Love and Other Catastrophes
Encyclopedia
Love and Other Catastrophes is a quirky 1996 Australia
n romantic comedy film
featuring Frances O'Connor
, Radha Mitchell
, Alice Garner
, Matthew Dyktynski
, Matt Day
and Kym Gyngell
. The film was the first full length release by director Emma-Kate Croghan
and is set and filmed at Melbourne University where she studied writing and film directing.
The film
was nominated for five Australian Film Institute
award
s, including best film, best original screenplay
, best actress, best supporting actress, and editing. Garner won a Film Critics Circle of Australia
award for best supporting actress for her role in the movie.
s and roommate
s Mia (Frances O'Connor
) and Alice (Alice Garner
), each of whom is experiencing various upheavals. Mia and Alice have just moved into a trendy apartment but are in desperate need of a housemate. Danni (Radha Mitchell
), Mia's girlfriend is keen to move in, but Mia fears commitment.
Mia, obsessed with her favourite lecturer becomes embroiled in a war of paperwork with the University administration as she attempts to pursue him to his new department. She is hampered in her efforts to transfer by her current supervisor (Kym Gyngell
). To add to her woes she then breaks up with her girlfriend, Danni. Danni herself is pursuing another love interest, in part to get back at Mia.
Alice, a habitual perfectionist is four years late with her thesis on 'Doris Day as Feminist Warrior.' She is looking for the perfect man but can't find anyone who fits her strict criteria. Frustrated, she falls for the most unsuitable male possible... Ari (Matthew Dyktynski
), a Classics student and part time gigolo. However she is the object of desire of a shy medical student, Michael (Matt Day
).
As the day ends and the party begins events begin to unscramble in unexpected ways. Omnia Vincit Amor... Love Conquers All.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
featuring Frances O'Connor
Frances O'Connor
-Background:O'Connor was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England to a pianist mother and nuclear physicist father. When O'Connor was two, her family moved back to Perth, Western Australia. O'Connor was raised a Roman Catholic and attended the Mercedes College in Perth...
, Radha Mitchell
Radha Mitchell
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Anunda Mitchell is an Australian actress. Her film roles include Finding Neverland, Phone Booth, Man on Fire, Silent Hill, and the The Crazies-Early life:...
, Alice Garner
Alice Garner
Alice Garner is an Australian actress, musician and historian.She is the daughter of Australian writer Helen Garner and writer and actor Bill Garner.-Acting life and career:...
, Matthew Dyktynski
Matthew Dyktynski
Matthew Dyktynski is an Australian actor and comedian, graduating from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992.Dyktinski has played lead roles on television series Shock Jock and Raw FM, and has appeared on The Man from Snowy River, Stingers, Blue Heelers, Water Rats, Halifax f.p.,...
, Matt Day
Matt Day
Matthew "Matt" Day is an Australian actor best known for his film and television roles.-Early life and career:Matt Day was born in Melbourne in 1971...
and Kym Gyngell
Kym Gyngell
Kym Gyngell is an Australian AFI award winning comedian and film, television and stage actor...
. The film was the first full length release by director Emma-Kate Croghan
Emma-Kate Croghan
Emma-Kate Croghan is an Australian director and writer born in Adelaide, South Australia on Australia Day 1972.She is the daughter of Kate Croghan. She has been nominated for two AFI awards - Best Original Screenplay for Love and Other Catastrophes and Bronze Horse for Strange Planet .-External...
and is set and filmed at Melbourne University where she studied writing and film directing.
The film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
was nominated for five Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
award
Award
An award is something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signifiedby trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons...
s, including best film, best original screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
, best actress, best supporting actress, and editing. Garner won a Film Critics Circle of Australia
Film Critics Circle of Australia
The Film Critics Circle of Australia is a group of cinema critics that judge Australian films.-External links:**...
award for best supporting actress for her role in the movie.
Plot
The story revolves around University studentStudent
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s and roommate
Roommate
A roommate is a person who shares a living facility such as an apartment or dormitory. Similar terms include suitemate, housemate, flatmate , or sharemate...
s Mia (Frances O'Connor
Frances O'Connor
-Background:O'Connor was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England to a pianist mother and nuclear physicist father. When O'Connor was two, her family moved back to Perth, Western Australia. O'Connor was raised a Roman Catholic and attended the Mercedes College in Perth...
) and Alice (Alice Garner
Alice Garner
Alice Garner is an Australian actress, musician and historian.She is the daughter of Australian writer Helen Garner and writer and actor Bill Garner.-Acting life and career:...
), each of whom is experiencing various upheavals. Mia and Alice have just moved into a trendy apartment but are in desperate need of a housemate. Danni (Radha Mitchell
Radha Mitchell
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Anunda Mitchell is an Australian actress. Her film roles include Finding Neverland, Phone Booth, Man on Fire, Silent Hill, and the The Crazies-Early life:...
