Judy Davis

The inspirational life story of Australian swimmer Tony Fingleton. The true story of Tony Fingleton, a young man from a troubled family who found the inner strength to become a champion. Always overshadowed in his father's eyes by his brothers, it is only when Tony displays an extraordinary swimming talent that he feels he has a shot at winning his father's heart. —Crusader Entertainment Harold Fingleton, a vile, brutal harbor laborer, is obsessed with sports and macho toughness to the point of encouraging eldest son Harold to bully sensitive junior Tony, whom both abuse as 'sissy'. Only when he discovers Tony and his sweet, timid brother John have a talent for swimming, he turns away from boxer Harold to make them both toil in the pool beyond exhaustion, yet only John gets proud paternal praise. Tony is systematically ignored or belittled. After Tony proves himself the very best, Dad actually devotes to training John to steal his place on the road to the Olympics, thus over-straining their close fraternal bond. —KGF Vissers Approximately ten years in the life of Anthony Fingleton is presented, from when he was an adolescent in the mid-1950s, to the day of the men's 100m backstroke final at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia, Tony was the second of five children of working class Harold and Dora Fingleton. It was a dysfunctional growing up with Harold being both physically and emotionally abusive, especially toward Tony and Dora, who in turn tried to protect Tony from that abuse which only angered Harold more. Harry admired what he considered manliness, which Tony admits he never was in the stereotypical way. The abuse was exacerbated by Harold's alcoholism, which in turn led to frequent difficulties with money as Harold, who worked on the docks only when ships were in port, was often off work, sometimes on divisive strikes. On the most part, Tony got along with his siblings, especially "number 3" John. But each of the five children did whatever they needed to do as self-preservation measures against Harold's abuse, sometimes at the expense of harmony with their siblings. As a refuge, especially the four youngest felt comfort in the local pool. It was only when he found out that both Tony and John were good swimmers that Harold began to pay Tony any attention in providing his form of training for the two. Regardless, nothing Tony did was ever good enough, Harold spurring on anyone else but Tony. Still, Tony wanted to make his father proud. Tony still had a grand plan of sorts where winning in the pool in and of itself was not the end goal, but solely a means to a better end. —Huggo

During his final heist, a master thief catches the U.S. President in an extra-marital affair that leaves a woman dead. Should he run...or stay to fight the White House itself?

When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage. When Jack and Sally announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe and Judy. Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> Married New York couples Gabe and Judy, and Jack and Sally are best friends. Just before they are about to go out for one of their regular evenings together, Jack and Sally casually tell Gabe and Judy that they have decided to separate. The casual nature of the announcement is not to make the news a big deal, as Jack and Sally are and will remain friends. Regardless, the news comes out of left field for Gabe and Judy, who always believed Jack and Sally were as happy as they are... or believe they are. The four continue on with their lives as friends with Jack "moving on" from Sally, Sally trying to find someone to date in retaliation while not emotionally ready to move on from Jack, Judy trying to set Sally up with who she believes is the perfect man, and Gabe continuing his work as an English professor. In the process, they all will come to some realizations about the state of their romantic lives, with outwardly passive Judy the one who always manipulates the situation usually to get what she wants. —Huggo When Jack (Pollack) and Sally (Davis, in an Oscar-nominated performance) announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Farrow). Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people.

