Gillian Armstrong
Armstrong at the AACTA awards 2012, Sydney
Born
Gillian May Armstrong

(1950-12-18) 18 December 1950
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
OccupationFilm director
Years active1970–present
SpouseJohn Pleffer
Children2
AwardsAustralian Film Institute Award for Best Direction
1979 My Brilliant Career

Gillian May Armstrong (born 18 December 1950) is an Australian feature film and documentary director,[1][2][3] best known for My Brilliant Career, Little Women[4][5], The Last Days of Chez Nous, and Mrs. Soffel.[6][7] She is a Member of the Order of Australia.[8]

She has won multiple awards including an AFI Best Director Award, and has been nominated for numerous other awards including a Palme D'Or[9] and two Golden Bear Awards.[10][11] She has received multiple Honorary Doctorates including an Honorary Doctor of Letter Degree from University of Sydney, and an Honorary Doctorate from Swinburne University of Technology.[12][13]

Early life

Armstrong was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 18 December 1950.[14] She went to a local high school, Vermont High School (now Vermont Secondary College), and was the middle child of a local real estate agent father and a primary school teacher mother who gave up work to have a family.[15] Armstrong stated in The Australian that her parents were always very supportive of their hopes and dreams, which was not always the way it was for women in the 1960s and 70s.[15] Her father was a frustrated photographer who wasn't allowed to follow his dreams professionally, yet always practised as an amateur. Armstrong reminisces of how she grew up in a dark room, learning all about photography. When she first decided to go to art school, Armstrong didn't have a very firm grasp on what she wanted to do.[15]

Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. Armstrong was a technical theatre student at Swinburne Technical College while paying her tuition by working as a waitress.[16] Originally, she attended school to become a theatrical set designer but the school that she attended also offered a film course. After she took it she was enamored by the great names of cinema and decided to enter the film industry. Then she won a scholarship to join the first 12 students at the country's first and only film school, the Australian Film and Television School.[15] While she was in school, the Australian film industry was non existent, and she recalls how weird the accent sounded in new films, because it wasn't American, it was Australian.[17] She attended Swinburne Technical College with the intention of becoming a theatre costume designer, but it was here she became increasingly interested in film. During this time, she was exposed to a range of artistic films that differentiated from the commercial cinema and television she was used to.[18]

After graduating from art school in 1968, Armstrong was set on pursuing a career in film. She began making short films of 2–10 minutes, and started work as an assistant editor in a commercial film house, which lasted a year.

Career

Following a string of small jobs within the Australian film industry, she achieved her first directorial recognition through her short film The Singer and the Dancer which won an award at the Sydney Film Festival.[19]

Armstrong became a film director at the age of 27.[20] During the time of the development of Australian Cinema Armstrong recalls in a Washington Post interview that tremendous tax breaks led to a frightful overproduction. Everybody was interested in doing deals and even stockbrokers were becoming directors. However, very few of them had the commitment to cinema that Armstrong and others had, and the films would be shown for a week or two, or not released at all.[17] After Armstrong's second film My Brilliant Career, she had offers from Hollywood but quickly turned them all away, preferring to stay in Australia to make a deliberately small film called Starstruck.[20] After the release of Starstruck, Armstrong went around giving interviews dressed in a large fuzzy blue sweater dress decorated with coloured beads, a black-and-white polka dot blouse, black tights and blue suede shoes all topped by a punk shag haircut.

