Bliss

Movie Information

In Brief: Back in 1985, Ray Lawrence’s Bliss was the art house sensation. It had created quite a stir at Cannes — as much for the fact that about 400 viewers walked out of the movie in disgust (mostly at the same moment: the film’s notorious “sardine scene”) as from the accolades it drew. No Australian film had ever had that kind of impact. There’d simply never been anything quite like it. When Bliss was later shown on Australian TV, the network was inundated with outraged phone calls, including one irate viewer who classically referred to it as “that disgusting, filthy, depraved film you showed the other night,” and then asked, “when are you showing it again?” It’s that kind of movie — a love it or hate it affair that can also be a love it and hate it affair. Viciously funny, scathing in its satire and damning in its inescapable truths, it’s an often difficult film to watch, but more, it’s an impossible film to judge until you’ve seen the whole movie. What starts out as fantasticated and very quirky satire will become unsettling and then starkly horrific to a point that is almost unbearable in its bleakness. And then something amazing happens in the film’s last 15 to 20 minutes — revealing what was always there from the beginning — and Bliss turns around on itself, offering one of the most tender and moving climaxes I’ve ever seen. Bliss in fact becomes bliss.
Score:

Genre: Fantasy Comedy Drama
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Barry Otto, Lynette Curran, Helen Jones, Gia Carides, Jeff Truman, Tim Robertson
Rated: NR

bliss b

 

In essence, Bliss is the story of an advertising man, Harry Joy (a magnificent performance from Barry Otto), who suffers a heart attack and is clinically dead for four minutes — an event that changes his life forever. He becomes obsessed with “being good,” while an awareness of the incredible moral decay going on around him in his very family becomes ever clearer to him (the film spares no details here). The film then charts his attempts at finding personal salvation — with many a bizarre stop along the way, including a spell in a magnificently corrupt insane asylum (“First unpleasant fact: This is business”) where his very identity is stripped from him.

 

bliss c

 

Unfortunately, Bliss — for all its art house success in 1985 and subsequent VHS release — has been allowed to languish in recent years in the U.S. With revival houses all but a thing of the past and no DVD release, it’s become criminally unknown. Its own country has treated it better, producing a splendid restored copy of the film as Lawrence originally intended, with a different narration and a full 18 minutes of footage added. This is the version being screened. Don’t miss it — and please, don’t walk out after the sardine scene (you’ll know it when you see it).

The Asheville Film Society will screen Bliss Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.