The Year my voice broke

Set in the early sixties in the Tablelands of New South Wales, “The Year my voice broke” is an evocation of adolescence in a pre-multicultural, rigidly conservative rural Australia. Noah Taylor is Danny, an intelligent but awkward teenage boy who dreams of fame as a musician or as a poet. Leone Carmen is Freya, his best friend, who is adopted by a local family and whose forthright rebellious behaviour leads to a reputation as the town “slut”. Danny and Freya’s friendship becomes strained when she falls for the local “thug”, Trevor, played by Ben Mendelsohn. When Freya finds herself pregnant to Trevor, the local township is united in their condemnation of her. It is the bond between Danny, Freya, Trevor and the ghost of the town’s past which ultimately lead to both tragedy, but also the chance of escape from the boredom and social constraints of small-town life. The acting by the three leads is exemplary. The ravishing cinematography is by Geoff Burton. The script and direction by John Duigan is possibly his finest work. In its emotional purity, in its alternate tender and harsh remembrance of mid-century Australia, and in its poetically simple but devastating depiction of both tragedy and freedom, “The Year my voice broke” is internationally acknowledged as one of the finest film works to have emerged from this country.