| The Well | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Samantha Lang |
| Written by | Elizabeth Jolley (novel) Laura Jones |
| Starring | Pamela Rabe Miranda Otto Paul Chubb Frank Wilson |
| Cinematography | Mandy Walker |
| Edited by | Dany Cooper |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
The Well is a 1997 Australian film directed by Samantha Lang and starring Pamela Rabe, Miranda Otto, Paul Chubb, and Frank Wilson. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Elizabeth Jolley.
A young girl named Katherine and her older friend Hester live on an isolated farm run by Hester and her father Francis. Katherine works as a maid and wants to leave because there's too much work. Hester, however, becomes attracted to Katherine and holds her there, promising to give her less work in the future. When Francis dies, Hester decides to sell the farm for cash. They move to small cottage on the edge of the farm and plan to go to Europe. But a tragic accident and the theft of their money change their plans.
Sandra Levy bought the rights to the novel and hired Laura Jones to adapt. They worked on the project for around six years, and then Samantha Lang became involved as director. [1]
The Well grossed $393,920 at the box office in Australia. [3]
Writer Bob Ellis later called it:
That glummest of hybrids a flawless abomination. Nothing in it is wrong, the acting is superb, and its Look — Ingmar Bergman 1967 I'd put it, portentous, exquisite, mesmeric, confronting and pointless as Piss Christ — is beyond all carping and cavil. But it wants to be a 28-minute student film (two characters, a single setting, a mystery, a punchline) and that’s what it should be. But it’s a big arrogant feature film instead, about forty-two hours long, a mountainside Piano bristling with dog-eared Freudian symbols and bereft of actual drama, blue-filtered throughout in honour, perhaps; of Blue Hills, which was also set in Cooma, and audiences are already hurling themselves out of aeroplanes over the Himalayas to be free of it; and I know by Christ how they feel. [4]
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