Radiance
A young Aboriginal Australian woman named Nona (Deborah Mailman) gets a phone call from her sister Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), who tells her that their mother has just passed away. That night, Nona ar…
Radiance
A young Aboriginal Australian woman named Nona (Deborah Mailman) gets a phone call from her sister Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), who tells her that their mother has just passed away. That night, Nona arrives at her mother's ramshackle house in North Queensland, which Mae had stayed in to take care of their mother. The next morning, another sister, Cressy (Rachael Maza), arrives as well. Mae, the eldest, is antagonistic and brutally harsh (especially to Nona), Cressy, the middle child, is equally distant, and Nona, the youngest, is a free-spirited party girl who is sentimental to her family, and desperately tries to find her father, a mysterious rodeo star whom her mother called "The Black Prince". After their mother's funeral (to which almost nobody attends), they drive near a sugarcane plantation owned by a man named Harry Wells. Mae gets out to scream at Harry and angrily throws a wreath at the house before driving off. Later that day, Nona reveals that she is pregnant, but has angered her partner to the point that he abandoned her. Since Nona has nowhere to go, Mae reluctantly allows her to stay. They drive Cressy to the local airport, but Nona doesn't want her to go, so after dropping Cressy off and driving away, Mae turns the car around and begrudgingly invites her to stay another night with them. Nona thinks they should scatter their mother's ashes on Nora Island, a nearby island that their mother was found of, and longed to return to someday. That night, Cressy reveals why she and Mae are distant from Nona: their mother gave them both up to the State of Queensland for adoption, while she kept Nona and raised her on her own. Mae and Cressy were both raised in a Brisbane nunnery, and were never adopted by anyone, so they both grew to hate their mother. While Mae eventually stayed behind to take care of her mother, Cressy left to pursue a career in opera, and cut her mother off from her life forever. Nona defends that her mother was on the other side of the law, had no husband to take care of her, and felt heartbroken that she had to give Mae and Cressy away. After accidentally scattering their mother's ashes onto the floor, then recollecting them through a vacuum cleaner, Nona decides to put her ashes into a tin Radiance Licorice Nougat box. Despite Cressy's warnings, she goes under the house to find it. She finds both the tin and a cowboy hat that her mother said belonged to her father. Cressy angrily throws the hat out of the house, and Mae convinces Cressy to tell Nona the truth. Cressy confesses that there was no Black Prince, and recalls a traumatic event: while playing under the house, she saw her mother being assaulted by an unknown man. After he left, Cressy saw her mother desperately trying to convince herself that everything would be alright. The next morning, Mae gets drunk, and during an argument with Cressy, she reveals why she's so uptight: she hates Cressy because her mother was disappointed that Cressy wasn't her caretaker, while Mae bore the brunt of her resentment. Her mother was branded as a witch by the townspeople (hence why almost nobody showed up to her funeral), and Mae is convinced that she actually was a witch, as she would spit on people wherever she went, but in spite of how much she hated her mother, she couldn't leave her because she wanted to know more about her family. When her mother became ill with premature dementia, it grew worse enough to the point that she would scream loudly and incessantly, until the day of her death, when Mae screamed back to her that she hated her. Mae breaks down crying, wishing that her mother could have given her love instead of cursing her with hate. Mae also reveals why she's angry with Harry Wells: Harry had given the house to their mother, but decided to reclaim it after her death, as she left no will after her death. Mae, overcome by emotion, plans to burn the house down as an act of revenge against Harry for retaking the house, and the town for the way they treated her mother. Although Mae begins doubting herself and Nona is heavily against the idea, Cressy convinces Mae to do it. That night, Mae and Cressy flood the house with gasoline; Nona tries to stop them, but Cressy and Mae both light matches and set the house on fire. Cressy stays behind, and enters a trance after seeing a portrait of Jesus, but Mae goes into the house and saves her. As the three sisters watch the house burn down, Cressy sees the cowboy hat she'd thrown out earlier, and tosses it into the flames. Nona breaks down crying, thinking that was the last keepsake of their father's. Cressy reveals that she is actually Nona's biological mother: when she was 12, she was raped under the house by one of their mother's boyfriends, and her mother decided to raise Nona as her own. Unconvinced, Nona takes the tin with their mother's ashes, and jumps off a pier, swimming to Nora Island. Mae and Cressy are able to escape as police sirens can be heard in the distance. The next morning, Nona scatters the ashes into the sea, then sails back to the mainland, accepting that Cressy is her actually mother. She sees Mae and Cressy hiding in their car, wearing wigs to keep themselves hidden from the police. Nona decides to go travelling with them, and the three sisters drive off to an unknown destination.
