Release date 14 April 2005
Country Australia
Running time 102 mins
OFLC Rating MA 15+ Adult themes, Sexual references, Nudity
Director Paul Cox
Writer Paul Cox
Key Cast Jacqueline McKenzie, Chris Haywood, Aaron Blabey,
Rebecca Frith, Aden Young
From Paul Cox (
Innocence), one of Australia’s most celebrated
filmmakers, comes the erotically charged drama
Human Touch. Features
an atmospheric score by Paul Grabowsky and strong performances from a talented
cast, including Jacqueline McKenzie, Chris Haywood, Aaron Blabey, Rebecca
Frith and Aden Young.
Anna (McKenzie) is in her early 30s—she has a burgeoning music career
as a singer, and has a loving relationship with her painter boyfriend, David.
Her remarkable voice and luminous presence command attention, and when Anna’s
choir holds a concert to raise money for a tour of China, she is noticed
by Edward (Haywood), a wealthy, cultured man in his 60s. Accepting an offer
to meet with Edward, in the hope that he will help finance the tour, Anna
visits his imposing mansion. The dense artistic and erotic environment,
so different from her own world, intrigues her. When Edward asks Anna to
pose for a series of nude photographs, she sees no reason to refuse him.
However, when David sees the results of the photographic shoot, he becomes
jealous and unnerved by Edward’s attention to Anna. The older man
has captured an unseen side of Anna, a languid sensuality, and has started
her on an intimate journey of self-discovery that can’t be halted.
PAUL COX IS A TRUE AUTEUR FILMMAKER WHOSE FILMS ARE EQUALLY ANTICIPATED IN EUROPE AND AMERICA JUST AS THEY ARE IN AUSTRALIA. The son of a film producer, Paul Cox trained in still photography, arriving in Australia in 1963 as part of a student exchange program by Melbourne University. He opened a photography studio in Melbourne and immediately became established as one of the country's most widely exhibited and frequently published photographers. At the same time, starting with
Matuta (1965), he began making highly personal short fiction and documentary films, typically dealing with his favourite subjects, loneliness and alienation, often in metaphysical terms. Graduating to features in the mid-70s, Cox quickly established a reputation as an honest, if eccentric, director who stamps his films with a true personal mark and humanistic passion. His
Lonely Hearts was named best film at the 1982 Australian Film Awards and Outstanding Film of the Year at the London Film Festival.
Man of Flowers won the Jury Prize at the 1983 Chicago Film Festival. Based on his own painful experience,
My First Wife (1984), depicting the breakdown of a man deserted by his spouse, won the awards for best director and best screenplay at the Australian Film Awards. He is more recently known for the critical and commercial success
Innocence (2000) which won Audience prizes at the Montreal and Toronto Film Festivals and Best Feature at the IF Awards.
Human Touch is Paul Cox's 21st feature film.
