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At the skyscraping headquarters of Centabank in Melbourne, chief executive officer Simon O’Reilly (Anthony LaPaglia) gets a grilling from the board chairman (Robert van Mackelenberg). He gives Simon three months to improve his forecasts for profit and growth. In his office later, one of the bank’s mathematical analysts explains the meaning of Jim Doyle’s new research. O’Reilly is sceptical but tells Vincent (Greg Stone) to set up a meeting.
Curator’s notes
The film sets up a series of bullying relationships, each of which is designed to put pressure on employees to produce results. Even Simon, the chief executive, has to answer to these bullying tactics, all of which are about short-term gains rather than long-term strategies. Director Robert Connolly stresses the cold elegance of the bank’s headquarters and its separation from the outside world in this scene. He also emphasises the presence of water – on the windows as rain, and in glasses. This may be to suggest the idea of transparency, as in each case it’s both water and glass together. The water may also be connected to the film’s reliance on chaos theory, and to the death of the child of Wayne and Diana Davis – who drowns himself when a process server gives him an eviction notice intended for his parents. Water is often used as a symbol of life, but here, it may be suggesting death.
