The Year My Voice Broke
Encyclopedia
The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 coming of age story by director John Duigan
, starring Noah Taylor
, Loene Carmen
, and Ben Mendelsohn
. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy
of films centred around the experiences of an awkward Australian boy, based on the childhood of writer/director John Duigan
. Although the trilogy never came to fruition, it was followed by a sequel, Flirting
. It was the recipient of the 1987 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film
.
), a thin, socially awkward adolescent, falls in love with his best friend Freya (Loene Carmen
) in rural New South Wales
, Australia
. Unfortunately, she is attracted to Trevor (Ben Mendelsohn
), a high school rugby star, larrikin and petty criminal who helps Danny with the school bullies. Shortly after sleeping with Freya at the abandoned house, Trevor steals a car for a joyride
and is arrested and sent to juvenile detention; it is while he's away that Freya reveals to Danny that she's pregnant. Danny offers to marry her and claim that the child is his, but Freya refuses, saying that she doesn't want to marry anyone. Meanwhile, intrigued by a locket left to Freya by an elderly friend of theirs who recently died -engraved "SEA"- Danny begins to investigate the town's past, and discovers a lone cross in the cemetery bearing those initials, belonging to a "Sara Elizabeth Amery," who died days after Freya was born. Through inquiries with his parents, Danny learns that Sara was something of the town prostitute years ago, and that she was Freya's biological mother, who died trying to give birth by herself at the abandoned house.
Meanwhile, Trevor breaks out of detention, steals another car, and severely wounds a store clerk during an armed robbery. Trevor returns to town long enough to reunite with Freya at the abandoned house, and learn that she's pregnant. The police arrive at Trevor's hiding place, but Danny warns him, and Trevor is able to escape, but the police run his car off the road during the course of the pursuit, and Trevor dies the next day. Freya disappears, and later suffers a miscarriage and hypothermia until Danny finds her (at the abandoned house) and takes her to the hospital. Hesitantly, Danny reveals the identity of Freya's mother to her. Realising the stigma now hanging over her, Freya decides to leave on the night train for the city. At the station, Danny gives her his life's savings to support herself and sees her off - promising their friendship to one another and to keep in touch. Later Danny travels to their favourite hangout spot and carves Freya's, Trevor's, and his name into a rock, as his adult self informs the audience that he never saw Freya again.
The film is a series of interconnected segments narrated by Danny who recollects how he and Freya grew apart over the course of one year.
Danny's history continues in the film Flirting
(1991).
The main theme used in the film is The Lark Ascending
by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. At a 2005 special event screening in Sydney
, director John Duigan
stated that he chose the piece as he felt it complemented Danny's adolescent yearning. All of the songs are to period, except "That's the Way Boys Are" which was released in 1964.
The film was also nominated for the following 1987 AFI Awards:
In commenting about the film, the AFI website states:
The most important awards [of 1987] went to The Year My Voice Broke. It won Best Film for producer George Miller who had twice been named Best Director (for the two Mad Max films). John Duigan won the awards for direction and original screenplay. He had had two previous nominations for direction (Mouth To Mouth and Winter Of Our Dreams) and two for original screenplay (The Trespassers and Winter Of Our Dreams). Ben Mendelsohn was named Best Supporting Actor.
John Duigan
John Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...
, starring Noah Taylor
Noah Taylor
Noah George Taylor is an English-born Australian actor.-Early life:Taylor, elder of two boys, was born in London, England, the son of Maggie, a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. Taylor's Australian parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew...
, Loene Carmen
Loene Carmen
Loene Carmen is an Australian singer/songwriter and actress.-Background:Carmen's father is rock/jazz/blues pianist Peter Head...
, and Ben Mendelsohn
Ben Mendelsohn
Paul Benjamin "Ben" Mendelsohn is an Australian actor.-Early life:Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, the son of Carole Ann and Frederick Mendelsohn. He attended Heidelberg Primary School and Banyule High School. His father is a prominent medical researcher who heads the Howard Florey...
. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of films centred around the experiences of an awkward Australian boy, based on the childhood of writer/director John Duigan
John Duigan
John Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...
