Directed by Gillian Armstrong
Gillian Armstrong immediately became an important part of Australia’s new wave of filmmaking in 1979 with her first feature film My Brilliant Career and she cemented this position with subsequent feature films such as The Last Days of Chez Nous, Little Women and Star Struck. But the documentary she made in 1976 about the lives of three fourteen year old girls has resulted in a 33 year long journey for all the participants. With Smokes and Lollies (1976), Armstrong introduced us to three rebellious young girls from a working class suburb in Adelaide. Kerry, Josie and Diana let her into their lives and she documented their struggles with school, parents, pimples and boys.
In 14’s Good 18’s Better (1980), Armstrong caught up with the young women and found out that they had done an extraordinary amount of living in the intervening years. They had travelled in different directions and taken on parenthood, marriage and the workforce. In Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces (1988), Armstrong again documented their lives and compared their dreams with their realities in Not Fourteen Again (1996). In Love, Lust and Lies Kerry, Josie and Diana are again extremely open about their lives and the series has become a unique record of social change as their nine children compare their lives to those of their mothers.
Love, Lust and Lies edits snippets from all the previous documentaries and all the life stories are compelling, with even a little bit of intrigue thrown in towards the end. All the women still have hopes for their futures as well as their children’s futures. It’s a fascinating story about growing up and overcoming challenges as well as reflecting the complexities and conflicts in relationships and family life. I certainly hope this is not the last we’ll see of Kerry, Josie and Diana.
Lezly Herbert