), Mia's girlfriend is keen to move in, but Mia fears commitment.
Mia, obsessed with her favourite lecturer becomes embroiled in a war of paperwork with the University administration as she attempts to pursue him to his new department. She is hampered in her efforts to transfer by her current supervisor (Kym Gyngell
Kym Gyngell
Kym Gyngell is an Australian AFI award winning comedian and film, television and stage actor...
). To add to her woes she then breaks up with her girlfriend, Danni. Danni herself is pursuing another love interest, in part to get back at Mia.
Alice, a habitual perfectionist is four years late with her thesis on 'Doris Day as Feminist Warrior.' She is looking for the perfect man but can't find anyone who fits her strict criteria. Frustrated, she falls for the most unsuitable male possible... Ari (Matthew Dyktynski
Matthew Dyktynski
Matthew Dyktynski is an Australian actor and comedian, graduating from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992.Dyktinski has played lead roles on television series Shock Jock and Raw FM, and has appeared on The Man from Snowy River, Stingers, Blue Heelers, Water Rats, Halifax f.p.,...
), a Classics student and part time gigolo. However she is the object of desire of a shy medical student, Michael (Matt Day
Matt Day
Matthew "Matt" Day is an Australian actor best known for his film and television roles.-Early life and career:Matt Day was born in Melbourne in 1971...
).
As the day ends and the party begins events begin to unscramble in unexpected ways. Omnia Vincit Amor... Love Conquers All.
Music
Love and Other Catastrophes features music by many bands including:- Daryl McKenzie - "Manhattan Walk"
- Velvet Underground - "Sunday Morning"
- The Cruel SeaThe Cruel Sea (band)The Cruel Sea are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney formed in late 1987. Originally an instrumental-only band, they became more popular when fronted by vocalist Tex Perkins in addition to Jim Elliott on drums, Ken Gormly on bass guitar, Dan Rumour on guitar and James Cruickshank on guitar...
- "Just a Man" - Dave Graney & The Coral SnakesDave GraneyDavid John "Dave" Graney is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter from Mount Gambier, South Australia. Since 1979, Graney is generally accompanied by drummer, Clare Moore...
- "You're Just Too Hip Baby" - Underground LoversUnderground LoversUnderground Lovers are an Australian alternative rock band and one of the most lauded music acts in the country's alternative scene throughout the 1990s. While the band has experienced many lineup changes during its existence, the nucleus of the band since its inception has been Vincent M...
- "Recognize" - Godstar - "Pushpin"
- Rebecca's EmpireRebecca's EmpireRebecca's Empire were an indie pop-rock band from Melbourne, Australia. They released two full-length albums and two EPs in a six-year career lasting from 1994 to 2000.-History:...
- "Empty" - TumbleweedTumbleweed (band)Tumbleweed are a Wollongong-based rock group in Australia, popular during the grunge years of the 1990s. As an opening band for Nirvana on their 1992 tour of Australia, Tumbleweed reached out into the mainstream with their crunchy-psychedelica...
- "TV Genocide" - SpdfghSpdfghSpdfgh were an all-female rock band from Sydney, Australia in the 1990s. The founding members were* Kim Bowers * Liz Payne...
- "Steal Mine" - Tex, Don and CharlieTex, Don and CharlieTex, Don and Charlie is an Australian super group formed by Tex Perkins from The Cruel Sea, Beasts of Bourbon and others, Don Walker from Cold Chisel and widely respected guitarist Charlie Owen. Their first album Sad But True was released in 1993 with the second released in 2005.The band was...
- "Fake That Emotion" - Monday MichiruMonday MichiruMonday Michiru Sipiagin is a Japanese American actress, singer, and songwriter whose music encompasses and fuses a wide variety of genres including jazz, dance, pop, and soul...
- "Rainy Daze" - The Boners - "Perils of Mia"
- The CardigansThe CardigansThe Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.Their debut album Emmerdale gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life that an international reputation was secured...
- "Carnival" - Bellydance - "Bubbles (Pigs Will Fly)"
- Blue MinkBlue MinkBlue Mink was a British five-piece pop group, that existed from 1969 to 1974. Over that period they had six Top 20 hit singles in the UK Singles Chart, and released five studio based albums...
- "Can You Feel It Baby" - Simon Holmes and Morgana AnconeSimon Holmes (guitarist)Simon Holmes was the singer and lead guitarist for the Australian 1980s band The Hummingbirds.-Biography:Simon spent part of his childhood in Canberra, attending the AME School, an alternative education institution that ran from 1972 - the 1990s, and Hawker College...
- "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" - Died PrettyDied PrettyDied Pretty, sometimes The Died Pretty, were an Australian alternative rock band founded by mainstays, Ron Peno as lead singer and Brett Myers as lead guitarist and backing vocalist, in Sydney in 1983 – briefly as Final Solution. Their music started from a base of early electric Bob Dylan with...
- "Good At Love"