Love Letters from Teralba Road
Clip 3: Mother and son
2 min 42 sec
Taken from the short feature Love Letters from Teralba Road (1977)
Original title classification not rated – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
Len’s mother (Joy Hruby) is upset that he is leaving home, to live in Sydney with his wife Barbara. Len (Bryan Brown) broods in his room, after she tells him he’s a no-hoper like his father. He picks up an old gun and trains the sights on two women in the street. We hear his letter to Barbara throughout the scene, telling her how he just wants to be with her again.
Curator’s notes
An interesting contrast between sound and image – his love letters to Barbara, versus his anger and the suggestion of a desire to be violent again. His mother upsets him, he picks up a rifle and fantasises about shooting her, or some strangers. The rifle is also unexplained – suggesting it represents his absent father for him – perhaps left over from war service?
