Age of Consent (film)

Infobox Film
name = Age of Consent


image_size = 215px
caption = theatrical poster (Spain)
director = Michael Powell
producer = Michael Powell
James Mason
writer = Norman Lindsay "(novel)"
Peter Yeldham
starring = James Mason
Helen Mirren
Jack MacGowran
music = Peter Sculthorpe "(original / restored)"
Stanley Myers "(replacement)"
cinematography = Hannes Staudinger
editing = Anthony Buckley
distributor = Columbia "(US)"
released = March fy|1969
"(premiere-Brisbane)"
14 May "(Australia)"
15 November "(UK)"
8 March fy|1970 "(US)"
runtime = 103 min. / 98 min. "(US)"
country = Australia
language = English
budget = AUD$1.2 million
gross =
imdb_id = 0063991

"Age of Consent" (fy|1969) is an Australian film which was the penultimate feature film directed by British director Michael Powell. The romantic comedy-drama stars James Mason, who also co-produced it with Powell, Helen Mirren, in her first major film role, and veteran Irish character actor Jack MacGowran. The screenplay by Peter Yeldham was adapted from the 1935 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Norman Lindsay. Lindsay was also the subject of the fy|1994 film "Sirens" by John Duigan.Brenner, Paul [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:123401~T0 Overview (Allmovie)] ]

Plot

Bradley Morahan (James Mason) is an Australian artist who feels he has become jaded by success and life in New York City. He decides that he needs to regain the edge he had as a young artist and returns to Australia.

He sets up in a shack on the shore of a small, sparsely-inhabited island on the Great Barrier Reef. There he meets young Cora Ryan (Helen Mirren), who has grown up wild, with her only relative, her difficult, gin-guzzling grandmother 'Ma' (Neva Carr-Glynn). Cora sells Bradley what she has caught in the sea and later a chicken, which she has stolen from his spinster neighbor Isabel Marley (Andonia Katsaros). When he is suspected of being the thief, he pays Isabel and gets Cora to promise not to steal anymore. To help her save enough money to fulfill her dream of becoming a hairdresser in Brisbane, he pays her to be his model. She reinvigorates him, becoming his artistic muse.

Bradley's work is disrupted when his sponging longtime "friend" Nat Kelly (Jack MacGowran) shows up. Nat is hiding from the police over alimony he owes. When Bradley refuses to give him a loan, Nat invites himself to stay with him. After several days, Bradley's patience becomes exhausted. Luckily, the problem is solved for him. Nat romances Isabel, hoping to get some money from her. Instead, she unexpectedly ravishes him. The next day, he hastily departs the island, but not before stealing Bradley's money and some of his drawings.

Then Ma catches Cora posing nude for Bradley and accuses him of carrying on with her underage granddaughter. Bradley protests that he has done nothing improper; finally, he gives her the little money he has left to get her to go away.

When Cora discovers that Ma has found her hidden cache of money, she chases after her. In the ensuing struggle, Ma falls down a hill and breaks her neck. Fortunately, the local policeman sees no reason to investigate, since the old woman was known to be frequently drunk.

Later that night, Cora goes to Bradley's shack, but is disappointed when he seems to view her only as his model. When she runs out, Bradley follows her into the water. There, she finally gets him to see her as a desirable young woman.

Cast

Cast notes:
*Helen Mirren, who was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and had played supporting roles in three films, was 22 at the time the filming of "Age of Consent" began. [imdb name|0000545|Helen Mirren]
*James Mason met his future wife Clarissa Kaye-Mason (who was "Clarissa Kaye" at the time) on this film when she played the part of an ex-girlfriend of Mason's. Their scene together was filmed in bed, and Kaye, who was recovering from pneumonia, had a temperature of 103 degrees. After the filming, Mason began corresponding with Kaye, and the two were married in 1971, and remained so until Mason's death in 1984.

Production

Before filming began on "Age of Consent", director Michael Powell said about it:

My next film is the story of a painter who believes that he will no longer paint and of a girl who persuades him to begin again...He will probably end up painting her; but to see a painter sit down and paint a girl, this could be exciting, but I had the hardest time explaining to my scriptwriter that this didn't excite me at all. What interested me was the problem of Creation and the fact that this creation in the case of the painter was very physical. He will have to struggle, to fight, even more strongly than he will move away from reality. It will be a slightly bitter comedy that I will produce with James Mason who will play the leading role.Stafford, Jeff [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3772&category=Articles "Age of Consent" (TCM article)] ]

Powell and Mason had wanted to work together in the past, on "I Know Where I'm Going", but had not been able to come to an agreement on billing and Mason was unwilling to go on location to Scotland. After "Age of Consent", Powell tried to recruit Mason for his version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest", a project which never came to fruition. [Willsmer, Trevor [http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/69_Age/AoC05.html Notes from a video sleeve] ]

Filming began in March fy|1968 in Albion Park race course and elsewhere in Brisbane, Australia, with location filming on Dunk Island and Purtaboi Island on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, and interiors shot at Ajax Filmcentre in Sydney.TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3772&category=Notes Notes] ] [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063991/locations Filming locations] ] [ [http://www.powell-pressburger.org/FAQ/FAQ25.html#AoC FAQ at Powell-Pressburger.com] ]

"Age of Consent" ran into trouble with censors in the U.K., who cut the opening bedroom scene between James Mason and Clarissa Kaye, and also one of Mirren's nude swimming scenes. Columbia Pictures executives also removed Peter Sculthorpe's original score and replaced it with one by Stanley Myers. Both the original score and both cut scenes were reinstated when the film was restored in fy|2005.

Reception

Contemporary critical response to "Age of Consent" was not positive, with Penolope Mortimer in "The Observer" writing:

I tremendously admire James Mason and believed, until I saw Age of Consent, that he could do no wrong...It is best forgiven and forgotten.

and the reviewer in "Variety" writing:

The film has plenty of corn, is sometimes too slow, repetitious and badly edited...Yet [it] has immense charm, and the photography and superb scenery make it a good travelog ad for the Great Barrier Reef.

Michael Powell himself thought the film had turned out to be too comedic: "A sensual comedy. Not a big success, but interesting anyway."

Notes

External links

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* [http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/69_Age Reviews and articles] at the [http://www.powell-pressburger.org Powell & Pressburger Pages]
* [http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=39340;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 Age of Consent at the National Film and Sound Archive]