''The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson'' is a 2021 Australian

revisionist Western The revisionist Western (also called the anti-Western, sometimes revisionist antiwestern) is a sub-genre of the Western film. Designated a post-classical variation of the traditional Western, the revisionist subverts the myth and romance of the ...

Australian Western Australian Western, also known as meat pie Western or kangaroo Western, is a broad genre of Western-style films or TV series set in the Australian outback or "the bush". Films about bushrangers (sometimes called bushranger films) are included i ...

drama film written and directed by

Leah Purcell Leah Maree Purcell (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's ''Somewhere in the Darkness'', which led to role ...

, who also stars in the eponymous role. It also stars Rob Collins, Sam Reid and

Jessica De Gouw Jessica Elise De Gouw (born 15 February 1988) is an Australian actress. She is known for her role as Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress in the television series '' Arrow'', as Mina Murray in the NBC TV series '' Dracula'', and as Elizabeth Hawkes ...

. The film premiered at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

(SXSW) film festival on 18 March 2021 and opened across Australia on 5 May 2022.

Plot

The film opens with a scene in which Molly Johnson, heavily pregnant, shoots a stray bull which has wandered near her home, after ensuring that her four children are safe. Shortly afterwards the new sergeant of the district, Sergeant Klintoff, turns up with his sickly wife, Louisa, asking if they could share some of the meat that they smelt cooking, as they had lost all of their provisions when crossing the river. She gives them food in exchange for their taking her children to the settlement for safekeeping while her new baby is born.

Cast

as Molly Johnson, the drover's wife * Rob Collins as Yadaka * Sam Reid as Sergeant Klintoff *

as Louisa Klintoff, the sergeant's wife * Malachi Dower-Roberts as Danny Johnson, Molly's eldest son

Origin

The plot is a reworking of

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

's 1892 short story ''

The Drover's Wife ''The Drover's Wife'' is a 1945 painting by Australian artist Russell Drysdale. The painting depicts a flat, barren landscape with a woman in a plain dress in the foreground. The drover with his horses and wagon are in the background. The pain ...

'', but deviates significantly from the original story as developed in Purcell's earlier award-winning

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

and novel of the same name. It tells the story of a woman living with her children in an isolated location in the High Country in the

colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

near the border of the

colony of Victoria In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. Purcell reimagines Lawson's story through an Indigenous feminist lens, inspired by her own lived experience and the stories of her ancestors. The character of Yadaka was inspired by Purcell's great-grandfather, Tippo Charlie Chambers.

Production

The story is set in the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system ...

and much of the filming was done there, mostly around

Adaminaby Adaminaby is a small town near the Snowy Mountains north-west of Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council. The historic town, of 301 people at the , is a trout fishing centre and winter sports destination situated ...

. Cinematography was by Mark Wareham. It is Purcell's debut film as director and writer. It is the first Australian

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

to be written and directed by an Indigenous woman who also stars in the lead role. Her husband, Bain Stewart, is lead producer and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

on the film. The original soundtrack is by Salliana Seven Campbell.

Release

After being delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the film had its world premiere at

(SXSW) on 18 March 2021. It also screened at the

Warsaw International Film Festival Warsaw Film Festival ( pl, Warszawski Festiwal Filmowy, abbreviated as WFF) is an annual film festival held every October in Warsaw, Poland which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries from all around the world. The festival ha ...

, Cinefest Oz, the

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

, the

Brisbane International Film Festival The Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival held in Brisbane, Australia. Organised by the Screen Culture unit at Screen Queensland, the festival has taken place since 1992, with the program including features, doc ...

and the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

before being released in Australian cinemas on 5 May 2022 and in the UK on 13 May 2022. International distribution is handled by Memento Films International.

Reception

The film opened to generally positive reviews. The acting, cinematography and Salliana Seven Campbell's score were praised by several critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

has a "Fresh" score of 80%.

Accolades

At the

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

, ''The Drover's Wife'' won the Jury Grand Prix and Purcell was nominated for the Best Actress award. The film was also a nominee for the following awards: * Cinefest Oz Film Prize *

, Best Film *

, Best Film, International Competition

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson 2021 films 2021 Western (genre) films Australian Western (genre) films Films about Aboriginal Australians Films about racism Films set in the Outback 2020s feminist films 2020s English-language films