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Clip description
The unreliable narrator Herbert Badgery (Les Foxcroft) sits behind bars in a pet shop. He tells a tale – which he acknowledges is a lie – about the goanna seen in the opening image. But Herbert has a larger, possibly ulterior, motive in telling his tale. Carey explains on camera why, for him, his novel Illywhacker (1985) is anti-nationalistic, intimating that the pet shop is a metaphor for the nation.
Curator’s notes
The filmmaker directly confronts a distinctly odd tall tale told by Les Foxcroft as the narrator, enacting the title character of Peter Carey’s novel Illywhacker (1985). Carey is, however, on hand to orient the viewer.
