Ladies in Black (2018) User Reviews

Ladies in Black, a delightful movie

[lynnecullen-71980 · 7/10 · 20 September 2018]

Today mum and I saw Ladies in Black.....when asked what she thought mum said "Delightful", no swearing, no sex, no violence, just a delightful movie........and she was correct.

The movie is set in the late 50s in Sydney and tells the story of Lisa who takes a summer job in Goode's department store. We meet all the 'Ladies in Black' and the story unfolds from here.

I loved seeing how Sydney looked in the late 50s and loved the fashion and style. They certainly knew how to dress back then and looked fabulous even when having dinner in a restaurant or going to visit friends for a lunch.

The young girl played by Angourie Rice was a pleasure to watch on the screen as was Rachael Taylor. I also loved Julia Ormond, Shane Jacobson, Noni Hazlehurst and Susie Porter.

Kudos to my friend Margaret Gill who has her name on the credits and did a lot of the sewing for Julia and Angourie's outfits. Well done to you I say!

If you are after a nice feel good, easy to watch movie this is the one for you. Mum rated it 8 out of 10, and Im giving it 7

Great choice for 2h of escapism!

[sunlounge29 · 7/10 · 6 March 2021]

The movie perfectly captures this distinct 50s post WW2 vibe of blissful ignorance. Think of movies like Father of the bride or Pillow talk. You can easily imagine the young Audrey Hepburn as Lisa, Spencer Tracy as her father and Doris Day as Fay. But don't get me wrong: the actual casting in this movie was spot on. Especially Julia Ormond stole the show with her wonderful performance.

If you don't expect this movie to be a socially or psychologically challenging experience and you just need to shut the harsh realities of the world out for 2h, I can't recommend this one enough!

A Visual Delight to be Enjoyed!

[laurelcrouch · 8/10 · 29 September 2018]

It was evident from the onset the 'Ladies in Black' nostalgic journey back to Sydney circa 1959 would not disappoint. The visual production and period content made it so appealing to watch.

A bookish schoolgirl and a fashion department manager from different backgrounds were pivotal characters for the narrative of change from the status quo. The dual storyline of a new girl entering the workforce and evolving into adulthood alongside a country evolving with new Australians from Europe . The embracement of these two characters and their positive influence on others around them complimented the awakening of new attitudes from those prevailing at the time. A passage of time handled with humour and contrast.

The film achieved its intention with a great cast. A light-hearted approach of an era some of us remember with characters that can be identified with. Above all, a visual delight to enjoy and be entertained.

seductive

[Kirpianuscus · 5 June 2020]

A profound seductive film. For the lovely chemistry between Julia Ormond and Vincent Perez. For Angourie Rice reminding a young Sylvia Plath. For the humor and nostalgic nuances. For the clash between two different worlds and for a form of delicate ingenuity. Short, just a beautiful film.

So refreshing!

[kms-91461 · 7/10 · 18 December 2018]

It is great to return to times when women were treated with respect, when even maritial sex was shocking to a husband (sic), when women always had gloves. I have no idea about Australia, even more about its life in 1950-ties, so this is for me like a discovering a new land. A very interesting one. It is not a perfect movie. It is simply a very nice one to watch.

Nostalgia isn't an excuse for no narrative

[david-274-24915 · 6/10 · 27 September 2018]

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this as much as many others seem to have. The design is terrific, but I felt it was allowed to excuse the need for a decent plot line or any character development. The cast is terrific, but none are allowed to get into their roles with any depth. The dialogue is incredibly inane and the lack of any conflict at all really makes the film drag. Every scene is very short, and it's all so ... nice. Could have been much better had it focused more on just one of the women's stories - probably the Noni Haselhurst character which had an interesting back story that was only touched on. Compared with something like Brooklyn this is a bit disappointing, especially given the talent behind it.

Entertaining, heart-warming, and a visual feast of nostalgia.

[CineMuseFilms · 9/10 · 25 September 2018]

Capturing the swirling currents that shape national culture is a challenge for any film, but the coming-of-ageLadies in Black (2018 )meets this challenge. It is one of the best recent Australian films, compressing into one storyline what Sydney life was like in the late 1950s.

