Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Bill Heslop (Bill Hunter), his family, a Japanese property developer called Victor and Victor’s interpreter in a Chinese restaurant. Bill dominates the conversation by bragging of his influence and political aspirations before turning on daughter Muriel (Toni Collette), contrasting her with Victor, who was a millionaire at age 19. While her mother congratulates Muriel on getting a job interview, Bill expands his criticisms to all of the children, labelling them as 'useless no-hopers’. Deirdre Chambers, a 'beauty consultant’, appears and takes over the conversation.

Educational value points

• This clip is from Muriel’s Wedding (1994), a character-driven tragicomedy. Character-driven films place emphasis on dialogue and personal choice, relying on a strong protagonist and other rounded and dynamic characters to drive the action and drama. Tragicomedy, also referred to as dark comedy, combines humour with sad and painful experiences. Although not evident in this clip, tragicomedies such as Muriel’s Wedding generally have happy or bittersweet endings.

• The overbearing, boorish character of Bill Heslop and the cowed behaviour of his family are the focus of this scene. Bill’s dialogue shifts from displays of his own importance, to ruthless derision of his family – whom he describes with the particularly Australian idiomatic term 'no-hopers’ – to public humiliation of Muriel, whom he singles out for particular criticism.

• Bill portrays the 'ugly Australian’, controlling, self-opinionated and culturally insensitive. He patronises his Japanese guests, introduces them as Chinese and refers to the Chinese owner of the restaurant not by his own name but as Charlie Chan – a fictional Chinese–American screen detective from the 1920s and 30s.

• Muriel’s Wedding follows a universal 'ugly-duckling’ plot, whereby an unfairly treated person eventually finds admirers and their rightful position in the world. To help achieve this transformation on the screen the filmmakers make gradual alterations to Muriel’s hair, clothes, speech, stance and expressions as the film progresses.

• Bill’s demeaning of his entire family and the negative effect this has on their personalities comes across strongly in this scene in which Betty (Bill’s wife) and their children are shown to be silent, downcast and generally cowed by Bill’s bitter recriminations. By contrast, Betty is genuinely pleased and encouraging of Muriel when she announces that she has a job interview, but cannot convince her husband to be equally supportive.

• The exaggerated characterisations in Muriel’s Wedding, seen in Bill Heslop’s characterisation in this scene, are comparable with characters in other distinctively Australian feature films such as Strictly Ballroom (1992), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and The Castle (1997), and television series such as Kath and Kim (2002–), as well as actor Barry Humphries’s theatrical personas Dama Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.

• Bill Hunter (1940–) is an experienced Australian actor who began his career as an extra in The Shiralee (1957) and was a swimming double in On the Beach (1957). Since then he has worked in approximately 100 television and film productions including Gallipoli (1981), Strictly Ballroom (1992) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), which was filmed in the same year as Muriel’s Wedding.

• Toni Collette (1972–) is a highly regarded Australian actor who won the 1994 AFI Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for playing Muriel. Collette left the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) to debut in Spotswood (1992), a role that led to her nomination for an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She was nominated for an Oscar in 2000 and nominated for BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for supporting actress in Little Miss Sunshine (2006).

• PJ Hogan (1962–) directed Muriel’s Wedding and wrote the screenplay. Muriel’s Wedding was nominated for seven AFI awards, including for Best Director and for Best Screenplay, and won four, including Best Film. Hogan claims inspiration for the project from watching a bridal shop over the road from his favourite café when he was unemployed in 1988. Both Hogan and Collette were brought to the attention of Hollywood by Muriel’s Wedding and Hogan went on to direct My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) and Peter Pan (2003).

This clip starts approximately 8 minutes into the feature.

We see Bill Heslop at a Chinese restaurant with his whole family and beautician Deirdre Chambers along with a Japanese resort developer and his interpreter. Bill is talking to the restaurant owner, Charlie.
Bill How’s your uncle?
Charlie Very well.
Bill I got his uncle out from China. Talked to the boys from immigration. Hugh McCain and his blokes. They got his uncle out from China.
Charlie This is a great man.
Bill Charlie, this is Victor Kanasui and his mate, ah, Akira.
We see the two Japanese men bow their heads to greet Charlie.
Bill They’re building a resort at Wollom beach and they might want a Chinese restaurant in it. So keep the food comin’.
Charlie Please, please.
Charlie walks away from the table.
Bill It’s all on the house. Got his uncle out from China.
Akira You’ve done a lot for the people of this town, Bill.
Bill Who told you that?
Akira You did.
Bill Oh well, I like helping out. I ran for State Government once. Joanie, stand up and show him your shirt.
Joanie stands up. She is wearing a t-shirt that reads ‘Vote 1 Bill Heslop — You can’t stop progress.’
Bill ‘Bill Heslop — You Can’t Stop Progress.’
Joanie He lost.
Bill Yeah well, missed on a postal vote. In a way I’m glad I didn’t get in. I do more for this place at grass-roots level, you know ah, high-rise, malls, resorts. Porpoise Spit Council believes in progress. Muriel, when Victor was 19 he was a millionaire. Muriel’s on the dole. So is Perry.
Muriel Well, I’ve got a job interview next week. An apprentice locksmith.
Betty Oh. That sounds wonderful. Doesn’t it Bill?
Bill A bit old for an apprentice aren’t you? A bit old for everything. After she failed high school I get her into a secretarial course run by a mate of mine. Three hundred dollars a term. Two years, two thousand dollars. She comes out and she can’t even type.
Muriel I could type.
Bill Then I get her a job at me solicitors and after a month Stevie Mason rings up and says he’ll have to let her go because she can’t type.
Muriel If I couldn’t type why did they give me my secretarial diploma?
Bill Because I paid for it! Sits around the house like a dead weight, watching TV, sleeping all day, getting arrested at weddings. You’re useless. You’re all useless. A bunch of useless no-hopers.
We see Bill addressing all his children sitting at the table. They all hang their heads. Deirdre enters the Chinese restaurant.
Deirdre Bill! Bill! Oh, Bill.
Bill Deirdre Chambers. What a coincidence.
Deirdre What a coincidence!
Bill Deirdre, pull up a chair. Penelope, shift out.
Perry, Muriel and Penelope shuffle along the table to make room for Deirdre. Deirdre sits down at the table.
Bill Deirdre, Victor Kanasui, his mate Akira, all the way from China — ah, Japan. Deirdre’s a sales representative for Radiant Cosmetics.
Deirdre Beauty consultant, Bill.
Bill Sorry. Beauty consultant.
Deirdre Sales representative sounds so common. I advise women on the right lipstick, base and eyeliner. Of course, you’d know all about make-up. Your wives are probably geishas.
Akira chokes on his drink after Deirdre’s comment.
Betty You look lovely Deirdre.
Deirdre ignores Betty completely.
Deirdre Muriel, how was that wedding?
Perry She was arrested.
Deirdre That’s lovely. Don’t you wish you were 22 again Betty. Remember that age?
Betty Oh yes. What?
Deirdre I bet you were a terror when you were 22. Bill, was she a terror?
Bill Where’s Charlie Chan with that food?
Betty Oh, yes. Where is he?