By Violet LeVoit
Lonely Hearts
Brief Synopsis
An unlikely romance develops between a piano tuner and a timid office worker.
Cast & Crew
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Paul Cox
Director
Wendy Hughes
Patricia
Norman Kaye
Peter
Jon Finlayson
George
Julia Blake
Pamela
Jonathan Hardy
Bruce
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Comedy
Romance
Release Date
1982
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Synopsis
An unlikely romance develops between a piano tuner and a timid office worker.
Director
Paul Cox
Director
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Comedy
Romance
Release Date
1982
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Articles
Lonely Hearts
Paul Cox is more praised outside of Australia than within it. Like that other prolific iconoclast Werner Herzog, Cox's career intersperses feature work with nearly as many documentaries, and in many ways this movie about a burgeoning romance between piano tuner (and shoplifter) Peter (Norman Kaye) and mousy bank teller Patricia (seminal Australian actor Wendy Hughes ) feels like a documentary in its close, keen, and sensitive observation of their romance. Both Peter and Patricia are recently liberated from their parents -- he from looking after his recently deceased mother, she because she's finally moved out of her oppressive parents' house -- and their timid romance is full of tender, tentative steps out of isolation and into self-assertion. Shot with a tweedy, muted palette, like a Vermeer, this movie reflects Cox's gentleness and respect towards actors -- he famously refuses to make them screen test for any role because he fears the process is "humiliating and degrading". Named "Best Film of 1982" by the Australian Film Institute.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Lonely Hearts
Paul Cox is more praised outside of Australia than within it. Like that other prolific iconoclast Werner Herzog, Cox's career intersperses feature work with nearly as many documentaries, and in many ways this movie about a burgeoning romance between piano tuner (and shoplifter) Peter (Norman Kaye) and mousy bank teller Patricia (seminal Australian actor Wendy Hughes ) feels like a documentary in its close, keen, and sensitive observation of their romance. Both Peter and Patricia are recently liberated from their parents -- he from looking after his recently deceased mother, she because she's finally moved out of her oppressive parents' house -- and their timid romance is full of tender, tentative steps out of isolation and into self-assertion. Shot with a tweedy, muted palette, like a Vermeer, this movie reflects Cox's gentleness and respect towards actors -- he famously refuses to make them screen test for any role because he fears the process is "humiliating and degrading". Named "Best Film of 1982" by the Australian Film Institute.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Winner of the 1982 AFI Award for Best Picture.
Released in United States 1982
Released in United States 1982
