Emma's War

Yet another Australian period drama in which an independent woman suffers from Life and a surfeit of syrupy sentiment. With husband away at the war, Anne Grange (Remick) has taken to drinking and dancing with cushions. Meanwhile, daughters Emma and Laurel thrive under the eccentric tuition of stout Miss Arnott, until their panicky mother packs them off to the country to avoid the threatened Japanese bombing raids. Striking a distinctly autobiographical note, and prey therefore to the unwieldy nature of personal recollection, Jessop's film has a disjointed, episodic quality. It also contorts itself to include the pacifist sentiments and puberty blues of l4-year-old Emma's friendship with a young, poetry-reading conscientious objector. As the dipso, Remick reprises her most famous role, but in more ways than one these are not The Days of Wine and Roses.