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My First Wife (1984)

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clip 'Have you ever been unfaithful?'

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Sitting up in bed on a hot night, John (John Hargreaves) discusses infidelity with his wife Helen (Wendy Hughes). He tells her he would know if anything was wrong with his marriage, which makes her angry. She is enraged by his repeated questions about whether she has been unfaithful. She eventually admits she has been, and tells him she wants to leave him. Their marriage is over.

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

There’s a bleak strain of humour in this scene about the pride going before the fall. John’s arrogance and emotional bullying eventually have an effect he never expected – the full force of his wife’s anger, which turns into a terrifying honesty. The scene is beautifully played and delicately directed. This kind of raw intimacy is rare in Australian films, both then and now.

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