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In the Winter Dark (1998)

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clip 'The men will protect us'

Original classification rating: M. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

While the two men search in the night for the feral cat, Ronnie (Miranda Otto) and Ida (Brenda Blethyn) get roaring drunk at the Stubbs house. Ida says she knows the men will protect them. Both women burst out laughing at that idea. After Murray (Richard Roxburgh) takes Ronnie home, Ida finally vents her feelings towards Maurice (Ray Barrett).

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

Deep down in the film, there’s a question about the way the sexes feel about each other, and it has a pretty dark side. Ronnie and Ida share more intimacy together in this one night than they ever do with these men. They trust each other as women, and the men instantly recognise it and resent it when they return to the house. There’s an air of contempt about Maurice’s reaction when he sees them laughing on the floor, and later, when he talks about Ronnie’s pregnancy. Does he blame Ida for the loss of their child? Is that why the terrible accident at the end of the film comes about, because he secretly wants to be rid of her? One of the themes of the film is about men’s rage, and the ways it manifests itself. Maurice certainly wants to avenge himself on the world – on cats, God, his wife, and finally even himself. In a very disturbing way, he gets what he longed for, a supreme self-punishment.

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