Source: Some information on this page may have been sourced as part of the 2023 Wikimedia Australia Partnership Projects grant, with the purpose of improving and expanding the use of Wikidata on our website. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Read more about this project here.
During a backpacking holiday in India, Ruth, a young Australian woman, experiences a spiritual awakening at an ashram. Convinced that she has found peace, harmony and purpose she decides to stay on with her newfound guru, much to the horror of her family in Australia. Luring her back to suburban Sydney on false pretences they employ the services of P.J., an American ‘cult-exiter’. The deprogramming encounter that takes place over three days in a shack on an isolated outback farm becomes a battle of wits and wills over spirituality and sexuality. Returning to the themes of dysfunctional family life that she focused on in her first feature “Sweetie”, Campion employs cultural stereotypes to contrast the exotic appeal of Eastern spiritualism for the idealistic Ruth, with her family’s lack of understanding and crassness. The film’s central concern with the search for the meaning of life is juxtaposed with comedic elements drawn from the repertoire of cliched Australian ‘types’ that were a commonplace of Australian cinema in the nineties, and moments of high melodrama. Though Campion clearly demonstrated her cinematic and technical proficiency, the narrative was considered by some critics to be somewhat clumsy and overambitious.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Stream, rent or buy via
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
317319
Language
English
Audience classification
M (15+)
Subject categories
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Religion
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Cults
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Religion
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Spirituality
Feature films → Feature films - Australia
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Spirituality
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)