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Director Fred Schepisi (Last Orders) returns to Australian filmmaking for the first time since 1988’s A Cry in the Dark with this ambitious adaptation of a novel by fellow countryman and Nobel laureate Patrick White.

On her deathbed in early-1970s’ Sydney, petulant, domineering Elizabeth (Charlotte Rampling) is reluctantly visited by her two children, each of whom is eyeing up an inheritance. Basil (Geoffrey Rush) arrives from London, while sister Dorothy (Judy Davis), retaining the title of Princess after her divorce from a French nobleman, comes from Paris.

Each bears the scars of their childhood, carried over into adulthood. Despite increasing doses of morphine, Elizabeth remains a destructive force in their lives even now, as wounds are re-opened and traumas revealed. As one would expect, the film’s greatest strength is its leading cast, each of whom excels as fragile, damaged individuals. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)