The Sound of One Hand Clapping

In the outback's of Australia, there is
a labor camp for European immigrants. Here a three-year old girl, Sonja Buloh,
is deserted by her mother, in 1954. The girl shares her time between several different foster parents and her alcoholic father. At the age of sixteen, she runs away from him and does not return until she is twenty years old. At this time she
is pregnant, poor and has given up hope. She seeks an explanation for why her mother deserted her.
Sonja's search for her roots is the theme of the film, and it runs over several generations and several continents. Her father, an immigrant from Slovenia, never quite adjusts to the new country and Sonja finds herself wandering between foster parents and temporary housing. Not until she is an adult woman does she get to see a picture of her mother and hear her father talk about her. Now Sonja wishes to put together her shattered I ife. A reoccurri ng scene is when she as a three-year old throws a porcelain doll tea set into the ground. The scene is interchanged with images of the grown woman trying to put the porcelain pieces together. Can that which has broken heal? Is it possible to
forgive and move on? Those are questions which Sonja has to fight. How she solves them is conclusive to whether or not she chooses to see the pregnancy through.
The film is based on flashbacks, dreams and figments of memory. Rosie Flanagan, who plays the part of eight-year old Sonja, makes a strong impression with her eloquent gestures and looks. The tempo is slow, with long takes thatfollow the interaction between the characters. The style of narration is symbolic and highly emotional. The film starts and ends with images of grand nature, wooded mountain slopes and scored with sad Sloven ian folk music.
MARIA WESTIN

Premiärstatus
Skandinavisk premiär: Medverkande
Kerry Fox,Kristof Kaczmarek,Rosie Flanagan: Producent
Rolf de Heer: Manus
Richard Flanagan: Foto
Martin McGrath: Musik
Cezary Skubiszewski: Talat språk
English