Following this success, Armstrong was commissioned by the South Australian Film Corporation to make a documentary exploring the lives of young teenage girls living in Adelaide, South Australia. This became Smokes and Lollies (1976), her first paid job as director.[21]

Armstrong's own interest in the girls led her to revisit them at ages 18, 26, 33 and 48, resulting in four more films in the style of the popular "Up Series". These are Fourteen's Good, Eighteen's Better (1980), Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces (1988), Not Fourteen Again (1996), and her most recent film Love, Lust & Lies (2009)[22]

Armstrong's first feature-length film My Brilliant Career (1979), an adaptation of Miles Franklin's novel of the same name, was the first Australian feature-length film to be directed by a woman for 46 years. Armstrong received six awards at the 1979 Australian Film Awards (previously the Australian Film Institute Awards, or AFI's) including Best Director. The film also brought considerable attention to its two main stars, Judy Davis and Sam Neill who were relatively unknown at the time.[23][24][25] Following the success of My Brilliant Career, which was nominated for an Academy Award in Best Costume Design, Armstrong directed the Australian rock-musical Starstruck which proved her ability to tackle more contemporary and experimental subject matter and styles.[26]

She has directed a number of rock music videos in the early 1980s, including 1984's "Bop Girl" by Pat Wilson, which featured Nicole Kidman.

Since then, Armstrong has specialised in period drama. She was the first foreign woman to be approached by the American film company MGM to finance her direction of a big-budget feature, which became Mrs. Soffel (1984) starring Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton.[18] This film tells the true story of an affair between a prisoner and a prison warden's wife, and was relatively well received by audiences and critics.[27]

On returning to Australia, Armstrong continued to make both documentaries and feature films. She earned great recognition for High Tide (1987) and The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992), for which she was nominated for Best Director at the 1987 and 1992 Australian Film Institute Awards (AFIs). The Last Days of Chez Nous also earned her a nomination at the Berlin Film Festival. Despite this, both films were largely unrecognised internationally[27]

Armstrong discusses the making of High Tide in the 2003 Canadian documentary Complete Unknown co-directed by Griffin Ondaatje and Craig Proctor.

In 1994, Armstrong achieved her greatest Hollywood success with the adaptation of Little Women, starring Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Gabriel Byrne, Christian Bale, Claire Danes and Kirsten Dunst. This adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel was one of the most popular films of the year, and emphasises Armstrong's focus on portraying the intimate lives of strong female characters and their relationships with one another.

She followed this success three years later with the film Oscar and Lucinda (1997), starring Ralph Fiennes and a relatively unknown Cate Blanchett. This film, based on the novel by Australian writer Peter Carey, tells the story of a mismatched love affair in 19th-century Australia. It received mixed reviews both locally and internationally, despite its high production value and strong performances by the film main actors.[27]

In the 2000s, Armstrong went on to direct the feature films Charlotte Gray (2001), starring Cate Blanchett, and Death Defying Acts (2008), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce. Based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks, Charlotte Gray is another of Armstrong's films that centres around a strong female protagonist.

Removed from Armstrong's usual subject matter, Death Defying Acts portrays a moment in the life of 1920s escape artist Harry Houdini in the style of a supernatural, romantic thriller. It received a modest earning at the box office, and was part of a special screening at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival[22]

Despite the success of these more commercial films, it was Armstrong's lesser-known documentary Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst (2006), which earned her the most critical recognition during this time, and a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Film themes and style

Themes

Armstrong has voiced her desire to reach a wide audience in her interviews, one that includes both men and women of all nationalities. However, her work continually addresses sexual politics and family tensions. Films focused on the escape and struggle with traditional sex roles and its related drawbacks and progressions such as One hundred a Day, My Brilliant Career, High Tide, and Oscar and Lucinda continue to reflect the theme.[14] Furthermore, many people have called her a creator of "strong females" but she insists that she is simply making films about complex characters and the choices that they make.[15]

Style

Armstrong has a distinctive style in her work that resists easy categorisation. Most of her films cannot simply be stated as being either "women's films" or Australian ones which are the two most generalised categories for women in her line of work.[14] Armstrong's films are described as mixing and intermingling genres in ways that recreate them as something vastly different than what they have been considered. Nevertheless, the films that Armstrong creates can also be considered conventional films in their appeal to the audience. Her films possess sensitive and delicate cinematography, fluid editing, an evocative feel for setting and costume, and a commitment to solid character development and acting.[14] According to film scholar Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Armstrong has a "strong feminist bent" and a "mordant sense of humor".[28]

