Adapting Patrick White to the Screen

There’s nothing preventing Australians from making excellent films. For each of its component parts, we have the talent, expertise and energy. We’re also innovative: Eric Miller patented the fluid tripod head in 1946; Jim Frazier won an Oscar in 1997 for his lens system; both these innovations revolutionised the international film industry. The weak point, if there is one, is usually the screenplay. There are reasons for that. Our films tend to be a battleground on which our national identity is fought, although perhaps this was more the case in the twentieth century than the twenty-first. Also, directors aren’t necessarily all-knowing commentators on what they’re realising: we shouldn’t assume Fred Schepisi knows any more about the cultural context of Patrick White than Peter Weir knows about Australia’s involvement in the First World War.

Regardless of whether you love or hate him, White is regarded as a complex author of international stature; he’s widely read overseas, at least in…