Journey Among Women

1977

Johnny's comments:

Journey Among Women is a period drama set in the early 19th century where Lady Elizabeth (Jeune Pritchard) joins her husband-to-be Captain McEwan (Martin Phelan) at his remote country house where he oversees a women's prison. When Lady Elizabeth looks at the conditions of the prison she is appalled at how the women are treated and makes this known to the Captain. Lady Elizabeth's maid Meg (Nell Campbell) sees her sister dragged to a solitary cell and convinces Lady Elizabeth to help her but when she goes to see Meg's sister, she finds her husband-to-be raping Meg's sister and is shocked. She and Meg hatch a plan to free the women convicts which doesn't quite go to plan ending with Lady Elizabeth killing a top guard who tries to rape Meg. The convicts minus Meg's sister escape with Meg and Lady Elizabeth joining them but it soon becomes clear they have no plan and the guards think they'll be back soon. The convicts are starving and Lady Elizabeth thinks she's made a big mistake until they meet a local Indigenous woman (Lillian Crombie) who is fascinated by their presence and helps them with the foraging for food and water and with making fire. Lady Elizabeth forms a bond with the youngest of the escapees Emily (Rose Lilley) which continues as Lady Elizabeth falls ill until Emily is found brutally murdered at the hand of local fossickers. The women seek revenge and get it by murdering the fossickers. Captain McEwan has had enough of the escapees and decides to bring his wife-to-be back. She reluctantly returns, only to find that he's gotten Meg's sister pregnant and is  keeping her housed on site. Now the Captain wants all the escapees back or dead but the women have already got a taste for blood and are not going down without a fight.

Wild and woolly revenge thriller that's filthy and is probably the closest I've seen to what conditions would probably have been like at the time. The movie's low budget is to it's advantage as it help bring that grimy, unfettered feeling of the escapees circumstances. The story itself is interesting but feels like it was put together at the last minute so they huge continuity errors like people dying but then being back in the next scene. Characters just disappear randomly, Nell Campbell's hair seems to change colour and other such things. Most of these things are minor though as the story has enough going for it that it constantly fascinating and it doesn't really matter that you don't really know what happens in the end. A strange, fascinating but flawed movie, unsurprisingly noted as feminist but maybe just a more honest look how women where treated in colonial times.

There is a ton of nudity in the movie although not a lot of it is done in an objectifying way. Trying to work out who's who was a bit of nightmare, particularly as I only knew a few of the actors like Nell Campbell, Lisa Peers, Jude Kuring and Robyn Moase, plus the lead actress Jeune Pritchard, who would go on to be better known for being a high up in SBS and the ABC. I think I've got it pretty much right and haven't missed anything but I can't be entirely sure although I went back and found I missed little things and remade a few videos. The commentary helped quite a bit at identifying the actresses I didn't know, so thank fuck for that.

I've had the movie since the late 2000s, so for over a decade. I did watch it back then, but just put in the "too hard" basket until now. Since then, Umbrella re-released the movie. Not sure it's the same as the late 2000s special edition I got very cheaply at a secondhand store (it was brand new). Knowing my luck, Umbrella will probably release a Bluray of the movie in the near future but at least I'll know what to look out for. I've also included some photos from the set that appeared in a featurette where the filmmakers and Nell Campbell reminisce. The photos are from Nell's sister Sally, who chronicled the shoot as she worked. There's also a couple of shots of a negative where Sally is naked in a makeshift jacuzzi. Also included are a couple of videos from the trailer that are different from what appears in the movie including a reverse view of Nell Campbell sprinting naked away from her captors.

Various women film clips (see IDs below)

Nell Campbell

Lisa Peers and Robyn Moase

Lisa Peers

Jeune Pritchard

Diane Fuller

Jude Kuring

Kay Self

Lillian Crombie

Therese Jack