Director
Samantha Lang
Leading Actors/Actresses
Pamela Rabe, Miranda Otto
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Paul Chubb, Frank Wilson
Genre
Drama
Language
English language
Awards
AFI awards, FCCA awards
Date of Release
31 July 1998 (USA)
Producer
Sandra Levy
Setting and Context
a farm in Australia
Narrator and Point of View
Third person omniscient
Tone and Mood
Tone: indirect, questioning
Mood: anxious, jealous
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Hester Harper; Antagonist: Hester's fear of loneliness which makes her obsessed with Katherine
Major Conflict
Hester takes under her care a young orphan girl called Katherine.
Climax
The well gets sealed and Hester begins to accept the fact that she can't keep Katherine to herself.
Foreshadowing
"I don't care if we are alone here," she said. "Dogs don't save people if strangers come."
- A stranger will indeed come and it might have been better if the two women had a dog to watch the house while they are gone.
Understatement
N/A
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
N/A
Allusions
"She thought about the word meadow, a grassy paradise- someone had written that about a meadow."
Paradox
"She felt sure, she said, dismissing the ancient mixture of manipulation and devotion, that the troll would be the best person to haul up from the bottom of the well."
Parallelism
"She felt as if her hair was loose and as if her clothes were bright and light and as if they moved too, easily with her own rhythm.
She felt free of bitterness, jealousy and longing."
