Underplayed Gems

Lantana (2001)

Lantana poster
Directed by
Ray Lawrence
Genre
drama film
Country
Australia, Germany
Runtime
2h
Rated
R
Rating
6.7 of 10 from 228 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

After a woman goes missing in suburban Sydney, the lives of several couples become intertwined as secrets and betrayals surface. The film follows a detective, his wife, and others as their hidden tensions and lies are exposed.

tensemelancholicslow-burnmoodyintrospectivequietly unsettlingpsychologicalgrounded

What happens

Lantana is a 2001 Australian drama film, directed by Ray Lawrence and starring Anthony LaPaglia, Kerry Armstrong, Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey. It is based on the play Speaking In Tongues by Andrew Bovell, which premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company. The film won seven AACTA Awards including Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. Lantana is set in suburban Sydney and focuses on the complex relationships between the characters in the film. The central event of the film is the disappearance and death of a woman whose body is shown at the start of the film, but whose identity is not revealed until later. The film's name derives from the plant lantana, an invasive species of shrub prevalent in suburban Sydney, which is attractive on the surface but a tangle of dead wood on the inside. In the film it is a symbol of relationships, marriage in particular. Its tangled branches are a playground and shelter for children but a trap for adults. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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