Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst, also known as A Colourful Life, is a 2006 documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

/drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 based on the life of Florence Broadhurst

Florence Broadhurst

Florence Maud Broadhurst was an Australian designer and businesswoman whose 1977 murder remains a mystery.- Biography :...

. Starring Felicity Price, the film was written by Katherine Thomson

Katherine Thomson

Katherine Thomson is an Australian playwright and screenwriter.Katherine Thomson was born in Manly, New South Wales and began her theatrical involvement as a teenager with the Australian Theatre for Young People...

 and directed by Gillian Armstrong

Gillian Armstrong

Gillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries.- Career :Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She graduated from Swinburne Technical College in 1968 where she studied theatrical costume design and...

. The Australian documentary includes interviews with friends, family members and employees who knew Florence Broadhurst before her mysterious death in 1977. The film had a mixed critical response. and was nominated for 4 awards despite being relatively obscure.

Plot

Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst chronicles the life of Florence Broadhurst, an Australian designer who owned her own fashion design company in London during the 1930s. Later in life she moved to Sydney, Australia, and became a painter, socialite and charity fund-raiser. At 60 years old she began her most prolific and successful occupation, becoming a wallpaper designer. Florence Broadhurst was murdered in her studio during 1977, at the age of 78. The film includes interviews, dramatizations and animations which are used to illustrate Broadhurst's unusual lifestyle.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, some calling it cluttered and difficult to follow while others applaud the director on her achievement.

Box Office

Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst grossed $429,248 at the box office in Australia.

External links

• Hand knotted rugs in Florence Broadhurst Designs Produced by Cadrys Handwoven Rugs