In My Father's Den

Forbidden pasts and unlived futures are intimately entwined and judiciously unraveled. Adapted from the celebrated 1972 novel by Maurice Gee, this feature by writer-director Brad McGann is a visually secure drama with an atmospheric edge and tastefully restrained artiness

In My Father's Den, New Zealand/UK, 2004

Director/writer: Brad McGann
Production co: T.H.E. Film (NZ) / Little Bird (UK)
Producers: Trevor Haysom, Dixie Linder
Executive producers: Sue Bruce Smith, James Mitchell, Jim Reeve, Steve Robbins, Paul Trijbits
Based on the novel by Maurice Gee
Camera: Stuart Dryburgh
Editor: Chris Plummer
Music: Simon Boswell
Production designer: Jennifer Kernke
Art director: Phil Ivey
Costume designer: Kirsty Cameron
Casting: Diana Rowan.

With: Emily Barclay (Celia Steimer), Matthew MacFadyen (Paul Prior), Miranda Otto (Penny Prior), Colin Moy (Andrew Prior), Jodie Rimmer (Jackie Steimer), Vicky Haughton (Ms. Seagar), Jimmy Keen (Jonathan)

35mm, 126 minutes, R16–Contains violence, offensive language, drug use and sex scenes

“Let’s be the first to acclaim and celebrate the strongest New Zealand dramatic feature since Once Were Warriors and Heavenly Creatures. Like them, Brad McGann’s gripping psychological mystery is a tragedy reverberant with New Zealand life. Adapted and updated, with considerable freedom and rare intelligence, from Maurice Gee’s 1972 novel, the film tells the story of Paul, an internationally successful war photographer who’s seen – and photographed – too much of the world. He returns, after the death of his father, to the small Central Otago town he fled as a youth. With his dry, cutting delivery of Paul’s every pithy line, charismatic British actor Matthew MacFadyen brings cosmopolitan edge to a New Zealand archetype, the man alone. Paul’s contemporaries who stayed behind, notably his older brother, and his first girlfriend Jackie, greet the prodigal with mixed feelings. Staying longer then intended, he picks up a temporary job at the district school. His young nephew and Jackie’s precocious 16-year-old daughter, Celia, are less guarded, tantalised by the cryptic figure from their parents’ past. Paul senses a kindred spirit in the pushy Celia. Her ambitions to explore the world breathe some life into the embers of his own enthusiasms. Newcomer Emily Barclay is heart-breakingly authentic as this smart, gauche kid, unleashing the cleverness she’s kept under wraps, in a headlong crush on teacher. When she goes AWOL, local insinuations about Paul’s interest in her become outright accusations. As fears for Celia grow, so does the appalling atmosphere of recrimination, stoked by Paul’s contempt for his accusers and his refusal to betray his young friend. Incredibly suspenseful, the film takes us with him to the brink of nervous collapse as he struggles to extricate the truth from a densely compacted legacy of resentment, greed, deceit and shame. Expect volumes to be written about the thematic richness of this film, its troubling perceptions about the mutually exacerbating conflict of liberalism and puritanism in the pakeha psyche; our distrust of intellectuals; our pride in isolation and our envy of the world at large. There’s a fiercely critical understanding of parochialism at work here, expressed with a cumulative emotional power that I, for one, found shattering, and cathartic. — Bill Gosden, New Zealand Film Festival, 2004

“Forbidden pasts and unlived futures are intimately entwined and judiciously unraveled in Kiwi meller In My Father's Den. Adapted from the celebrated 1972 local novel by Maurice Gee, this feature bow by writer-director Brad McGann is a visually secure drama with an atmospheric edge and tastefully restrained artiness... With a deliberately over-poetic voiceover from teenager Celia, the film begins with images whose true significance is not revealed for several reels. Post-titles, picture settles down to introduce Paul Prior, a celebrated war photojournalist who arrives after a long absence from his small hometown in New Zealand's South Island just too late to attend his father's funeral. Narrative haltingly presents Paul's resentful, stay-at-home, ostrich-farming brother, Andrew, Andrew's neurotic wife, Penny (Australia's Miranda Otto, in a small but pivotal role) and their son, Jonathan. While deciding whether to return to the northern hemisphere or fulfil family obligations of cleaning up after his father's life, Paul finds himself drawn to his father's secret den of maps, books, LP records and enigmatic artwork. First discovered by Paul as a teenager, the den was a secret haven in which his dad pursued intellectual interests and other clandestine pastimes, the sharing of which cemented a bond between Paul and his father in exclusion to brother Andrew and Paul's long-dead mother. This bond, and other parallel strands, are revealed via one of a series of flashbacks resembling what Quentin Tarantino once described as an "answers first, questions later" structure. Though Reservoir Dogs seems an unlikely reference point, Den is similarly informed and driven by initially confusing inserts. However, as writer-director McGann and his yarn win viewer confidence, the storytelling mode provides a self-renewing effect. During one visit to his father's sanctuary, the adult Paul comes across Celia, who's been habitually trespassing there to expand her horizons. Celia is the offspring of Jackie, Paul's onetime girl friend with whom he shared a multitude of sins during adolescence and who still carries a torch for the world-weary photographer. Despite several strong hints about her parentage, Celia takes her time drawing the obvious conclusion, and in the interim develops a crush on Paul. When Paul gets a job teaching at her school, the two are further pushed together. As their relationship develops during the film’s midsection, subplots tentatively reveal the grim circumstances of the death of Paul's mother. They also hint at yet another dark family secret which initially drove Paul into the wider world almost two decades ago. Artfully played and depicted with acute sensitivity, the tender scenes between Paul and Celia are the heart of the picture. A humorous episode in which Celia interviews Paul, ostensibly for a school project, is particularly memorable. It's a welcome relief from the movie's generally bleak atmosphere, and helps to establish the rapport required to make the intense later scenes between the pair believable. At the three-quarter mark, the film veers into thriller mode with an unexpected twist. Though this left turn is eventually resolved in a complex but plausible denouement, the narrative jolt unsettles the mood for about a reel. An avalanche of last-minute revelations requires considerable attentiveness by the viewer. MacFadyen is distant yet strangely touching as the emotionally shut-down photojournalist who returns home with foreign eyes and a Brit accent. But the film is dominated by local teen actress Barclay, who excels in the role of Celia. In a part that not only carries the weight of her own character's expectations but is also a manifestation of Paul's nightmares, Barclay meets the dramatic demands with an impressive range… Quality lensing by Stuart Dryburgh wisely avoids too many picturesque landscapes. Soundtrack includes dollops of Patti Smith and Kiwi opera star Kiri Te Kanawa, while Simon Boswell's original score is haunting without becoming intrusive. Other tech credits are on the money. For the record, film was the first New Zealand production to open Australia's Sydney Film Festival in its 51-year history.” — Russell Edwards, Variety, 16 June 2004

Screenings: In My Father's Den screened on 19 March 2008 as part of the Big Sky: Empty Land selection of features; and on 14 Feburary 2007 as part of the Adapted: NZ Literature into Film series.