Mr Wrong

Mr Wrong, is a low-budget, gently whimsical thriller that stirs tongue-in-cheek memories of a 50s Doris Day under threat. The difference is there is no handsome matinee idol into whose arms the heroine can fall at fadeout.

Mr Wrong, New Zealand, 1985

Director: Gaylene Preston
Production co: Preston-Laing Productions
Producers: Robin Laing, Gaylene Preston
Screenplay: Gaylene Preston, Geoff Murphy, Graeme Tetley
From the short story by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Director of photography: Thom Burstyn
Music: Jonathan Crayford
Art director: Mike Becroft
Editor: Simon Reece
Sound: Ken Saville
Production manager: Pat Murphy

With: Heather Bolton (Meg), David Letch (Mr Wrong), Gary Stalker (Bruce), Danny Mulheron (Wayne), Kate Harcourt (Mrs Alexander), Michael Haigh (Mr Whitehorn), Perry Piercy (Mary Carmichael), Margaret Umbers (Samantha), Suzanne Lee (Val)

35mm, 88 minutes, PG–contains violence

In some of the best and brightest New Zealand documentaries, Gaylene Preston has exhibited a flair for demonstrating that things are not always as we commonly perceive them, so it’s not surprising that her first fiction feature may sound like a contradiction in terms; a thriller with very little in the way of explicit blood-letting or special effects. Heather Bolton is perfectly cast as Meg, a nice gal from the country who moves to the city and declares her autonomy by buying herself a lovely large Jag. Gradually she is forced to acknowledge that this car is making some most uncarlike noises and that it’s making her the object of the attentions of a thoroughly unpleasant young man who seems to materialise out of thin air. It would be more than unusually unfair to reveal much more of the engrossing plot which is divulged in true thriller/ghost story fashion and makes ample use of its many red herrings, each of which has a neat ideological kickback. Thriller expectations are juxtaposed and interplayed with the expectations and fears of everyday life with which Preston displays a genial, perceptive familiarity. As the mystery thickens, Mr. Wrong builds up into a funny, nervy funk. What our heroine’s most scared of is paranoia and we’re given every reason to identify with her every inch of the way as she refuses to become anybody’s victim. Preston kids along the thriller conventions she clearly enjoys, springing twists in them and interrogating the genre for its inbuilt sexism all the while treating her audience to a thoroughly spooky good time. — Bill Gosden, Film Festival, 1985

“Gaylene Preston’s first feature, Mr Wrong, is a low-budget, gently whimsical thriller that stirs tongue-in-cheek memories of a 50s Doris Day under threat. The difference is there is no handsome matinee idol into whose arms the heroine can fall at fadeout. The best help she ha son hand is a young man with whom she went to school. Based on a short story by Elizabeth Jane Howard, and with a screenplay for which Preston takes main credit, Mr Wrong is about girl-next-door Meg, who unwittingly buys a used Jaguar car that is haunted. A previous owner, also a young woman, was murdered. Is Meg to be the next victim? Inventiveness and an eye for sly comic detail mark the unraveling of events. Not everything works. At times Preston seems more interested in the whimsy than the thrills, but, in large part she gets away with it. One of the reasons she does is the central performance of Bolton as Meg. Working against most conventions as a rather dumpy, Everyman’s sister, Bolton injects the role with a fetching resourcefulness and resilience that is fresh and never mawkish. David Letch is suitably sinister as the mysterious Mr Wrong, with Danny Mulheron quirkily but not repellently wimpish as Wayne. Elsewhere, Margaret Umbers, Gary Stalker and Philip Gordon impact in cameo roles.” — Mike Nicolaidi, Variety, 24 April 1985

“… Fear, and women’s response to it, is the main theme in this film. Meg has to fight to prevent being crippled by the fear of the extraordinary events happening to her, as well as the fears all the women have to combat – creaking doors in dark houses, lost house keys, mawling men. Meg boldly confronts her car, throwing open all the doors and verbally attacking the unknown force possessing it. The fear is still there, but Meg learns to control it and triumphs in the end. Meg is not they typical Hollywood female clone with a perfect face and Raquel Welch flowing locks. She is refreshingly attractive in her own way. Her surroundings reflect the reality for many New Zealand women – an unpretentious, modest living environment – no Dallas mansion for her. Meg’s job is pretty mundane, too. It’s nice not to be presented with the superwoman image for a change…. This film is witty and entertaining, and superbly shot. I strongly urge everyone to see Mr Wrong. Make it your feminist good time for the week. It is better than anything else currently showing, and if we don’t get out there and show them that a market exists for New Zealand films, we will keep on getting the crap that fills mainstream cinema.” — Athina Tsoulis, Broadsheet, September 1985

Screenings: Mr Wrong screened on 4 April 2007 honouring Gaylene Preston in the Arts Foundation Laureates season.