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  • JESSE SPENCER AND TIM DRAXL

    SWIMMING UPSTREAM, REAL STORY.

    D'après une histoire vrai, mon coup de coeur du mois : Dans le Brisbane des années 1950, deux garçons, Tony et John, sont soumis à l'autorité tyrannique de leur père Harold, ouvrier alcoolique, raté et violent qui projette à travers eux ses rêves de récompenses sportives, le tout sous l'oeil hagard de Dora, sa triste femme servile et impuissante. S'étant découvert une passion commune pour la natation, les deux jeunes hommes, complices depuis l'enfance, sont forcés par le paternel de s'entrainer sans relâche afin d'accéder aux compétitions locales. Mais bien qu'Harold entrevoit pour John les plus hauts sommets et l'oblige à se surpasser, c'est Tony, le mal-aimé, qui démontre au fil des ans les aptitudes les plus prometteuses, ce qui ultimement, provoquera une rivalité entre les deux frères, et poussera Harold à noyer de plus belle sa frustration dans la dive bouteille. Farouchement déterminé à se libérer de cet environnement familial malodorant et sordide, Tony redouble d'efforts, accédant au niveau national et représentant son pays aux Jeux du Commonwealth..
    SWIMMING UPSTREAM Directed by : Russell Mulcahy Jesse Gordon Spencer 12/02/1979 Melbourne Australia (TONY) Tim Draxl 08/10/1981 Sydney Australia (JOHN) And, Geoffrey Rush ; Judy Davis ; David Hoflin ; Craig Horner ; Brittany Byrnes STORY Harold Fingleton, Geoffrey Rush, is a wharf labourer who's often unemployed. This is a man who survived the Depression and the war but who ended up damaged. He's prone to bouts of depression and alcoholism. His wife Dora, Judy Davis, often bears the brunt of his anger but she loves him and tries to keep the family together. But it's Harold's relationship with his sons that is the core of the picture. He wants them to be men, unfortunately Tony - played as a boy by Mitchell Delle Vergin and as a young man by Jesse Spencer - likes playing the piano and doesn't like body contact sports. But when Harold discovers that both Tony and Tony's younger brother John - played by Thomas Davidson and Tim Draxl - can swim, he becomes their coach. And this will result in triumph - the Fingletons became champion swimmers - and tragedy. This is a film that has emerged out of a lot of pain. The screenplay was written by Tony Fingleton himself. And it's to his credit, and also to Geoffrey Rush's that Harold is portrayed not as a monster but as a truly damaged man. Director Russell Mulcahy who's known more for directing action films like Highlander has handled this sensitive material excellently, he was fortunate that two of this country's best actors were happy to be cast as the parents. But the younger cast of both generations are also very fine. Swimming Upstream is a riveting and moving story of a young man's personal journey.

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