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Clip description
Stella (Geraldine Haywood) stays for dinner with Pam (Gabrielle Shornegg) and her family. An argument breaks out between Pam’s mother (Colleen Fitzpatrick), father (Paul Chubb) and sister (Joanne Gabbe).
Curator’s notes
Although they depict family dysfunction, scenes between Pam and her family are made funny by understated, awkward and sometimes unexpectedly frank dialogue. Campion’s observations of the family’s dynamics are acute. We see Pam loyally siding with her father, blaming her depressed mother for the situation.
Sally Bongers’s cinematography emphasises visual isolation, with each person at the table placed centre frame against a plain background. The pacing feels deliberately stilted.
