Australian
Screen

Clip description

Michael Andretti has saved Josie (Pia Miranda) from a ticklish situation at school, after she broke another girl’s nose with a school book. At home, Christina (Greta Scacchi) upbraids her daughter for turning her father into a hero. Christina and Katia (Elena Cotta) argue over Christina’s desire to have a life before she gets too old. Josie joins in, to make things worse.

Curator’s notes

Looking for Alibrandi is as much a film about women as it is about Italo-Australian life. The dynamics of mother-daughter relationships are sharply observed, through three generations. There’s a strong sense that the definition of what’s possible for a woman has changed dramatically. Josie refers to it in clip one when she says she wants to be the first Alibrandi woman to have some say in how her life turns out. All three women are lonely, in a sense. Although Josie would not define herself that way, Christina has no husband or even boyfriend. Katia endured a loveless marriage, when her late husband Francesco treated her ‘like one of the farm animals’. Josie is determined that she will not end up pregnant at 17, as both of them did – which is why she refuses to have sex with Jacob, in one of the film’s pivotal scenes. Marchetta has said that she was disappointed when some conservative commentators commended her for writing that scene, because she did not intend it as a blanket statement of moral virtue. It was simply the right choice for Josie to make at that time, Marchetta says.