Article - Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 20th of June, 2008

Love Comes Knocking
Conrad Walters


A farmer offers shelter to a battered woman who turns up on his doorstep in Unfinished Sky, reports Conrad Walters.

Suspicious, gruff, morose. Battered, petrified, lost. They don't sound like ingredients for a love story but for director Peter Duncan, these were the traits he had to work with and he's not complaining.

After all, he created the characters.

Duncan, best known as the director of Children Of The Revolution, has made a subtle return to the screen with a challenging romance titled Unfinished Sky. The fictional story is that of John (William McInnes), a widowed farmer alone on an isolated Queensland property, and Tahmeena (Monic Hendrickx), an illegal refugee isolated by language and culture.

Without explanation, Tahmeena collapses outside John's home one morning, bloodied and hallucinating with images of abuse. John, who would rather wallow in misery, takes care of this uninvited survivor and protects her from forces he trusts even less than himself.

It makes for a story of forgiveness and acceptance, although McInnes conjures such a disagreeable John from the start that it seems the climb towards love may prove an impossible ascent.

The basis for Unfinished Sky is a Dutch film of a decade ago called The Polish Bride but Duncan took that as little more than a starting point to write and direct his own Australian take on redemption.

Asked about the difference between the films, Duncan says the earlier movie was far lighter in tone - the original farmer is instantly likeable - but he wanted his own work to avoid the first film's "periods of unalloyed happiness".

"Audiences only really like happiness for a moment. Then they want more trouble," he says. "I wanted there to be a darkness and some mystery about the character of John, so the audience wonders whether or not [Tahmeena] is in a better place than the place she escaped from."

The earlier film had the same Dutch actress, Hendrickx, as its female lead. She was understandably wary of stepping into the same creative stream, Duncan says.
He recalls her reaction: "Why would I want to do that? I've already done it."

Duncan, too, was doubtful. The suggestion came from Dutch backers who helped produce Unfinished Sky and he admits he was "cynical", though open-minded enough to go along with it.
"But she then read the script and what she said to me was, 'This is a different movie. It's a different character. It's a whole new world.'"

In retrospect, Duncan rejoices in her decision, which let him match the intimidating physical presence of McInnes with the powerful Amazon looks of Hendrickx. "It was one of those rare coincidences of commerce and art," he says.

McInnes apparently agrees. "I knew about Monic and her reputation as a really terrific actor," he says in press material for the film.

"She's the hamburger with the lot."

The two actors had little time beforehand to build the chemistry for a love story but, according to Duncan, this had its benefits, given that the film begins with two people incapable of communication.

In one of their first meetings, where Duncan explained an early scene in which John showers the blood and dirt from 0, McInnes turned to his co-star and blurted, "So, you're gonna be starkers?"

Hendrickx turned to Duncan, bewildered, but McInnes persisted. "You know, starkers. In the raw. Buff."

Eventually, the director translated.

As filming progressed, Duncan says, the actors built a trust that mirrored that developed by their characters. "She really got him. She really found him extremely funny. By the end of it, they were firm mates."

UNFINISHED SKY

Director Peter Duncan Stars William McInnes, Monic Hendrickx, David Field Rated M. Screening now.