Based on Madeleine St. John's1994 novel, the film blends diverse themes like feminism, class and racial difference into a cultural mosaic. The focal point that holds the pieces together is the women's dress section in Sydney's leading department store. Wide-eyed ingénue Lesley (Angourie Rice) wins a summer job while waiting to learn if she can enter university. Her modest background is obvious: her adoring house-bound mother (Susie Porter) dutifully serves her benignly sexist father (Shane Jacobson) who loves his beer and dinner cooked on time. In case we miss the class and feminist themes, he grunts "no daughter of mine will ever go to a university".

As in all coming-of-age tales, Lesley's view on the world is profoundly altered by the people she meets. Miss Cartwright (Noni Hazlehurst) is the stern but kind supervisor who sees a better future for girls like Lesley: "there is nothing more wonderful than a girl who is clever" she swoons. Anglo-Saxon homogeneity is shattered by the presence of Serbian 'refo' Magda (Julia Ormond), whose sassy sense of European style helps sell the most expensive dresses. She introduces Lesley to a world of cultural refinement starkly different from what the teenager has known. Other sub-stories include a woman desperate to start a family but whose husband is sexually repressed, and another with a dark past who finds romance with a 'new Australian'.

Like any mosaic, the pieces are dwarfed by the overall pattern and purpose they serve. In different directorial hands the sub-stories could easily have been a melange, but instead they form a coherent portrait of Australia's maturing nationhood at the time. The sets, fashion and colour palette are wonderfully evocative of the period, while the scenes of high-street shops, domestic interiors, newspaper production and city tramways are among the most authentic-looking you will find. With an outstanding ensemble cast, the key production values are uniformly top-shelf although the performances of Angourie Rice and Julia Ormond are pivotal.

Ladies in Black triumphs in the way it represents our collective memories with emotional connection. As they are the memories of older Australians, overseas audiences or younger people may not recognise them or understand how they shaped modern Australia. Some may even raise eyebrows at the invisibility of Indigenous people, but this was the reality of the times. Despite such considerations, this film is entertaining, heart-warming, and a visual feast of nostalgia.

Are You Being Served?

[spookyrat1 · 7/10 · 27 January 2019]

Entertaining period piece, notable for the gentle, wistful timbre of both its comedic and dramatic content. There are no villains in this quiet study of the virtues of immigration and integration into the social fabric of late 1950's Australia.

The acting of this very much ensemble cast is first class, but Angourie Rice's Lesley/Lisa, whose character is directly and indirectly involved with most of the episodes, is outstanding as the nerdy holiday sales assistant, desperately seeking to expand her horizons and seek out new possibilities for her future life. Julia Ormond is one of the last people I think I would have expected to see playing Magda, a Slovenian "New Australian" with expertise in high fashion. But she acquits herself very well too, seeing in Lesley/Lisa a kindred spirit, which crosses age and cultural boundaries.

The sets and costumes were all of a very high standard, with the depiction of an isolated island nation on the cusp of being exposed to new technologies (TV) and cultural mores (foods, literatures, films, ideas (paralleling its central character) being never less than realistic. Particular mention needs to be made of the Goode's (representing David Jones Pty Ltd I'm sure) department store set, whose authenticity is caught so well, right down to the early onscreen example of a New Year's Day "door-buster" special sale. If any actual footage from the period was used in production, it is integrated seamlessly.

There are a couple of other sub-stories tied into the main narrative. I liked the one involving Myra, the department store employee, who has an outwardly "difficult" marriage, with her ex-farmer husband. It's not spoiling to say, that it ends with a pleasant twist. I would have liked to have seen a little more substance to the barely touched upon background story to Noni Hazlehurst's floor manager, Miss Cartwright.

Apparently this was a 30 years - in the making labour of love for talented, but inconsistently successful director Bruce Beresford, who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career in Australia and overseas. I think it is his best quality work in quite a while and well worth a look.

Absolutely delightful. Made my day!

[annegiu · 10/10 · 20 September 2018]

The casting for this movie was masterful. Shane Jacobson was fabulous as rhe 1950's Aussie dad and Ryan Corr was perfect in his role as the Hungarian "reffo". He owned that character! Julia Ormond played a Slovenian fashion guru to a tee and the sets were marvellous. From the department store in Sydney centre to the flat by the water in Mosman and the suburban, red texture brick house in Granville... spot on. A feel-good movie that has you laughing and reflecting on it for days afterwards.