Radiance
Drama
Film Details
A young Aboriginal Australian woman named Nona (Deborah Mailman) gets a phone call from her sister Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), who tells her that their mother has just passed away. That night, Nona arrives at her mother's ramshackle house in North Queensland, which Mae had stayed in to take care of their mother. The next morning, another sister, Cressy (Rachael Maza), arrives as well.
Mae, the eldest, is antagonistic and brutally harsh (especially to Nona), Cressy, the middle child, is equally distant, and Nona, the youngest, is a free-spirited party girl who is sentimental to her family, and desperately tries to find her father, a mysterious rodeo star whom her mother called "The Black Prince". After their mother's funeral (to which almost nobody attends), they drive near a sugarcane plantation owned by a man named Harry Wells. Mae gets out to scream at Harry and angrily throws a wreath at the house before driving off.
Later that day, Nona reveals that she is pregnant, but has angered her partner to the point that he abandoned her. Since Nona has nowhere to go, Mae reluctantly allows her to stay. They drive Cressy to the local airport, but Nona doesn't want her to go, so after dropping Cressy off and driving away, Mae turns the car around and begrudgingly invites her to stay another night with them.
Nona thinks they should scatter their mother's ashes on Nora Island, a nearby island that their mother was found of, and longed to return to someday. That night, Cressy reveals why she and Mae are distant from Nona: their mother gave them both up to the State of Queensland for adoption, while she kept Nona and raised her on her own. Mae and Cressy were both raised in a Brisbane nunnery, and were never adopted by anyone, so they both grew to hate their mother.
While Mae eventually stayed behind to take care of her mother, Cressy left to pursue a career in opera, and cut her mother off from her life forever. Nona defends that her mother was on the other side of the law, had no husband to take care of her, and felt heartbroken that she had to give Mae and Cressy away. After accidentally scattering their mother's ashes onto the floor, then recollecting them through a vacuum cleaner, Nona decides to put her ashes into a tin Radiance Licorice Nougat box.
Despite Cressy's warnings, she goes under the house to find it. She finds both the tin and a cowboy hat that her mother said belonged to her father. Cressy angrily throws the hat out of the house, and Mae convinces Cressy to tell Nona the truth.
Cressy confesses that there was no Black Prince, and recalls a traumatic event: while playing under the house, she saw her mother being assaulted by an unknown man. After he left, Cressy saw her mother desperately trying to convince herself that everything would be alright. The next morning, Mae gets drunk, and during an argument with Cressy, she reveals why she's so uptight: she hates Cressy because her mother was disappointed that Cressy wasn't her caretaker, while Mae bore the brunt of her resentment.
Her mother was branded as a witch by the townspeople (hence why almost nobody showed up to her funeral), and Mae is convinced that she actually was a witch, as she would spit on people wherever she went, but in spite of how much she hated her mother, she couldn't leave her because she wanted to know more about her family. When her mother became ill with premature dementia, it grew worse enough to the point that she would scream loudly and incessantly, until the day of her death, when Mae screamed back to her that she hated her. Mae breaks down crying, wishing that her mother could have given her love instead of cursing her with hate.
Mae also reveals why she's angry with Harry Wells: Harry had given the house to their mother, but decided to reclaim it after her death, as she left no will after her death. Mae, overcome by emotion, plans to burn the house down as an act of revenge against Harry for retaking the house, and the town for the way they treated her mother. Although Mae begins doubting herself and Nona is heavily against the idea, Cressy convinces Mae to do it.
That night, Mae and Cressy flood the house with gasoline; Nona tries to stop them, but Cressy and Mae both light matches and set the house on fire. Cressy stays behind, and enters a trance after seeing a portrait of Jesus, but Mae goes into the house and saves her. As the three sisters watch the house burn down, Cressy sees the cowboy hat she'd thrown out earlier, and tosses it into the flames.
Nona breaks down crying, thinking that was the last keepsake of their father's. Cressy reveals that she is actually Nona's biological mother: when she was 12, she was raped under the house by one of their mother's boyfriends, and her mother decided to raise Nona as her own. Unconvinced, Nona takes the tin with their mother's ashes, and jumps off a pier, swimming to Nora Island.
Mae and Cressy are able to escape as police sirens can be heard in the distance. The next morning, Nona scatters the ashes into the sea, then sails back to the mainland, accepting that Cressy is her actually mother. She sees Mae and Cressy hiding in their car, wearing wigs to keep themselves hidden from the police.
Nona decides to go travelling with them, and the three sisters drive off to an unknown destination..