Personal life

Armstrong is married to John Pleffer,[29] and they have two daughters.[30]

Filmography

YearTitleTypeNotes
1970Old Man and Dogshort
1971Roof Needs Mowingshort
1973Satdee Nightshortalso writer
1973One Hundred a Dayshortalso writer
1973Gretelshortalso writer
1975The Singer and the Dancershortalso co-writer, producer
1976Smokes and LolliesDocumentary
1979My Brilliant CareerFeature film[31][32]
1980Touch WoodDocumentary
1980Fourteen's Good, Eighteen's BetterDocumentaryalso producer
1982StarstruckFeature film[33][34]
1983Having a GoDocumentary
1984Mrs. SoffelFeature film[35]
1986Hard to HandleDocumentaryConcert video of Bob Dylan's 1986 True Confessions tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Screened as an HBO special. Released only on VHS.
1987High TideFeature film[36]
1988Bingo, Bridesmaids & BracesDocumentary
1991Fires WithinFeature film
1992The Last Days of Chez NousFeature film[37]
1994Little WomenFeature film[5][4]
1996Not Fourteen AgainDocumentary
1997Oscar and LucindaFeature film[38][39]
2001Charlotte GrayFeature film[40]
2006Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence BroadhurstDocumentary
2007Death Defying ActsFeature film[41]
2009Love, Lust & LiesDocumentary[42]
2015Women He's UndressedDocumentary[43]

Awards and nominations

YearAward CategoryFilmResult Notes
1979Cannes Film Festival Palme d'OrMy Brilliant CareerNominated [9]
1981 Golden Globe Awards Best Picture - Non-English Language Nominated [44]
1979Australian Film Institute Awards Best DirectorWon
1981London Critics Circle Film Awards Special Achievement AwardWon
1985Berlin film festival Golden BearMrs. SoffelNominated [11]
1987Australian Film Institute Awards Best DirectorHigh TideNominated
1992Australian Film Institute Awards Best DirectorThe Last Days of Chez NousNominated
1992Berlin film festival Golden BearThe Last Days of Chez NousNominated [45][10]
1995Brisbane International Film Festival Chauvel AwardWon
1995Women in Film Crystal Awards Dorothy Arzner Directors AwardWon
1996Australian Film Institute Awards Best DocumentaryNot Fourteen AgainWon
2006Australian Film Institute Awards Best Direction in a DocumentaryUnfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence BroadhurstNominated
2006Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury PrizeUnfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence BroadhurstNominated
2007Australian Directors Guild Awards Outstanding AchievementWon
2010Australian Directors Guild Awards Love, Lust & LiesWon
2015Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Best Feature Length DocumentaryWomen He's UndressedNominated

