Jean Dwight is the mother from hell. Once an up-and-coming comedienne back in the old country, she has a sharp and biting wit that rips most foes to shreds. Her next target happens to be her son’s feisty new girl friend; but this mother isn’t about to let her son go falling into the arms of another woman without a fight. By the end of the bitter-sweet comedic Aussie flick Clubland, you can’t help but fall in love with this formidable woman. Jean is full of so many paradoxes, but deep down she’s really a loveable hag.

Jean (played to perfection by British actress Brenda Blethyn) is on the other side of fifty and searching for a comeback as a comedienne on the club circuit. This entails her 21-year-old son Tim (Khan Chittenden) driving her in his removal truck to different evening gigs in retro-looking clubs across Sydney. He’s happy to help his mother’s in her quest for stardom. At home, Jean’s older, mentally-challenged son Mark (Richard Wilson), spends most of his time housebound after various disappearing acts. Both boys have little life of their own as their mother’s overpowering personality smothers their more awkward and shy personalities. Yet, the love of Jean’s life is her two sons. It is her foundation and purpose. Imagine her turmoil then, when Tim literally stumbles into a relationship with the assertive and world-wise Jill (Emma Booth).

Jean’s comeback is put on hold as Tim’s attention is split between the two women. What follows is a classic clash of the titans as Jill becomes the wedge that threatens to tear this maternal bond apart. Tim even warns Jill, ‘You know my parents... Well, they’re entertainers’. What follows is cruel, yet fiendishly funny, as Jean keeps referring to Jill as one of Tim’s past girlfriends Samantha, or continuously shoots Jill down with snide remarks. The younger woman stands no chance and finds her grip on Tim loosening. Things finally come to a head when Jean, in a drunken rage, threatens to move back to England. Jill retorts, ‘Get me the Yellow Pages and I’ll find her a budget airfare!’ Jean’s ex-husband John (Frankie J. Holden) turns up at the house trying to calm the situation, only to escalate the fiasco as furniture flies across the room. But when Jean’s emotional blackmail fails to win Tim back, she realises Jill has won her son’s heart. ‘I love Jill, I want to be with her all the time, I want to have sex with her all the time’ exclaims Tim with brutal honesty.

There are so many layers to this flim. There is the physical intimacy between the two young lovers Tim and Jill, a coming-of-age told through sexual exploration; quite explicit in parts. Then there is Jean at the other end of the spectrum, still holding onto the past. Even her home has a dour sixties flavour to it, with the colours given a ‘washed out’ look. This is a woman who put her career on hold for her sons and is now trying to recapture a heyday where she once commanded the crowd.

Clubland easily could have become a set of well-worn caricatures, but Brenda Blethyn is one charismatic leading lady. We can’t help but be drawn under the spell of her continual transformations. One moment she can be crude and crass with sexual innuendos in her performances: ‘Women with big husbands... it’s hard you know, because it’s like a cupboard falling on top of you with the key still stuck in the door’. Then the layers begin to peel back as we peeps into the dark shadows of the private life of a comedian and see vulnerability bubbling to the surface. It was important for Blethyn ‘to make Jean likable…and able to redeem herself’. Sure she’s a pain in the arse, but at the same time she’s hilarious. Blethyn holds the seams of this story together with a powerful performance that can sometimes dwarf the younger actors. This is not to say they don’t hold their ground, but Blethyn is in a class of her own.

Clubland has a sense of Australian maturity where, unlike Strictly Ballroom (1992) the actors are not overwhelmed by the visuals, or Muriel’s Wedding (1994) where the focus was on the ‘ugly’ aspect of Australian life. Clubland is ‘not a film about ugly people in an ugly world, the people are really warm’. Aussie humour is still peppered throughout, ensuring we take the piss out of ourselves. Keep an ear out for Mark’s clever one-liners. Clubland proves Australian films are still viable in a film industry saturated with American product. Films like Clubland offer an important opportunity to tell Australian stories about who we are, where we come from and where we are heading.


Clubland
2007

Director: Cherie Nowlan
Screenwriter: Keith Thompson
Cinematography: Mark Wareham
Editor: Scott Gray
Composer: Martin Armiger
Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Emma Booth, Khan Chittenden, Richard Wilson, Frankie J. Holden, Rebecca Gibney, Katie Wall