Good light entertainment

[jbrowleylives · 7/10 · 24 October 2018]

I enjoyed the movie, some poignant moments and some funny moments. However, some of the expressions used by the characters seemed to be more of recent times than 1959 and I baulked when 'Mr Miles' used the expression 'No Worries'. That started to be used in the late sixties - didn't seem appropriate for 1959.

Great cast wasted in limp plot

[ukxenafan1 · 4/10 · 11 June 2020]

Netflix has this in the 'award winning' section. It has Julia Ormind who is always good and Rachael Taylor (big Jessica Jones fan here) so watched. Liked the period setting. There are loads of British period films so an Aussie one was nice to see however it is all downhill from there with cliche an Terrific cliche and lame plots about. Boorish Aussie bloke, battleaxe really has a heart of gold, overbearing mother who treats her 18 year old like a little girl. I kept waiting for something interesting or intriguing but this was about well written as a soap opera... actually not even that good. Even worse, the score is like something Disney rejected as too obvious. The cast do their best to inject some life into it and it does look nice with period Sydney, but the domestic "drama" is so dull! A waste of talent.

Excellent depiction of Sydney in 1959

[lorraine-benn · 9/10 · 29 September 2018]

Our family moved to Sydney in late 1959. We lived in Tempe, and the trams came down the Nepean Highway to the depot not far from our house. Not long afterwards, the trams were sadly replaced by buses.

My first job was in a typing pool, and I bought a black dress with a white collar - a popular work dress at that time. Some of the details in the film really brought back that time to me.

I loved the fact that the film depicted people who liked cultural pursuits such as reading and classical music. When I lived in Sydney, there were some free concerts of classical music at the Sydney Town Hall, and quite a few of my acquaintances went along.

Some of my male friends had surfboards, and went surfing regularly on the weekend. I didn't know any females with surfboards - I don't think that was very common at that time. There was a beach scene in the film, which brought back memories of that time.

I loved the fact that there was a lovely scene of the Blue Mountains. It was a popular place for Sydney people to go for a holiday, especially in winter when they could sit near an open fireplace. In summer we usually went to the beach.

The actors in the film were well-chosen and I really related to the whole film. In fact, I didn't want it to finish. It was great to see an Australian film which doesn't show us as living in the outback, and which shows some positive friendships with European immigrants. Also good to see a film which doesn't rely on the shock value of violence. The sort of people who want to see fast-moving violent films will not find this film to their taste, but I think it could be interesting to a wide audience.

Enjoyable

[itaylor-50665 · 7/10 · 18 December 2018]

What a pleasant surprise. This is a film that Hallmark could have made.It's their kind of movie. Warm, perhaps a bit predictable but who cares. And it's nice to see a group of good actors from "down under."

Mills & Boon on film

[johnmcc150 · 4/10 · 27 May 2020]

If you want drama: bad luck, this has none. It started happily, the middle part was happy and it ended happily. For many people this is counts as wonderful escapism and I can understand why these people rated it highly. However, for the rest of us who might want some sort of plot, nothing much actually occurs of any interest. At least it could have rained. Even Mills & Boon would have had some tension in the story before the heroine inevitably got her man. The main risk in this film is rigor mortis in its audience.

Trams in Sydney

[brianfhair · 22 September 2018]

While I am looking forward to the movie the shorts I have seen shows trams in Sydney in 1959. Here are some facts. Pitt Street's last tram ran in the early hours of 29 September 1957. The Labor government removed the tracks in 1958, and that the tracks were covered with tar to prevent ever being re-used. Sydney's electric tram fleet were said to be loved by passengers and tram crews alike, but were all removed from service by 1958. On the 25 February 1961, Sydney's last electric trams operated on the La Perouse and Maroubra Beach lines. I rode on these trams and I loved them, however there were no trams in the CBD of Sydney in 1959. The Bennelong Point Tram Depot was also known as The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot and was demolished in 1958, and formal construction of the Opera House began in March, 1959.

Delightful!

[Mo9z · 7/10 · 31 August 2019]

What a lovely movie. No exaggerated drama, no obscene language, no excessive sex or nudity. Just delightful and heart warming.

