Sirens Movie Review 1994

Staid minister Anthony Campion (Grant) takes Australian artist Norman Lindsay to task for submitting scandalous works to public exhibitions. Noted by one reviewer as "Enchanted April with nipples," comedy of manners is witty but lacks plot and looks remarkably like a centerfold layout. Ample displays of nudity as the models (including supermodel MacPherson in her acting debut) frolic in the buff. Grant is terrific as the seemingly enlightened but easily shocked minister, but Neill's Lindsay is thinly written and too often takes a back seat to the vamping models. Fictionalized account of a true incident from the 1930s; Lindsay's home and some of his artworks were used. Check out writer/director Duigan as a pompous village minister.

Distribution

Miramax Film Corp., 8439 W Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069-1921, Phone: (323)650-2937, URL: http://www.miramax.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 96 minutes.
Originally from Australian, British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Period Piece: 1930s, Sex & Sexuality, Down Under, Art & Artists, Repressed Men, Technicolor Yawn, Clergymen

Screenplay

John Duigan

Cast

Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Sam Neill, Elle Macpherson, Kate Fischer, Portia de Rossi, Pamela Rabe, Ben Mendelsohn, John Polson, Mark Gerber, Julia Stone, Ellie MacCarthy, Vincent Ball

Cinematography

Geoff Burton

Director

John Duigan

Music

Rachel Portman

Other

John Duigan

Producer

Sue Milliken, Miramax Films