Petersen Australia

Following the success of Stork and Alvin Purple Tim Burtsall struck gold again in 1974 with Petersen. Working from David Williamson's script Burstall brought to the screen, as described by Bruce Beresford, 'The vulnerable under-side of the Ocker image'.

Petersen stars an impressive array of fresh-faced talent, including Jack Thompson, Wendy Hughes, Jackie Weaver and Helen Morse. Thompson plays Tony Petersen, an electrician and former footy star, married to Susie (Weaver), a cosy homemaker. Reacting against suburbia'in particular his beer-guzzling mates'Petersen enrols in an Arts Course at Melbourne University, quickly becoming involved in a staged, very public display of sex, rallying against conservative sexual conventions. He begins an affair with his tutor, Trish (Hughes), but he finds the rarefied world of middle-class liberalism cuts against the grain of his working-class values.

D/P Tim Burstall S David Williamson WS ScreenSound Australia TD 35mm/Col/1974/107mins

Print courtesy of Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection, ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive