A Matter of Convenience | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ben Lewin |
Written by | Ben Lewin |
Produced by | Noel Price |
Starring | Jean-Pierre Cassel Deborra-Lee Furness John Clarke |
Production company | ABC-Revcon |
Distributed by | ABC |
Release date |
|
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
A Matter of Convenience is a 1987 Australian television film about a couple who resort to an arranged marriage as a means of trying to make an income. Ben Lewin won an AACTA Award for Best Direction in Television.
Velma (Deborra-Lee Furness) works in a butchers and wants a baby, but has no money. Her work shy partner Joe (John Clarke) is resistant to any kind of job. After meeting Alphonse Torontoa (Jean-Pierre Cassel), a Frenchman who arranges weddings for immigrants looking to stay in Australia, Velma becomes a witness to these marriages of convenience. After Joe's rejection of a job in the local chicken factory, she forces him to marry a Lebanese immigrant bride for money.
However Joe is forced to live with her because the officials become suspicious of Alphonse's arranged marriages. This separates Joe from Velma, causing strain to their relationship. Joe falls in love with the Lebanese woman, and things spiral out of control. [1]
It was one of a series of TV movies that were made as a part of a co production deal between Revcom and ABC. Three were to be made in Australia, three in Europe with Australians; the common theme was to be "sentiment". (The other Australian movies were The Lizard King and Perhaps Love .) [2]
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, Jackman landed his breakthrough role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, a role that earned him the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a live-action Marvel character", until 2022. Prominent on both screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and two Tony Awards, along with nominations for an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award. Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2019.
Day for Night is a 1973 romantic comedy-drama film co-written and directed by François Truffaut. The metafictional and self-reflexive film chronicles the troubled production of a melodrama, and the various personal and professional challenges of the cast and crew. It stars Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Dani, Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Truffaut himself.
The New Scooby-Doo Movies is an American animated mystery comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. It is the second television series in Scooby-Doo franchise, and follows the first incarnation, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! It premiered on September 9, 1972, and ended on October 27, 1973, running for two seasons on CBS as the only hour-long Scooby-Doo series. Twenty-four episodes were produced, sixteen for the 1972–73 season and eight more for the 1973–74 season.
Deborra-Lee Furness Jackman, is an Australian actress and producer.
A sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into without intending to create a real marital relationship. This is usually for the purpose of gaining an advantage from the marriage.
Claudia Karvan is an Australian actress and producer. As a child actor, she first appeared in the film Molly (1983) and followed with an adolescent role in High Tide (1987). She portrayed a teacher in The Heartbreak Kid (1993) – the film was spun off into a TV series, Heartbreak High (1994–1999), with her character taken over by Sarah Lambert. Karvan's roles in television series include The Secret Life of Us (2001–2005), Love My Way (2004–2007), Newton's Law (2017) and Halifax: Retribution (2020). She won Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama at the AFI Awards for her appearance in G.P. (1996). She won two similar AFI Awards for her role in Love My Way and in 2014 for her work in The Time of Our Lives (2013–2014). As a co-producer and co-writer on Love My Way, she won three further AFI Awards for Best Drama Series in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Karvan was inducted into the Australian Film Walk of Fame in 2007 in acknowledgment of her contributions to the Australian film and television industry. From 2010 to 2011, she starred in the drama series Spirited, which she co-created and was executive producer. She appeared as Judy Vickers in Puberty Blues. Karvan has co-produced House of Hancock and Doctor Doctor (2016–2021). In 2021 she co-created, co-produced and starred in the TV drama series, Bump.
David Arugete, commonly known under his stage name Darío Moreno, was a Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer, an accomplished composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He attained fame and made a remarkable career centred in France which also included films, during the 1950s and the 1960s. He became famous with his 1961 song Brigitte Bardot.
Fire is an Australian television series transmitted on the Seven Network between 1995 and 1996. It was shown in the UK and Ireland on Sky One. In 1999 and 2000, the series was shown on Channel 5.
Jay Presson Allen was an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. Known for her withering wit and sometimes off-color wisecracks, she was one of the few women making a living as a screenwriter at a time when women were a rarity in the profession.
Jindabyne is a 2006 Australian drama film by third time feature director Ray Lawrence and starring Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Deborra-Lee Furness and John Howard. Jindabyne was filmed entirely on location in and around the Australian country town of the same name: Jindabyne, New South Wales, situated next to the Snowy Mountains.
Goodbye Again is a 1961 American-French romantic drama film produced and directed by Anatole Litvak. The screenplay was written by Samuel A. Taylor, based on the novel Aimez-vous Brahms? by Françoise Sagan. The film, released by United Artists, stars Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Yves Montand, and Jessie Royce Landis.
Stark is a 1993 British-Australian television serial, based on the bestselling 1989 novel Stark by comedian Ben Elton. The three-episode series, directed by Nadia Tass, was an international coproduction between the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It starred Ben Elton and Jacqueline McKenzie.
Hot Blood is a 1956 American CinemaScope Technicolor musical film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Jane Russell, Cornel Wilde and Joseph Calleia. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures.
The Last of the Finest, also released as Blue Heat, is a 1990 American crime action film directed by John Mackenzie and starring Brian Dennehy, Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Fahey, and Bill Paxton
A Town Like Alice is a 1956 British drama film produced by Joseph Janni and starring Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch that is based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Nevil Shute. The film does not follow the whole novel, concluding at the end of part two and truncating or omitting much detail. It was partially filmed in Malaya and Australia.
The Stowaway is a 1958 French-Australian film directed by Australian director Lee Robinson and French Lebanese director Ralph Habib. It was shot on location in Tahiti and is one of the few Australian financed movies of the 1950s, although the storyline has nothing to do with Australia.
Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi, is a play about a family-run Korean-owned convenience store in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood.
The Lizard King is a 1988 Australian television film about a woman who comes from France to Australia in search of her son.
Perhaps Love is a 1987 Australian television film about a love affair between a Frenchman and an Australian.
Expensive Husbands is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Bobby Connolly and written by Lillie Hayward, Jean Negulesco and Jay Brennan. The film stars Patric Knowles, Beverly Roberts, Allyn Joslyn, Gordon Oliver, Vladimir Sokoloff and Eula Guy. The film was released by Warner Bros. on November 27, 1937.