Fortunately for her it doesn't come to that and she is shipped off instead to her grandmother's to live there with her mother's brother and sister as well.
They live in relative luxury and it is here where she meets Harry Beecham (Sam Neill), a friend of the family's son. They share chemistry and though Harry has a reputation with the ladies it is Sybylla he wants. Sybylla won't commit to his marriage proposal though at the moment as she still wants to write and experience herself alone, which is the opposite of what her family want for her. They want to tame her wild side and make her a proper lady.
Unfortunately her father's bad business dealings lead her to move to a tiny house on a farm where she is working off his debt as a governess to 6 unruly children.
Luckily due to a misunderstanding with the eldest son and his parents (they think she's after him but as she owns no property they can't let them marry even though Sybylla had no intention to) Sybylla ends up home again with the debt lifted until they're in better circumstances. So she is back at the family home and helping a calf out of the mud when Henry shows up again and still wants to marry her. In a move which shocked me (surprisingly) she turns him down, at least for the moment. She still hasn't found herself and wants to keep writing. It's a bittersweet moment when Henry professes he still wants her but Sybylla explains she would 'destroy him.'
Henry leaves and Sybylla sometime later posts off her manuscript. The credits begin with the sentence that Sybylla's novel was published in 1901. And us true romantics can cling to the hope that maybe they will meet again and be together at a later time.
I always considered myself kind of a feminist, but I was surprised when the two didn't get together in the end. That damn film cover seduced me with it's picture of Henry and Sybylla embracing!
In the special features section there was a interview with Gillian Armstrong the director and she explained how back in 1981 this was particularly shocking and strange that the female lead turned her suitor down and that she's glad it is not so shocking anymore. I disagree to an extent not just from my own reaction but other movies I have seen recently, that don't seem to challenge this stereotype.
Okay characters: Judy Davis is perfect as Sybylla and I read somewhere that she actually can't stand to watch this movie anymore. Say it aint' so...she has this perfect flyaway frizzy hair and a great spirit that matches her character to the T.Sam Neill's career I believe was also launched by this film, and he is pretty dashing in the film. One complaint was that I thought he should have had more character development although it is a testament to Judy and Sam's chemistry that they display so much just through facial expressions and their actions.
The scenery and set direction is really great, half the time I thought I was watching a period English film - the costumes were excellent.The contrast between the relative ease Sybylla finds herself living in, in her grandmothers house compared to the shanty little house when she is a governess is astounding.
I was pleased to read Davis was born and raised in my home town so maybe next time I'll review a movie with fellow Perth ite Melissa George. This may be a struggle, the only one I've seen lately was 30 Days of Night.
My Brilliant Career is definitely another Australian gem with a great central performance and not your usual ending or heroine.
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