The Place at the Coast

Set in early 'sixties coastal Australia and based on real events, this elegiac movie directed by George Ogilvie about pristine bush threatened with extinction by development is told from the viewpoint of feisty young Ellie (Tushka Bergan) an environmentalist before the word was invented.

The film opens as Ellie arrives at Kilkee with her widowed father (John Hargreaves) in expectation of another summer holiday in the usual vein - he goes fishing, she paints water colors of the local flora, and they both stand back when the extended family arrives for Christmas. Enter Margo (Heather Mitchell) fresh from five years in England.

The screenplay by producer Hilary Furlong based on the book by Jane Hyde captures a lost time when large families bundled into flimsy beach houses with primitive amenities for weeks at a time in boiling hot weather.

Cinematographer Jeff Darling captures the heart of the story, the incomparable landscape, in wide uninterrupted shots which editor Nicholas Beauman has the sense not to cut, while Chris Neal's subtle music and the director's unafraid use of silence act as counterpoise to Ellie's mounting rage, the fractious noise of her younger cousins at play, and the roaring, cracking bush as it submits to a storm.

A recent (2014) screening of the film at Sunshine Coast University in Queensland, where it featured in an exhibition called Fibro Coast about the beach architecture and culture of that era confirms The Place at the Coast as an Aussie classic.

The movie was pretty lame, but what a nice spot to film! The house in the movie where Ellie goes to meet Margo for the first time is a holiday house that my Pa built in the 50's. Its down the south coast at Durras. My nana and pa have fond memories of the crew and actors coming to shoot. They were allowed to stay and watch filming.

Since i have been going to South Durras on holidays my entire life (25 years), I have to agree with Ellie on the conservation side of things. I really feel sad at the thought of Durras being over developed. Its such a lovely, quiet 'place at the coast'.

OK, so the movie isn't great, but it has sentimental value for me and my family.

This dull Australian feature centers on the obnoxious Ellie, a ubiquitous rights of passage tale that is set on the coast. With her dead mother and one heck of an attitude, Ellie is part nerd, with an interest in the local bird and plant life, and part author, since she writes a book on same. (Her pseudo-intellectualism is expressed in phrases like "You slay me"). Regrettably, Tuschka Bergen's performance has been pitched at a level of hysteria that totally alienates us from her concerns. We just want her to shut up and go away.

Matters are not helped by the direction of Ogilvie. Although he has a good eye for group scenes - children at a the beach are portrayed as suitably horrible, and a family at Christmas lunch, - overall his camera-work is self-consciously arty. He is far too fond of the creeping effect, his editing is clunky, and the boom is often evident. He also stages a breakdown scene that is inexplicable in tone, as the context is not established until after it. And while the time period is presumably the 1950's, there are clear anachronisms.

Ogilvie's worst crime is his use of John Hargreaves as Ellie's father, Neil. As the treatment shows everything from her point of view, Neil is shunted to the side, and one of Australia's finest screen actors is wasted. However, even playing one of those ocker grotesques, Margo Lee scores some laughs. And in a minor role, Alexander Broun gets to say "Oh my God" in nearly as many variations as Sandy Dennis in The Out Of Towners.