My Brilliant Career

1979

My Brilliant Career

Critics Consensus

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83%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 18

69%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 484
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Movie Info

Both actress Judy Davis and director Gillian Armstrong made a big splash on the international scene with this charming Australian film that examines late 19th century Australian society from the perspective of a headstrong woman who refuses to follow convention. The film charts the developing self-awareness of Sybylla Melvyn (Judy Davis) as she grows from an insecure tomboy to a self-assured woman. Sybylla wants to be a writer and stuns her family and friends by her insistence on following her dream. Despite the objections of her family acquaintances, she rejects the marriage proposal from the rich Harry Beecham (Sam Neill) to continue going her own way, in spite of the odds stacked against her in a repressive Victorian environment.

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Cast

Judy Davis
as Sybylla Melvyn
Sam Neill
as Harry Beecham
Wendy Hughes
as Aunt Helen
Robert Grubb
as Frank Hawdon
Max Cullen
as Mr. McSwat
Patricia Kennedy
as Aunt Gussie
Aileen Britton
as Grandma Bossier
Peter Whitford
as Uncle Julius
Carole Skinner
as Mrs. McSwat
Robert Austin
as Willie McSwat
Alan Hopgood
as Father
Julia Blake
as Mother
J. Anthony Hughes
as Peter McSwat
Tina Robinson
as Lizer McSwat
Aaron Corrin
as Jimmy McSwat
Sharon Crouch
as Sarah McSwat
Gerry Duggan
as Squatter
Simone Buchanan
as Mary Anne McSwat
Haylely Anderson
as Rosie Jane McSwat
David Franklin
as Horace
Tony Hughes
as Peter McSwat
Aaron Wood
as Stanley
Ray Meagher
as Mailman
Marion Schad
as Gertie
Max Meldrum
as Mr. Harris
Suzanne Roylance
as Biddy
Mark Spain
as Tommy McSwat
Zelda Smyth
as Ethel
Dorothy St. Heaps
as Mrs. Derrick
Bobbie Ward
as Mrs. Butler
Amanda Pratt
as Blanche Derrick
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Critic Reviews for My Brilliant Career

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (3)

  • It's hard to imagine a film filled with more quiet integrity, intelligent passion, realistic drama and genuine entertainment than Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career.

    Apr 28, 2018 | Full Review…

    Michael Blowen

    Boston Globe
    Top Critic

  • This is a modest, clear sighted film, and it profits considerably from a lack of the bravura landscape photography that most directors would have used to puff up a movie set in Australia.

    Sep 9, 2014 | Full Review…

    John Skow

    TIME Magazine
    Top Critic

  • This Australian film is a charming look at 19th-century rural days in general and the stirrings of self-realization and feminine liberation in the persona of a headstrong young girl who wants to go her own way.

    Jul 25, 2008 | Full Review…

    Variety Staff

    Variety
    Top Critic

  • The period atmosphere is evoked with careful delicacy, but the characters rarely become more than stereotypes with performances (Judy Davis excepted) to match.

    Jun 24, 2006

    Tom Milne

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • My Brilliant Career marks the beginning of exactly that for both the film's daring, assured, high-spirited Australian director, Gillian Armstrong, and its rambunctious young star.

    May 9, 2005

    Janet Maslin

    New York Times
    Top Critic

  • The action and sentiments are familiar to the point of cliche, and there isn't much life in Gillian Armstrong's academic direction.

    Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…

    Dave Kehr

    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (18)

Audience Reviews for My Brilliant Career

  • Jul 19, 2012
    A woman with literary aspirations falls for an upper class man who tempts her toward marriage, away from her work. The film sets up a familiar dichotomy: Sybylla finds that she must either pursue her career ambitions or settle down to the expectations of Victorian society and marry. Obviously, this is a familiar construct, one replayed to perfection in Henry James's <i>Portrait of a Lady</i>, but what I found lacking in <i>My Brilliant Career</i> was an exploration of who Sybylla is as an artist. After all, whether or not her book is good and should be written is significant. Instead, what becomes clear is how she doesn't fit in with Victorian, upper-class society and seems even more out of place with lower class society. Her only connection is with Harry Beecham, whom she rejects to pursue her work. Overall, because one side of the conflict is never fully explored, I found most of <i>My Brilliant Career</i> lacking.
    Jim H Super Reviewer
  • Sep 07, 2009
    Slow moving enlightenment drama with Judy Davis giving an excellent performance as usual. The characters are just to remote to really engage you leaving you feeling little for their stuggles.
    jay n Super Reviewer
  • Jul 03, 2009
    Sybylla Melvyn is a girl with a spark. She's also a girl who refuses to let 19th century sensibilities extinguish it. Set in Australia in the late 1800's, <i>My Brilliant Career</i> chronicles the story of a woman years ahead of her time. Whoever cast Judy Davis as 'plain and ugly' ought to have their eyesight examined. Even without makeup she's absolutely radiant. Otherwise, she is perfectly suited for this engrossing, subtly romantic docudrama. Highly recommended.
    Randy T Super Reviewer
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