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood. In the wake of his early but undeniable theatrical success in Broadway, the idealistic author of the proletariat and self-pitying 1940s New York playwright, Barton Fink, finds himself lured to dazzling Hollywood to write scripts for eccentric Jack Lipnick's Capitol Pictures. But, instead of writing a story pivoting around the common man, Fink's first screenplay turns out to be a Wallace Beery wrestling movie, and, before he knows it, he develops a severe case of writer's block. Now, holed up in the seedy, run-down Hotel Earle, before his silent Underwood typewriter, Barton comes to realise that his only hope to meet the deadline is to take inspiration from the burly insurance salesman living next door, Charlie Meadows, and the unassuming secretary, Audrey Taylor. In the meantime, the suffocating stranglehold of artistic bankruptcy tightens. Does self-destructive Barton Fink have the stomach for confronting Hollywood's bitter reality? —Nick Riganas The film opens in New York City during the year 1941. Barton Fink is a novice Jewish-American playwright, who has just had his first great success at the Broadway stage. He wrote a play about the struggles and aspirations of common fishmongers. He aspires to write more plays about the lives of the working class, as he finds them more interesting than the kings and the aristocracy. His agent instead convinces him to sign a lucrative screenwriting contract with Capitol Pictures, a Los Angeles-based film studio. Fink settles into the life of a hack writer, though he is not truly suited for the job. His first assignment is to work on the script of a B-Movie about wrestling, though he does not even know the basics about this form of entertainment. Fink becomes a long-term resident of the Hotel Earle, a decaying relic of the art deco era. Feeling lonely, Fink befriends his next door-neighbor, the insurance salesman Charlie Meadows. He views Meadows as a typical working stiff, but he likes sharing drinks with him. Fink seeks writing advice from the experienced novelist and screenwriter W. P. Mayhew, but soon realizes that the man is an abusive alcoholic whose career has declined. Fink finds a love interest in Audrey Taylor, Mayhew's personal secretary, long-term mistress, and the ghost writer behind most of Mayhews' recent works. After Taylor is murdered in Fink's bedroom, a traumatized Fink becomes increasingly emotionally dependent on Meadows. Shortly after, two police detectives inform Fink that Meadows is actually wanted serial killer Karl Mundt, who typically decapitates his victims. Fink slowly realizes Meadows' hidden agenda, while finding himself out of favor with his boss at the film studio. —Dimos I In 1941, New York intellectual playwright Barton Fink comes to Hollywood to write a Wallace Beery wrestling picture. Staying in the eerie Hotel Earle, Barton develops severe writer's block. His neighbor, jovial insurance salesman Charlie Meadows, tries to help, but Barton continues to struggle as a bizarre sequence of events distracts him even further from his task. —Scott Renshaw <as.idc@forsythe.stanford.edu> Barton Fink is a troubled New York playwright obsessed with bringing his new idea of "Theater of the Common Man" to the producers he loves to hate. After his first budding success his agent convinces him to travel to Los Angeles to write for Capital Pictures. When he arrives he checks into the dark Hotel Earle and meets with Capital Pictures President Jack Lipnick, who tells him of the movie he's writing: a B-Movie wrestling picture for Wallace Beery. Fink travels back to his hotel room to begin, but when he arrives he types one sentence and then falls into the horror of writer's block. He tries getting help from his neighbor, "Common Man" Charlie Meadows; famed writer Mayhew; Mayhew's girlfriend Audrey and producer Ben Geisler. But as Fink drifts further away from his script strange things start happening, and eventually two detectives show up at his door... —Monte_Man167

