High Tide *** (1987, Judy Davis, Jan Adele, Claudia Karvan, Colin Friels) – Classic Movie Review 13,810

Judy Davis, Jan Adele and Claudia Karvan impress in the soapy but very nicely acted 1987 Australian drama film of heartbreak and reunion High Tide.

Rock ‘n’ roll singer Lillie (Judy Davis) has a bad day. She loses her job as a backing singer for a touring Elvis impersonator, her car breaks down, and she’s stranded in a trailer park in a small Australian beach town on the New South Wales coast. And then, to complicate matters, she comes across the teenage daughter (Claudia Karvan) she deserted after the death of her young surfer husband and gave up as a baby to her mother-in-law Bet (Jan Adele in her most significant film role).

Director Gillian Armstrong’s 1987 Australian drama film High Tide is a soapy Australian tale of heartbreak and reunion that tugs at the tear ducts but flounders in a pool of clichés, though the performances (especially those of Judy Davis, Jan Adele and Claudia Karvan) certainly impress. The screenplay focuses sharply on the mother-daughter bond and the relationships of the three women.

Davis won the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award for Best Actress for her remarkable performance, and Jan Adele won Best Actress in a Supporting Role as Bet.

High Tide is Judy Davis’s fourth AFI Award (Australian Film Institute) for acting. Davis had previously won the AFI Award for Best Actress for Winter of Our Dreams (1981) and Kangaroo (1986), and in 1981 also won the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Hoodwink (1981).

The script was originally written and financed to be about a man who had abandoned his daughter. The character of Mick played by Colin Friels was written as a female role but became a man when director Gillian Armstrong changed the central character to a woman.

Cast: Judy Davis as Lilli, Jan Adele as Bet, Claudia Karvan as Ally, Frankie J Holden as Lester, John Clayton as Col, Colin Friels as Mick, Toni Scanlan as Mary, Monica Trapaga as Tracey, Mark Hembrow as Mechanic, Barry Rugless as club manager, Bob Purtell as Joe, Rob Carlton as pinball boy.

Writer: Laura Jones.

Judy Davis and Colin Friels married in 1984 and have two children.

Jan Adele previously appeared in small roles in Caddie (1976) and Winter of our Dreams (1981).

Running time: 104 minutes.

Release date: July 30, 1987.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,810

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