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LUIGIS LADIES

Tra La La Films Ltd presents Luigis Ladies 1. @ 1989 TRA LA LA FILMS Limited. Location: Sydney. Australian distributor: Hoyts. Opened: 11 May 1989. Video: First ReIease. Rating: M
35mm. Panavision. 91mins.

Producer: Patric Juillet.
Executive producer: Wendy Hughes.
Associate producer: Rachel Symes.
Scriptwriters: Jennifer Claire, Judy Morris, Wendy Hughes, Ranald Allan.
Director of photography: Steve Mason.
Production designer: Melody Cooper.
[Costume designer: not credited.]
Editor: Pamela Barnetta.
Composer: Sharon Calcraft.
Sound editors: Wayne Pashley, Erin Sinclair.
Mixers: Martin Oswin, John Herron.

Cast

Wendy Hughes (Sara), Sandy Gore (Cee), Anne Tenney (Jane), David Rappaport (Luigi), John Walton (Steve), Ray Meagher (Lance), Serge Lazareff (Trev), Joe Spano (Nick), Max Cullen (Chef), Brian Adams (Tom Stoker); Simon Angell, Alex Angell (The Twins); Prue Bassett (Nancy), Rosemary Blundo (Maria), Glenn Boswell (Kitchen Hand-stunt), Damian Cudmore (Lifesaver), Maggie Dence (Shandra), George Donikian (Australian Newsreader), Mervyn Drake (Jonathan), Roberta Grant (Shop Assistant), Johnny Hallyday (Kitchen Hand-stunt), Ric Hutton (Lord Timothy), Genevieve Lemon (Debbo).

    There is a heartbeat of humour buried deep inside Luigis Ladies. During a send-up of a New Age meeting, people hop and skip like animals around a hall, trying to find themselves. One man in the background is a koala. He's good. He's funny. He's the one laugh in the film.
    This alleged comedy, directed and co-written by actor Judy Morris, and executive-produced by actor Wendy Hughes (who also co-wrote), is marked by scores of wasted comic opportunities and wasted talents strewn across a story of three women trying to cope with some sort of post feminist anxiety syndrome.
    Sara (Wendy Hughes) is a magazine editor; Cee (Sandy Gore) is the dumped wife of an academic; and Jane (Anne Tenney) is the wife of an unfaithful wine merchant. They meet regularly at Luigi's, a restaurant run by the diminutive Luigi (David Rappaport), to discuss life's problems.
    In dealing with these multiple mid-life crises, the film has ample opportunity to milk humour (and drama) from things like the stock market crash of October 1987, hyperactive children, society restaurants, feminism, glitz journalism, yuppiedom, unwanted pregnancy, infidelity, sexual politics, sex, celibacy, temperamental French chefs, the New Age rage, cosmetic surgery and Sydney. But nothing is developed around these (or a number of other) narrative nuclei to make them the least bit interesting or funny.
    This appears to be the result of a directorial flatness which dogs the whole film. And many scenes of sharp emotion that would lend themselves so well to comedy or drama (or both) are diffused by poor performances, a grand lack of good, credible dialogue and some very dull photography.
    Special mention must be made of the low standard of performance from what is an obviously talented and distinguished cast. Crucial to any effective comedy film is the need of a performance to nail an emotion or a dramatic tone soundly on the head, and this must fit consistently (more or less) within an appropriate narrative context. With Luigis Ladies, what we basically have is an aimless mess: the performances are overplayed and underplayed at all the wrong moments - monologues fall flat and attempts at a bit of good old shtick (like being drunk, overwhelmed, saddened or angry) are torpedoed by lame and unconvincing acting.
    In a word, what the film basically lacks is scope. There's not enough substance either in the material or in the performances for a faded television sitcom pilot, let alone a full length cinema feature.
    But in all fairness, Judy Morris and Wendy Hughes deserve a toast to the future. They are two extremely talented actors who have proved themselves in front of the camera many times over. Here's to their next film collaboration. It will be better. It has to be.

JIM SCHEMBRI 2

1 Despite the need for one, the title has no apostrophe
2 Extracted from Schembri's review in Cinema Papers (See Reference)

Reference

'Luigi's [sic] Ladies', a review by Jim Schembri, Cinema Papers, no. 73, May 1989, p. 66.