Australian
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Love Letters from Teralba Road (1977)

play
clip Mother and son

Original classification rating: not rated. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Len’s mother (Joy Hruby) is upset that he is leaving home, to live in Sydney with his wife Barbara. Len (Bryan Brown) broods in his room, after she tells him he’s a no-hoper like his father. He picks up an old gun and trains the sights on two women in the street. We hear his letter to Barbara throughout the scene, telling her how he just wants to be with her again.

Curator’s notes

An interesting contrast between sound and image – his love letters to Barbara, versus his anger and the suggestion of a desire to be violent again. His mother upsets him, he picks up a rifle and fantasises about shooting her, or some strangers. The rifle is also unexplained – suggesting it represents his absent father for him – perhaps left over from war service?