Adela Quested (Judy Davis) is sailing from England to British Raj India with Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), the mother of her intended bridegroom, Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers), Mrs. Moore's son from her first marriage. Heaslop is the City magistrate in Chandrapore, and Adela intends to see if she can make a go of it. Mrs Moore is scheduled to return from India after a few weeks, and Adela intends to stay on and has an open-ended ticket with the cruise liner. The ship arrives in Bombay, from where the ladies have to travel another 1000 miles over land to reach Chandrapore. Collector Turton (Richard Wilson) is Ronny's boss in Chandrapore and is travelling on the same train, with his wife Mrs Turton (Antonia Pemberton). The ladies are disappointed to find that the British community is very much separated from the Indian population and culture with a growing Indian independence movement in the 1920s. Anthony (Ashok Mandanna) is Ronny's butler. Major McBryde (Michael Culver) is in charge of law and order in the town. Turton makes attempts to help Adela and Mrs Moore meet Indians in social settings, but Adela is ashamed to see that the Indians are not treated well by the British. Indians are seen with distrust and disdain. Mrs Moore also admonishes Ronny and says that she cannot understand this disdain for the fellow human. Mrs. Moore meets by chance another Indian local, Dr Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee) at the local mosque, which she visits at night and happens to find Aziz there. Aziz is a widower who is surprised by her kindness and lack of prejudice. Ali (Art Malik) and Aziz are good friends. Advocate Hamidullah (Saeed Jaffrey) and Begum Hamidullah (Dina Pathak) are also very close to Aziz. Adela and Mrs Moore are encouraged when the local school superintendent Richard Fielding (James Fox), introduces them to the eccentric elderly Hindu Brahmin scholar Professor Narayan Godbole (Alec Guinness). Fielding also formally introduces Aziz to the ladies. Aziz offers to host an excursion to the local Marabar Caves. Godbole tries to discourage the ladies by saying that the caves are dark and empty. Ronny reacts very strongly to Adela meeting Indians, prompting her to later tell Ronny that she has decided that she will not marry him. Meanwhile Aziz is in a state of panic. Hamidullah tells Aziz that he will have to arrange transport from the station to the hills, furniture for the English ladies to sit, food for the English and for Professor Godbole (who eats only fruits), and alcohol. All of this will mean he will have to hire servants. To clear her head, Adela takes a bike ride and comes upon some abandoned ruins. She finds ancient Indian art celebrating carnal love between man and woman. She finds the images savage and is also attacked by monkeys. She returns home to embrace Ronny and tells him that she was wrong to reject him. Ronny and Adela get engaged. On the day of the expedition, Fielding and Godbole miss the train when they arrive late due to Godbole's prayers. After the train, Aziz had arranged elephants to transport Mrs Moore and Adela to the hills. Just outside the caves, Aziz sets up the furniture and serves port wine to the ladies. The initial exploration of the caves shows that the size of the party should be limited when Mrs. Moore suffers from claustrophobia and the noise from the large entourage echoes exponentially inside the caves. Mrs. Moore encourages Adela and Aziz to continue their exploration of the caves alone with just one guide. They reach the caves at a higher elevation some distance from the group and, before entering, Aziz steps away to smoke a cigarette. He returns to find Adela has disappeared. Shortly afterwards, he sees her running headlong down the hill, disheveled. She is picked up by the doctor Major Callendar's (Clive Swift) wife, Mrs. Callendar (Ann Firbank) who had arrived at the caves with Fielding, and taken to the Callendars' home. Adela is bleeding and delirious. Dr. Callendar medicates Adela with a hypodermic syringe. Upon his return to Chandrapore, Dr. Aziz is accused of attempting to sexually assault Adela inside the caves, is jailed awaiting trial, and the incident exposes clear fault-lines between the Indians and the British. It is reported that Adela herself accused Aziz of sexual assault. Ali and Hamidullah volunteer to be Aziz's legal counsel. Adela is kept sedated as her entire body is riddled with cactus spines when she ran into while running down the hill. Godbole tells Fielding that no matter what he does, the outcome of the trial against Aziz is already decided. Mrs. Moore firmly believes Aziz did not commit any offense and departs India for England. Seemingly enjoying her passage at sea, Mrs. Moore suddenly suffers an apparent heart attack and dies. Hamidullah and Ali bring in noted advocate Amrit Rao (Roshan Seth) from Calcutta to defend Aziz. Fielding declares under pressure to Turton that he will resign from the college if Aziz is found guilty. In court, Adela is questioned by the prosecutor, who is stunned when Adela replies that Dr. Aziz never entered the cave, where the supposed attempt took place. It becomes clear to Adela that her earlier signed accusation of attempted sexual assault was false, so she recants. Aziz is freed and celebrated for his innocence. Adela is abandoned to her own devices by the British, except for Mr. Fielding, who assists her to safety at the college. She plans to return to England at the earliest moment. Hamidullah plans to sue Adela for damages of Rs 20,000 but Fielding talks Aziz out of it. Aziz rids himself of his western associations and vows to find a new job in another Indian state; he opens a clinic in the lake area near Srinagar, Kashmir. Meanwhile, through Adela, Fielding has married Stella Moore (Sandra Hotz), Mrs. Moore's daughter from her second marriage. Fielding brings Stella to meet Aziz in Kashmir. Aziz eventually reconciles with Fielding, and Aziz writes to Adela asking her to forgive him for taking so long to come to appreciate the courage she exercised when she withdrew her accusation in court.