Ladies in Black

A profound seductive film. For the lovely chemistry between Julia Ormond and Vincent Perez. For Angourie Rice reminding a young Sylvia Plath. For the humor and nostalgic nuances. For the clash between two different worlds and for a form of delicate ingenuity. Short, just a beautiful film.

This film can be enjoyed simply as a feel-good story with beautiful scenery. It also shows a time of change for Australia, as well as for the young heroine Lisa: Anglo- and Irish-Australians meeting Continental European culture; a working-class girl aspiring to go to university; women wanting fulfilling relationships with their husbands, rather than settling for "he's not a bad bloke".

A lovely adaptation of Madeleine St John's novel, The Women in Black, with a great ensemble cast. Beautiful late 1950s costumes and production design recreating 1950s Sydney.

One reviewer criticised the film because "nothing happens", but for the four central characters - Lisa, Fay, Patty, and Magda - it is a summer of significant change.

It is great to return to times when women were treated with respect, when even maritial sex was shocking to a husband (sic), when women always had gloves. I have no idea about Australia, even more about its life in 1950-ties, so this is for me like a discovering a new land. A very interesting one. It is not a perfect movie. It is simply a very nice one to watch.

The movie perfectly captures this distinct 50s post WW2 vibe of blissful ignorance. Think of movies like Father of the bride or Pillow talk. You can easily imagine the young Audrey Hepburn as Lisa, Spencer Tracy as her father and Doris Day as Fay. But don't get me wrong: the actual casting in this movie was spot on. Especially Julia Ormond stole the show with her wonderful performance.

If you don't expect this movie to be a socially or psychologically challenging experience and you just need to shut the harsh realities of the world out for 2h, I can't recommend this one enough!

Today mum and I saw Ladies in Black.....when asked what she thought mum said "Delightful", no swearing, no sex, no violence, just a delightful movie........and she was correct.

The movie is set in the late 50s in Sydney and tells the story of Lisa who takes a summer job in Goode's department store. We meet all the 'Ladies in Black' and the story unfolds from here.

I loved seeing how Sydney looked in the late 50s and loved the fashion and style. They certainly knew how to dress back then and looked fabulous even when having dinner in a restaurant or going to visit friends for a lunch.

The young girl played by Angourie Rice was a pleasure to watch on the screen as was Rachael Taylor. I also loved Julia Ormond, Shane Jacobson, Noni Hazlehurst and Susie Porter.

Kudos to my friend Margaret Gill who has her name on the credits and did a lot of the sewing for Julia and Angourie's outfits. Well done to you I say!

If you are after a nice feel good, easy to watch movie this is the one for you. Mum rated it 8 out of 10, and Im giving it 7