The Well

Hester hires Katherine as a housekeeper on her isolated farm, and finds in her the friend she has always longed for. She de-cides to sell the farm and take Katherine along with her to Europe, but everything changes drastically when the two friends accidentally kill a man by running him over. On Hester's initiative they hide the body in a well, which is the start of a nightmare journey to insanity.
Samantha Lang's interest in making a film based on Elizabeth Jolleys psychological thriller” The Well”, was aroused by her fascination with how perfectly normal people can be tempted into committing immoral or even wicked acts. What interests her is the way in which the friendship between Hester and Katherine develops from being life-giving to being manipulative and destructive. There is also an unexpressed sexual tension between the two stemming from their complete sexual inexperience, which further complicates their relationship.
It's about two very lonely, desperate people, who have something special to give to each other, love and friendship, but their emotions take over, and they are forced into uncharted territory. Eventually it becomes obvious that their relationship is impossible to hold on to.
The film was shot in a barren landscape, where conditions are difficult for people to overcome, which plays a crucial part in reflecting Hester's emotional isolation. The endless expanse with windblown trees and the dry, sunburnt grass afford the local population little comfort or hope. The film team behind ”The Well”, which competed for the Golden Palm award at last year's festival in Cannes, was comprised mainly of women. The scriptwriter Laura Jones has been very successful in the past, having written the scripts for Gillian Armstrong's ”High Tide” and Jane Campion's ”An Angel At My Table” and ”Portrait Of A Lady”, films that have attract-ed a lot of attention both back in Australia and internationally, despite the fact that the Australian movie industry is not usually particularly open to strong, original portrayals of women on the screen.
Lotta Svedberg

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Medverkande
Pamela Rabe, Miranda Otto, Paul Chubb: Producent
Sandra Levy: Manus
Laura Jones, From the novel by Elizabeth Jolley: Foto
Mandy Walker: Musik
Stephen Rae: Talat språk
English