Ladies in Black (2018), directed by Bruce Beresford

It is 1959 and Lisa has just started work as a Christmas temp in the cocktail gowns section of Groves department store. She is anxiously awaiting her final exam results and hopes to go on to University, if her father can be persuaded that it’s not a waste of time and money for a girl. Lisa grows up a little and learns a lot through her interactions with her fellow ‘ladies in black’ as they deal with the Christmas rush. A nostalgic ode to Sydney, there are many long lingering shots of the beauty of its architecture and natural surroundings, plus a few gratuitous digs at Melbourne. Some gentle points are made about the limitations set on women and on the potential benefits that refugees and migrants bring to a society, all of which have contemporary resonance. Julia Ormond is wonderful as Magda, the Slovenian ‘reffo’ with elegance and ambition. She is perfectly complemented by French heartthrob Vincent Perez as her laid back Hungarian husband. Up-and-comer Angourie Rice hits all the right notes as the ingénue Lisa, well supported by Susie Porter and Shane Jacobsen as her suburban mum and dad. Rachael Taylor is lovely as former dancer Faye and it’s a different role for Ryan Corr, playing her Hungarian suitor Rudi. Noni Hazlehurst does a particularly poignant turn as Miss Cartwright, the department store supervisor who encourages Lisa to make the most of her opportunities. The film occasionally hints that it will take a darker path, but steps back from the brink and stays charming but inconsequential, carried by its cast rather than its story.