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Clip description
Basil (Geoffrey Rush) takes a Sydney Harbour ferry after visiting his mother for the first time.
Curator’s notes
As we hear Basil’s thoughts about the role of motherhood (via voice-over), the leering grotesque that is the frontispiece of Sydney’s Luna Park funfair appears in the background – an inventive use of metaphor that indicates exactly what he really thinks of his mother.
His reference to a play indicates he’s thinking of her in terms of a stage character, so the artifice of the Luna Park face is especially appropriate. Basil’s self-regard knows no bounds – he seems to be amazed that his mother could have given birth to a ’decent’ human being such as himself.
