The latest film from veteran Dutch-born writer/director Paul Cox, Force of Destiny, stars David Wenham as a lovesick artist who finds soul-revitalising romance late in life, after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Known for his naturalistic, character-oriented and occasionally improvisational style, Cox explored similar themes – albeit in softer and more humorous ways – in an early career-defining work: 1981’s deeply memorable romantic drama Lonely Hearts.
Co-written by Cox and comedian John Clarke and produced by Phillip Adams, the film is about two social misfits who connect via a dating service. Peter (Norman Kaye) is an oddball fellow, a piano tuner pushing 50 who has never married and walks around in a slight daze, belying a sometimes scheming personality. He wears a new Hong Kong-imported rug on his head, a flamboyant wig salesman assuring him this one “is particularly popular with the ladies.”
At the dating agency, the staff manipulate Peter to cough up dosh and sign on the dotted line, but he is happy with the result: a date with the much younger Patricia (Wendy Hughes), which blossoms into romance. Patricia is a nervous person – anxious, uncomfortable and constantly fretting about her sexual inexperience. Peter has only one good friend (his pet dachshund) and a habit of getting kicks from weird things, like faking blindness and shoplifting from the supermarket.
After Peter checks the piano in Patricia’s apartment, which sounds wobbly and discordant, Cox connects literal and emotional meanings without labouring the point. The characters’ love lives are clearly out of tune and they will need some practise to get back on track.
Cox is far from a formulaic storyteller but certain moves are happily lifted from the girl-meets-boy, boy-meets-girl playbook, including the classic dramatic-incident-to-break-them-up-before-they-get-back-together-again chestnut. This one is theatrical in a literal sense: Peter and Patricia are actors in an amateur theatre production and derail rehearsals by sharing conflict on stage.
The film’s sparse soundscape is dotted with occasional piano music and mostly comprised of sound effects and dialogue. Cinematographer Yuri Sokol (who shot several of Cox’s films) creates a very insular look with few exterior shots . The vastness of the city around the characters is implied largely by its absence. It feels like a lonely place and the lovers, like restless souls trying to fill vacuums in their lives.
As this odd but appealing couple who find love on their own terms, Norman Kaye and Wendy Hughes (who were both nominated for AFI Awards for their roles) are wonderful. The former brings an almost endearing slyness to a strange but personable creation and the latter a curious mixture of impulses, both strong-willed and self-doubting.
The initial awkwardness between Peter and Patricia breaks down in ways so organic that, an hour or so into the film, it’s easy to forget such a relatively small amount of time has been spent with such memorable people. Despite their idiosyncrasies, audiences are likely to see something of themselves in each or both of them.
Lonely Hearts is sweet, deeply thoughtfully and deeply tuned to its subjects. It’s the sort of film – universal in themes and impressive in architecture, without a hint of showmanship or grandeur – that could be remade at any time, and it would still work beautifully. It won an AFI award for Best Film and will be remembered as one of Cox’s finest.