References

  1. ↑ "Gillian Armstrong AM, b. 1950". National Portrait Gallery people. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  2. ↑ "Gillian Armstrong, 1985". National Portrait Gallery collection. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "Gillian Armstrong | AFTRS Alumni Showcase". www.aftrs.edu.au. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  4. 1 2 Maslin, Janet (21 December 1994). "FILM REVIEW; The Gold Standard For Girlhood Across America". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  5. 1 2 Spencer, Ashley (12 September 2019). "'Little Women': An Oral History of the 1994 Adaptation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  6. ↑ Douglas, James Robert (29 August 2016). "Gillian Armstrong: I used to think, 'I did it, why can't all the other women?'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  7. ↑ Quinn, Karl (2 October 2020). "Calling the shots: the Aussie women conquering Hollywood". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "Citation". Australian Government | Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  9. 1 2 "MY BRILLIANT CAREER". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  10. 1 2 "The Last Days Of Chez Nous - Competition 1992". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  11. 1 2 "Mrs.Soffel | Flucht zu dritt - Competition 1985". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  12. ↑ "Citation" (PDF). University Of Sydney. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "Gillian Armstrong's Honorary Doctorate ceremony, 1998". commons.swinburne.edu.au. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Gillian Armstrong: Women Filmmakers & Their Filmes." Gale Biography in Context. Gale Cengage Learning. Web.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Higson, Rosalie."Gillian Armstrong: The Real Thing"The Australian: Arts The Australian. Web
  16. ↑ Erickson, Hal. "Gillian Armstrong-Biography – Movies & TV – NYTimes.com."Gillian Armstrong – Biography – Movies & TV – NYTimes.com.The New York Times Web.
  17. 1 2 Brunette, Peter. "Gillian Armstrong's a Director. Period. So Don't Pigeonhole Her as a Feminist, Please."HighBeam Research. The Washington Post. Web.
  18. 1 2 Bear, Liza. "Liza Bear and Gillian Armstrong Reviewed work(s)", "BOMB", New Art Publications: Spring 1993, No. 43, pp. 50–53
  19. ↑ The Singer and the Dancer, retrieved 28 May 2020
  20. 1 2 Reichl, Ruth. "At Tea With: Gillian Armstrong; A Lucky Director's Daring Career."The New York Times.The New York Times. Web.
  21. ↑ Carter, Helen (3 October 2002). "Armstrong, Gillian". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  22. 1 2 Carter, Helen. "Gillian Armstrong", "Senses of Cinema", Melbourne, 4 October 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2012
  23. ↑ "My Brilliant Career: rewatching classic Australian films". The Guardian. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  24. ↑ Maslin, Janet (6 October 1979). "Film: Australian 'Brilliant Career' by Gillian Armstrong:The Cast". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  25. ↑ "'Career' wins film awards". Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995). 13 October 1979. p. 18. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  26. ↑ Kooyman, Ben (26 April 2020). "Starstruck (Gillian Armstrong, 1982)". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  27. 1 2 3 Erickson, Hal. "Gillian Armstrong", "The New York Times", New York, 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2012
  28. ↑ Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, 1995, Greenwood Press, Westport (CT) & London, Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary, retrieved 15 December 2014, see page(s): 114
  29. ↑ "Gillian Armstrong: Award-winning director on smashing through glass ceilings; paying tribute to Australian costume designing legend Orry-Kelly". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  30. ↑ Reichl, Ruth. "AT TEA WITH: Gillian Armstrong; A Lucky Director's Daring Career". The New York Times.
  31. ↑ Buckmaster, Luke (28 February 2014). "My Brilliant Career: rewatching classic Australian films". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  32. ↑ Maslin, Janet (6 October 1979). "Film: Australian 'Brilliant Career' by Gillian Armstrong:The Cast". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  33. ↑ Jinx, Kate (31 July 2017). "Rediscovering Starstruck: Gillian Armstrong's 80s rock musical extravaganza". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  34. ↑ Maslin, Janet (10 November 1982). "'STARSTRUCK' DOWN UNDER..." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  35. ↑ "Berlinale: 1985 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  36. ↑ Forsberg, Myra (6 March 1988). "FILM; Partnership Swells 'High Tide'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  37. ↑ Buckmaster, Luke (26 July 2015). "The Last Days of Chez Nous rewatched – emotions laid bare with a steady, sympathetic hand". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  38. ↑ Winters, Laura (28 December 1997). "Getting the Call for the Unconventional". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  39. ↑ "Oscar And Lucinda | Film | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  40. ↑ Brooks, Libby (20 February 2002). "Charlotte's web". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  41. ↑ Genzlinger, Neil (11 July 2008). "Magic Love". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  42. ↑ "Love Lust and Lies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  43. ↑ Spring, Alexandra (13 June 2015). "Gillian Armstrong on her Orry-Kelly film: friendship, fame and homophobia". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  44. ↑ "My Brilliant Career". Golden Globes. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  45. ↑ "Berlinale: 1992 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 27 May 2011.

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