Age of Consent

Dir: Michael Powell

1969

****

Age of Consent has become something of a cult film, although I don’t personally consider it a masterpiece as many do, especially as it was directed by the legendary director Michael Powell. However, I did enjoy it, and no, not just because it features a young naked Helen Mirren. The story is based on Norman Lindsay's 1938 novel that was actually banned in Australia for several years. The novel was later adapted into the 1994 film Sirens, starring Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, and Elle Macpherson. The first adaptation was announced in 1961 by producer Oscar Nichols who said he wanted Dan O'Herlihy and Glynis Johns to make the film. In 1962 Michael Pate bought the rights and he eventually brought in Michael Powell. Several changes were made from Lindsay's novel including shifting the location from New South Wales to the Barrier Reef and making the artist a success instead of a failure. While the film was still in production, director Michael Powell said “My next film is the story of a painter who believes that he will no longer paint and of a girl who persuades him to begin again...He will probably end up painting her; but to see a painter sit down and paint a girl, this could be exciting, but I had the hardest time explaining to my scriptwriter that this didn't excite me at all. What interested me was the problem of Creation and the fact that this creation in the case of the painter was very physical. He will have to struggle, to fight, even more strongly than he will move away from reality. It will be a slightly bitter comedy that I will produce with James Mason who will play the leading role.” Powell and Mason had wanted to work together in the past, on I Know Where I'm Going!, but had not been able to come to an agreement on billing and Mason was unwilling to go on location to Scotland. It was originally intended to cast an unknown seventeen-year-old Australian actress opposite Mason but in the end twenty-two-year-old Helen Mirren was chosen. For some reason they added the line "Miss Mirren is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company" underneath her name. maybe it was to let the audience know she was an actor and not just a model who had agreed to take off her clothes, I don’t know, but I’ve always thought it to be rather condescending. That said, maybe it was on her request and she had predicted the sort of interview Michael Parkinson gave her six years later, but like I say, I really don’t know. The film follows Bradley Morahan (James Mason), an Australian artist who feels he has become jaded by success and life in New York City. He decides that he needs to regain the edge he had as a young artist and returns to Australia. He sets up in a shack, just him and his dog (who receives his own credit at the beginning of the film), on the shore of a small, sparsely inhabited island on the Great Barrier Reef. There he meets young Cora Ryan (Helen Mirren), who has grown up wild, with her only relative, her difficult, gin-guzzling grandmother 'Ma' (Neva Carr Glyn). To earn money, Cora sells Bradley fish that she has caught in the sea. She later sells him a chicken which she has stolen from his spinster neighbour Isabel Marley (Andonia Katsaros). When Bradley is suspected of being the thief, he pays Isabel and gets Cora to promise not to steal any more. To help her save enough money to fulfill her dream of becoming a hairdresser in Brisbane, he pays her to be his model. She reinvigorates him, becoming his artistic muse. Bradley's work is disrupted when his sponging longtime "friend" Nat Kelly (Jack MacGowran) shows up. Nat is hiding from the police over alimony he owes. When Bradley refuses to give him a loan, Nat invites himself to stay with Bradley. After several days, Bradley's patience becomes exhausted, but Nat then focuses his attention on romancing Isabel, hoping to get some money from her. Instead, she unexpectedly ravishes him. The next day, he hastily departs the island, but not before stealing Bradley's money and some of his drawings. Ma subsequently catches Cora posing nude for Bradley and accuses him of carrying on with her underage granddaughter. Bradley protests that he has done nothing improper. Finally, he gives her the little money he has left to get her to go away. When Cora discovers that Ma has found her hidden cache of money, she chases after her. In the ensuing struggle, Ma falls down a hill, breaks her neck, and dies. The local policeman sees no reason to investigate further, since the old woman was known to be frequently drunk. Later that night, Cora goes to Bradley's shack, but is disappointed when he seems to view her only as his model. When she runs out, Bradley follows her into the water, where he finally comes to view her as a desirable young woman. Mason’s accent isn’t great, although I love his voice, and the desire between both he and Mirren is never really that convincing. I didn’t find the last scene to be the most logic as neither character ever saw each other as anything other than an opportunity – inspiration for him and a way out for her. As much as I enjoyed Jack MacGowran’s performance, he brought the film back to the typical sex comedy of the era, when before his appearance it all seemed rather grown up and contemporary. The younger actor’ performances were a stark contrast to the more seasoned actor’s performances and they never really worked in unison. Months later Michael Powell admitted the film had turned out to be too comedic, suggesting it was "A sensual comedy. Not a big success, but interesting anyway." The film will always be best remembered for the nude Helen Mirren and the problems the production had with censorship. It’s a shame in many respects, because all of the great scenes and the clever script have been overlooked ever since. It is a nice film, no masterpiece and no where near Powell’s finest work but it does have a lot of charm to it and it remains a fascinating film for various different reasons.