. Although the trilogy never came to fruition, it was followed by a sequel, Flirting
Flirting (film)
Flirting is a 1991 Australian coming of age film about a romance between two teenagers, written and directed by John Duigan. It stars Noah Taylor, who appears again as Danny Embling, a character from Duigan's 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke. It also stars Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman....
. It was the recipient of the 1987 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film
Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the AACTA Award for Best Film since its institution in 1958. The award is presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts , an organisation which promotes the Australian film industry. Since the 1958 Australian Film Awards the...
.
Plot
In the 1960s, Danny (Noah TaylorNoah Taylor
Noah George Taylor is an English-born Australian actor.-Early life:Taylor, elder of two boys, was born in London, England, the son of Maggie, a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. Taylor's Australian parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew...
), a thin, socially awkward adolescent, falls in love with his best friend Freya (Loene Carmen
Loene Carmen
Loene Carmen is an Australian singer/songwriter and actress.-Background:Carmen's father is rock/jazz/blues pianist Peter Head...
) in rural New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Unfortunately, she is attracted to Trevor (Ben Mendelsohn
Ben Mendelsohn
Paul Benjamin "Ben" Mendelsohn is an Australian actor.-Early life:Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, the son of Carole Ann and Frederick Mendelsohn. He attended Heidelberg Primary School and Banyule High School. His father is a prominent medical researcher who heads the Howard Florey...
), a high school rugby star, larrikin and petty criminal who helps Danny with the school bullies. Shortly after sleeping with Freya at the abandoned house, Trevor steals a car for a joyride
Joyride (crime)
To joyride is to drive around in a stolen car, boat, or other vehicle with no particular goal, a ride taken solely for pleasure.In English law, joyriding is not considered to be theft, because the intention to "permanently deprive" the owner of the vehicle cannot be proven...
and is arrested and sent to juvenile detention; it is while he's away that Freya reveals to Danny that she's pregnant. Danny offers to marry her and claim that the child is his, but Freya refuses, saying that she doesn't want to marry anyone. Meanwhile, intrigued by a locket left to Freya by an elderly friend of theirs who recently died -engraved "SEA"- Danny begins to investigate the town's past, and discovers a lone cross in the cemetery bearing those initials, belonging to a "Sara Elizabeth Amery," who died days after Freya was born. Through inquiries with his parents, Danny learns that Sara was something of the town prostitute years ago, and that she was Freya's biological mother, who died trying to give birth by herself at the abandoned house.
Meanwhile, Trevor breaks out of detention, steals another car, and severely wounds a store clerk during an armed robbery. Trevor returns to town long enough to reunite with Freya at the abandoned house, and learn that she's pregnant. The police arrive at Trevor's hiding place, but Danny warns him, and Trevor is able to escape, but the police run his car off the road during the course of the pursuit, and Trevor dies the next day. Freya disappears, and later suffers a miscarriage and hypothermia until Danny finds her (at the abandoned house) and takes her to the hospital. Hesitantly, Danny reveals the identity of Freya's mother to her. Realising the stigma now hanging over her, Freya decides to leave on the night train for the city. At the station, Danny gives her his life's savings to support herself and sees her off - promising their friendship to one another and to keep in touch. Later Danny travels to their favourite hangout spot and carves Freya's, Trevor's, and his name into a rock, as his adult self informs the audience that he never saw Freya again.
The film is a series of interconnected segments narrated by Danny who recollects how he and Freya grew apart over the course of one year.
Danny's history continues in the film Flirting
Flirting (film)
Flirting is a 1991 Australian coming of age film about a romance between two teenagers, written and directed by John Duigan. It stars Noah Taylor, who appears again as Danny Embling, a character from Duigan's 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke. It also stars Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman....
(1991).
Music
Music credits:- "ApacheApache (instrumental)"Apache" is an instrumental written by Jerry Lordan. It has been recorded by many people, but the first released version was recorded by British group The Shadows in June 1960 and released the following month. The song topped the UK singles chart for five weeks...
" Performed by The ShadowsThe ShadowsThe Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'... - "Corinna Corinna" Performed by Ray PetersonRay PetersonRay Peterson was an American pop music singer who was best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Corrine, Corrina" in the 1960s.-Career:...
