It has been a long time since Australian director Fred Schepisi has been behind camera. His last effort was the acclaimed HBO mini-series “Empire Falls” and before that his last feature film was 2003’s forgettable “It Runs In The Family.” But the director is back, and we’ll soon see if he still has his mojo and he heads to TIFF with the acerbic looking drama “Eye Of The Storm” and the first trailer certainly shows some promise.
Starring a triple threat of Charlotte Rampling, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis, the film is an adaptation of Patrick White‘s novel, and centers on a powerful, ex-socialite matriarch (Rampling) and the array of characters — including her celebrated ex-patriate actor son (Rush) and her daughter who married into French royalty (Davis) — who convene at her deathbed and find themselves still under her destructive influence. These are some meaty roles and the trio certainly seem to be biting into their parts with relish with a tone that appears to be both darkly comic and heavily dramatic. And that seems to be where the success or failure of the film will lie in a work that has drawn comparisons to “King Lear” and Anton Chekov.
The film will premiere very soon at TIFF, however, there is no U.S. distributor just yet. Check out the synopsis, trailer and a couple more images from the film below.
In the Sydney suburb of Centennial Park, two nurses, a housekeeper and a solicitor attend to Elizabeth Hunter as her expatriate son and daughter convene at her deathbed. But in dying, as in living, Mrs. Hunter remains a powerful force on those who surround her. Based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Patrick White, The Eye of the Storm is a savage exploration of family relationships – and the sharp undercurrents of love and hate, comedy and tragedy, which define them. Starring Geoffrey Rush and Charlotte Rampling.