The advanced screening of Romulus, My Father on 21 May at Dendy Portside was not your average night at the movies. When director, Richard Roxburgh was introduced before the beginning of the film, and we knew that we, as the audience, would be welcome to ask him questions afterwards. After Roxburgh greeted us and walked back down the aisle, however, the lights dimmed, and it was once again like any other night at the movies – or at least any good night at the movies. We were transported.

Romulus, My Father tells the story of a young Raimond Gaita (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is witness to a particularly complex web of adult relationships. His father, Romulus (Eric Bana) is desperately in love with his mother, Christina (Franka Potente), but she is troubled, often depressed, and frequently unfaithful. Her latest affair with an old family friend, Mitru (Russell Dykstra) means his brother, Hora (Marton Csokas), Romulus’s closest friend, comes to despise her for the hold she has on both men; a hold that engenders self-destructive behaviour in both.

The characters in Romulus, My Father display depth and richness because they were or are real people. This complexity calls for competent, flexible acting, and every actor delivered on this. Making his Australian feature film lead debut as Raimond, Smit-McPhee has a maturity that was essential in this role. He captures the essence of Raimond - a boy who struggles to gain the maturity to deal with situations that are years beyond him. Eric Bana as Romulus offers an impressive and poignant performance that will break your heart. He so perfectly embodies Gaita's father, a man who loves Christina so much, yet knows he does not completely have her love; he probably never did. In one scene, Raimond’s birthday is being celebrated around the dinner table; Christina sings, her visage beautiful, yet detached. Romulus, looks on in anguish, heartbroken and still fervently in love.

The Q&A after the screening was chaired by Paul Barclay, a broadcaster and journalist with Radio National. Barclay and Roxburgh started by discussing how Roxburgh gained the production rights to the book. Raimond Gaita did not want his memoir to be turned into a film, but Roxburgh, enchanted by the book, was persistent. He credits ‘dogged stalking’, the fact that he flew to London to meet Gaita and discuss his concerns, and sweetening the deal with a couple of bottles of wine. Barclay asked the assembled group for questions, specifically ‘curly ones’. Richard offered the droll suggestion that maybe there could also be ‘straight ones’.

When asked about his choice of Franka Potente for the role of Christina, Roxburgh said that he had not seen her ‘peeled back’ or ‘exposed’ in any of her other roles and felt that this was an opportunity for her to be both. An actor himself, this suggested he picked his actors through thinking like one, considering the things he seeks when he goes for roles – he chose actors he felt confident could be stretched, and in stretching them, embarked on something of a 'do unto others as you would like them to do unto you'-approach.

Another question that prompted an interesting answer from Roxburgh related to the depiction of Christina. The audience member commented that the character seemed to be an enigma, and wanted to know whether this was deliberate. Roxburgh's brilliant response reminded the gathered group that in this film, the events are seen through the eyes of a child, to whom a lot of the adult world is still mysterious. Christina was a question he didn’t necessarily want to answer; he just wanted to put her out there. In that sense, Roxburgh succeeded, and equally so in the depiction of all of his characters. There is no denying these characters had faults and foibles, but in offering them to us without judgement, Roxburgh encourages the audience to think before making their own judgement. Perhaps this is the aspect of the film that Gaita would find most pleasing.


Romulus, My Father
2007

Director: Richard Roxburgh
Screenwriter: Nick Drake, Raimond Gaita (memoir)
Cinematographer: Geoffrey Simpson
Editor: Suresh Ayyar
Original Music: Basil Hogios
Cast: Eric Bana, Franka Potente, Marton Csokas, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Russell Dykstra, Jacek Koman