Jindabyne

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Jindabyne

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Jindabyne

Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Chris Haywood, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard (II)

Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a murdered girl in the river. Ra...( read more  read more... )ther than return to the town immediately, they continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later. Stewart's wife Claire is the last to find out. Deeply disturbed by her husband's action, her faith in her relationship with Stewart is shaken to the core. She wants to understand and tries to make things right. In her determination to help the victim's family Claire sets herself not only against her own family and friends but also those of the dead girl. Her marriage is taken to the brink and her peaceful life with Stewart and their young son hangs in the balance. The story of a murder and a marriage - a film about the things that haunt us.

Id: 2130476

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Jindabyne Recent Reviews
  • susanriley
    June 9, 2009
    susanriley
    A well-cast, beautifully acted drama centred on issues of morality, adult relationships and race.
  • Redlats
    May 27, 2009
    Redlats
    This is a difficult movie to watch. Understanding Stewart's and Claire's relationship isn't easy. The story is not really about the girl's murder, yet we keep seeing the murderer weave in and out of the movie. I will have to watch it a second time to try to understand it

    I th...( read more)ought I had seen this movie before, but it was part of the movie 'Short Cuts' I remembered (based on the same short story by Raymond Carver).
  • AgentLexi2132
    September 6, 2008
    AgentLexi2132
    ''It would have been different if she had been white though...''

    Stewart Kane, an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a murdered girl in the river. Ra...( read more)ther than return to the town immediately, they continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later.

    Gabriel Byrne: Stewart Kane

    Jindabyne revolves around four men who embark on a weekend fishing-trip, more of an annual ritual where they separate themselves from their wives and lives, hiking deep into the mountains. Shortly after arriving Stewart (Byrne) finds the body of an Aboriginal girl, stripped naked and floating in the river. The four make a telling decision: rather than hike back to report their find they keep fishing; the girl's body is left in the river where the cold water will slow decomposition; they tether it to a tree to prevent it floating downstream and into rapids. That the four think little about the moral implications of their conscious choice is reflected in subsequent scenes where they fish happily, not discussing their find or speculating about what happened to the girl. On returning, the callousness of their delay in reporting their find divides their families and their communities. Most of the focus is on Stewart's relationship with his wife Claire as the incident opens up existing fractures in their relationship. In fact the whole affair makes you wonder if any of the characters involved was ever truly happy; they certainly wonder it themselves.

    The nature of the story is intensely psychological, which necessitates both good writing and acting to carry off the whole affair. Pleasingly, Jindabyne has plenty of both.

    Beatrix Christian had Carver's story to draw upon but it would have been incredibly difficult to give this an Australian context, with all its understatement and scorn for overt displays of emotion (perhaps why they imported Linney in to the mix). The addition of her and Byrne, two skilled international character actors, certainly added quality and a depth of sorts, they were supported by an ensemble cast that mixed Australian veterans (John Howard, 'Bud' Tingwell, Chris Haywood) with lesser-known yet talented actors with an appreciation of the material they had been gifted.

    Ray Lawrence, the director, clearly did not set out to create a crime story but he certainly shows that crime can have some unexpected collateral damage. He also has contributed to the "Cinema of Unease", a phrase Sam Neill once used to describe New Zealand cinema, by setting a story or tale about personal and public guilt in such a glorious visual setting or breath taking landscape.
  • sitenoise
    June 22, 2008
    sitenoise
    The story is familiar: a group of men on a fishing trip far into the wilderness find a dead body floating in the river. They tie it to a tree and continue fishing for a few days and are then ostracized by their community when one of them confesses the real circumstances of when t...( read more)hey found and finally reported the body.

    The beautiful scenery of the Australian outback and the director's technique of fading simple scenes in and out from black enhance the film's mood of isolation and loneliness. It's a good Laura Linney flick if you are a fan.
  • wellmeetagain
    March 5, 2008
    wellmeetagain
    This gritty, somewhat slow moving film merits a look from those who like the principal actors. Linney's character is very frustrating, and I wish I knew more about the reasons behind her behaviour. Not for those who like their movies "wrapped" up into neat little boxes. Thumbs ...( read more)up, but not way up.
  • blackeyedsurfer
    November 11, 2009
    blackeyedsurfer
    In some ways, it's slow-burning and incredibly intense, but in others it's just slow. A very interesting concept here, taking the story of a murdered girl, and instead of tracking the killer and the victim's family, we see how the men who find her body and their families are affe...( read more)cted. The presumed killer is sort of included, but he's more of a menacing unknown figure thrown into a few scenes to add extra tension, we never get to know more about him or the actual crime. The victim's community plays a background role as well. Several subplots are introduced, and many of the characters have complicated backstories, but none of this is ever fully explored. It seems the writer had plenty of great ideas, but didn't know how to tie them together or come up with a resolution. Many scenes feel incomplete as they fade to black after very little has happened. Early on I thought this was simply strange editing and that we'd come back to the ideas later, but as the fade outs happened more and more, I realized this was a deliberate artistic choice and the scenes in the filmmakers' minds were complete. Perhaps some focus would have helped improve the overall story, but this isn't a miss at all. The acting is phenomenal all around. I'm always amazed at my how much I hate Laura Linney in character. I know for a fact that she's a lovely person in real life.
  • OCButterfly99
    October 4, 2009
    OCButterfly99
    I really Like Laura and Gabriel and Deborra Lee were good but the story was incomplete as far as I am concerned. I was bumbed out. Wanted more.
  • beckknuc
    September 5, 2009
    beckknuc
    I thought it was very dull. I thought the storyline sounded promising but ended up awful in my opinion.
  • BethanyClaire03
    April 19, 2009
    BethanyClaire03
    I has a similar eerie feeling as in 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.
  • RThornhill
    April 4, 2009
    RThornhill
    so-so drama about a town down under.....underwhelming.
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