing career, mostly in popular Australian TV series.

Melbourne of the late 1970s now has a cosmopolitan feel and its own media industry. Young Angela Bailey (Sigrid Thornton) is trying to deal with an overbearing & repressive mother, keep her job as a hairdresser, and somehow have a personal life as well. Her entry into modeling is provided by the older, independent and somewhat daring fashion model Madeline (Chantal Contouri) — a nude modeling job for a fragrance. Frightened at first, Angela finds out that the shoot is real, the photographer professional and the pay potentially life-changing. Both Madeline and the name photographer Linsey (Hugh Keays-Byrne) believe that Angela’s career will catch fire when the glossy magazine ads are out. In the meantime she keeps late hours clubbing with Madeline and putting up with weird invitations from ad-related execs like modeling agency owner Elmer (Robert Bruning). His behaviour is strange but Madeline dismisses him as harmless.

Angela’s personal problems get worse, especially at home. Her envious, delinquent little sister tells their unforgiving mother (Julia Blake) that she’s living in sin, and Angela finds herself locked out of her own house. She moves into a casual living arrangement with other artists in the photographer’s studio. Mother has decided that Angela needs to stop avoiding Daryl, her ex (Vincent Gil of Mad Max). Daryl stalks Angela in his ice cream truck with a big “Mr. Whippy” logo. Angela’s only confidante is Madeline. The photographer Linsey has already creeped Angela out a bit, with his obsessive photographs of dead animals. Then a pig’s head turns up in Angela’s bed.

“Oh, darling, tits went out with Jayne Mansfield.”

Originally written with the title Centrefold, Snapshot is organized around a solid idea: by going for the $ big media $, Angela allows herself to be turned into a commodity. These are the disco years, and arrogant men young and old try to pick up Angela with tacky come-on lines. Linsey only sees her as a visual image. A wealthy ad man attends the windy wintry beach shoot (the setting is supposed to be tropical) just to see Angela topless. Meanwhile, Angela is bombarded by both Daryl’s unwanted advances and her mother’s religious tyranny. The only person seemingly not after a piece of Angela is her wild friend Madeline, in her red Mercedes. Madeline does have an agenda in mind, but it’s notthing Angela would expect. Just as it looks like Angela will advance to sought-after modeling status, the weird things around her turn genuinely threatening.

Until the climax, Angela seems mainly confused by her own sex attraction. At one point she feels a total fool for being talked into removing her top. Elsewhere the attitude toward nudity as a commodity is made very clear — there’s nothing at all unhealthy about Angela being photographed in the surf. The session is a lot of work for everyone. The curious, open-minded Angela is a trouper — she doesn’t object to the cold ocean water.

Indicator’s extra essays explain how Suspect came together as a stack of commercial compromises. Ms. Thornton was a last-minute hire, after another actress reportedly objected to the (very chaste) nude scenes. Director Simon Wincer was making a first theatrical film after extensive TV work — he went on to direct a number of well-known features as well as the very successful Lonesome Dove miniseries. The show has a fine visual polish; even the back alleys of Melbourne come off as attractive. The most dated aspect of the club scene is some of the music, and a stage performer who doesn’t add much to the show. His scenes were mostly cut for the film’s shorter theatrical cut.

For a long time Snapshot existed for horror fans as one provocative photo of Sigrid Thornton with her arms crossed. That put it on lists next to the (often) misogynistic Italian Giallos … the skin ‘n’ razors slasher trend that was already giving way to sleazy epics about zombies and cannibals. This movie prioritizes character and lifestyle details over woman-in-jeopardy content. The photo shoots and Lindey’s artistic noodling with proofs of Angela’s photos are convincing. We rather like the eccentric Linsey, even after we realize that Hugh Keays-Byrne’s claim to fame is as George Miller’s ferocious Toecutter and Immortan Joe.

Some Australian genre pictures can be very blunt about violence and sex, choosing whatever jokes work over sensitivity to the characters. Producer Antony Ginnane aims higher than some of his ribald comedies. Although Snapshot is still a genre piece that promises violence against a woman, director Wincer is allowed to take a high-road approach. The focus remains on the various ways others try to possess or control Angela.

Ms. Thornton gives her character more than enough credibility. It’s believable that a young woman from Angela’s repressed background would be swept away by the opportunity offered by the outspoken, self-assured Madeline. The story’s sidebar theme of lesbianism is also handled well. Angela is too green to recognize it when she sees it, but the issue is not presented as an evil to be punished, as in more than a few Italian Giallos.

The show must have disappointed audiences lured into theaters by the misleading title The Day After Halloween. The filmmakers begin with a flash-forward to a fiery conflagration. It stays on our minds for 90 minutes, until the storyline catches up to it. There are some creepy scenes in the body of the show, but nothing to classify it as belonging with Halloween or Friday the 13th. We are curious though — will Angela fall victim to the fire, or survive and continue with her career?  Snapshot is said to have disappointed its producers, but it is better than just ‘interesting,’ and we very much admire its main performances. Sigrid Thornton has depth — her Angela is vulnerable but not a fool, and we sympathize with her ordeal in Melbourne’s media Fast Lane.