- "The Lark AscendingThe Lark AscendingThe Lark Ascending is a work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. The work was written in two versions: violin and piano, written in 1914; and violin and orchestra, written in 1920. The orchestral version...
" Written by Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many... - "TemptationTemptation (1933 song)"Temptation" is a popular song, published in 1933, with music written by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Arthur Freed. The song was used in the film Singin' in the Rain and later in the 1983 musical based on the film, and is prominently featured in Valerio Zurlini's Violent Summer .The song was...
" Performed by The Everly BrothersThe Everly BrothersThe Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing... - "Tower of Strength" and "One Hundred Pounds of Clay" Performed by Gene McDanielsGene McDanielsGene McDaniels was an American singer and songwriter, who had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s.-Biography:...
- "DianaDiana (song)"Diana" is a song written and made famous by Paul Anka in 1957. It was inspired by a high school friend named Diana Ayoub. The original Paul Anka 1957 recording reached number one on the Billboard "Best Sellers In Stores" chart and has reportedly sold over 9 million copies...
" Performed by Paul AnkaPaul AnkaPaul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"... - "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" Performed by Gene PitneyGene PitneyEugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
- "Get a little dirt on your hands" Performed by The DelltonesThe DelltonesThe Delltones, a popular Australian rock 'n roll band, originally formed in 1958. They started out as a vocal harmony group with the lineup consisting of Brian Perkins, Noel Widerberg, Ian 'Peewee' Wilson and Warren Lucas...
- "I Remember YouI Remember You (1941 song)"I Remember You" is a popular song. The music was written by Victor Schertzinger, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1941.The song was one of several introduced in the movie The Fleet's In...
" Performed by Frank IfieldFrank IfieldFrancis Edward Ifield is an early Australian-English easy listening and country music singer. He achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Chart, where he had four Number 1 hits between 1962 and 1963.... - "That's the Way Boys AreThat's the Way Boys Are"That's the Way Boys Are" is a song written by Mark Barkan and Ben Raleigh and initially sung by Lesley Gore and released in 1964 as a single and on Gore's 3rd album Boys, Boys, Boys. The single reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, being kept out of the top 10 by songs by British Invasion bands...
" Performed by Lesley GoreLesley GoreLesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
The main theme used in the film is The Lark Ascending
The Lark Ascending
The Lark Ascending is a work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. The work was written in two versions: violin and piano, written in 1914; and violin and orchestra, written in 1920. The orchestral version...
by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. At a 2005 special event screening in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, director John Duigan
John Duigan
John Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...
stated that he chose the piece as he felt it complemented Danny's adolescent yearning. All of the songs are to period, except "That's the Way Boys Are" which was released in 1964.
Box Office
The Year My Voice Broke grossed $1,513,000 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $3,041,130 in 2009 dollars. The US Box office was $213,901.Awards
The film received the following 1987 AFI Awards:- Best Film (Terry Hayes, Doug Mitchell, George Miller)
- Best Direction (John DuiganJohn DuiganJohn Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...
) - Best Original Screenplay (John Duigan)
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ben MendelsohnBen MendelsohnPaul Benjamin "Ben" Mendelsohn is an Australian actor.-Early life:Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, the son of Carole Ann and Frederick Mendelsohn. He attended Heidelberg Primary School and Banyule High School. His father is a prominent medical researcher who heads the Howard Florey...
) - Members Prize
The film was also nominated for the following 1987 AFI Awards:
- Best Actor in a lead role (Noah Taylor)
- Best Actress in a lead role (Loene Carmen)
- Best Achievement in Editing (Neil Thumpston)
In commenting about the film, the AFI website states:
The most important awards [of 1987] went to The Year My Voice Broke. It won Best Film for producer George Miller who had twice been named Best Director (for the two Mad Max films). John Duigan won the awards for direction and original screenplay. He had had two previous nominations for direction (Mouth To Mouth and Winter Of Our Dreams) and two for original screenplay (The Trespassers and Winter Of Our Dreams). Ben Mendelsohn was named Best Supporting Actor.