The Office Picnic (1972)
Synopsis
The tensions within an unhappy office boil over during the annual office picnic, held at a bushland park on the edge of the city. The young men drink too much and play football. The women drink less and get bored. Clyde (John Wood) tries to have sex with the disdainful Mara (Kate Fitzpatrick), but is taken aback when she says yes. When Clyde punches Peter (Philip Deamer), the new office junior, Peter runs out with his new girlfriend Elly (Gay Steele). Two days later, they have still not been found.
Curator’s notes
This was Tom Cowan’s first feature, after four years as a cameraman at the Commonwealth Film Unit (Film Australia), and another three years as a freelancer, during which he shot features in the UK and India. It was made on a low budget for the Experimental Film and Television Fund and it reflects those origins. Very little is stated in dialogue, or even in overt gesture. Tensions are suggested in long, often fairly static set-ups that reflect the bored state of mind of people numbed by underemployment in a mindless bureaucracy. They are barely more than automatons until released by alcohol at the office picnic, during which sexual and generational differences explode.
In narrative terms, the film is unresolved; we know little more at the end about each character than at the beginning, except that each person struggles against his or her own private form of unhappiness. The disappearance of the young couple is perhaps voluntary, but it’s made more symbolic by the presence of a silent old black man, who is seen on a few occasions in the bush near the park. Does he know something? We never know. The film had a limited screening life, with no formal commercial release. Tom Cowan went on to make Promised Woman in 1974 and Journey Among Women, his best known film, in 1977.
- Overview
- Curator’s notes
- Video 3 clips
- Principal credits
- Find a copy
- Make a comment
- Add your review