Beautiful ladies in black

[Irena_Spa · 7/10 · 2 March 2019]

I guess it is Beresford's return to the top and he made something what isn't made in Hollywood's factory. Love to see for me unknown actors and actresses, next to very well known Julia Ormond and Vincent Perez. The screenplay is witt and filled with details unknown for those who know nothing or very little about some of European nationalities and languages, as about Serbia and Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbo-Croatian language. It is a good picture of the characters who grew up in a different environments. Beautiful ladies make this movie goes around.

Terrific nostalgic film!

[felix-38 · 10/10 · 20 September 2018]

I saw this film at a preview with the director, Bruce Beresford, introducing the film. I didn't know quite what to expect but I was thoroughly entertained for two hours. It harks back to a time before I was born in which Australia was a very different place. The time is 1959 and refugees have come Downunder to make new lives for themselves. The changing times are reflected by a group of department store workers - the titular Ladies in Black. The script is amusing and I laughed out loud several times. Residents of Sydney and Melbourne will especially find amusement - the rivalry is not new! Special mention must go to Julia Ormond's Slovenic refugee Magda who works in Model Gowns - she has all the best lines! But everyone is so good I feel bad singling out the lovely Ms Ormond! I must say it's terrific to see a film with no swearing or violence!

A nice watch

[inmybubble-05160 · 7/10 · 13 March 2021]

It's so nice to watch a heartwarming movie like this. I feel as though they keep trying to add more and more shock value to movies and there's a point where you just want to go back to wholesome. This was a feel good movie. I think we need to start feeling better.

I loved this movie!

[nancyldraper · 9/10 · 20 June 2021]

I loved this movie! It doesn't pull its punches but it isn't a social commentary film, at all. It's kind of a "warts and all" depiction of changing attitudes in 1959 Australia. Adapted from a best selling novel, it won the 2018 Australian "Oscars" (AACTA) awards for Original Score, Lead Actress, Costumes and Hair and Makeup. Great cast, authentic characters, slice of life storytelling. I give this movie an enthusiastic 9 (superb) out of 10. {Optimistic Drama}

Ladies in Black

[henry8-3 · 6/10 · 1 July 2020]

A young girl keen to get to University in Sydney gets a Christmas job in a large department store and meets up with and befriends other ladies who have their own issues.

Not sentimental, but never straying into any dark territory, this is unashamedly old fashioned and rather sweet. The cast are fine, particularly young Rice who was so good in The Nice Guys and the recent Spiderman films and of course Ormond.

Old fashioned and undemanding stuff from the occasionally great Bruce Beresford eg Breaker Morant

Snoozathon made 30-40 years too late

[wfdonald · 4/10 · 19 October 2018]

Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. What are you doing? This is barely midday TV movie standard. Very slow, extremely predictable, smaltzy, avoiding any of the gritty issues associated with post war immigration. Could have been a lot funnier, grittier, smarter than this bland Disney-esque effort. Maybe if it'd been made in the '70's or '80's you could have said something fresh, but now this was just a poor rehash of any movie covering the topic with none of the serious parts touched on. Strictly a straight to DVD (or the streaming service equivalent) movie.

Excellent Coming of Age movie

[bookaholic · 9/10 · 4 October 2018]

This film can be enjoyed simply as a feel-good story with beautiful scenery. It also shows a time of change for Australia, as well as for the young heroine Lisa: Anglo- and Irish-Australians meeting Continental European culture; a working-class girl aspiring to go to university; women wanting fulfilling relationships with their husbands, rather than settling for "he's not a bad bloke".

A lovely adaptation of Madeleine St John's novel, The Women in Black, with a great ensemble cast. Beautiful late 1950s costumes and production design recreating 1950s Sydney.

One reviewer criticised the film because "nothing happens", but for the four central characters - Lisa, Fay, Patty, and Magda - it is a summer of significant change.

Yellow

[camilla-988-333867 · 7/10 · 18 December 2018]

Happy, light, easy going and sweet. Like the color yellow. Enjoy :-)

A nostalgic, twee, empty chic flic

[penelopeleanne · 4/10 · 15 May 2020]

So I made the mistake of watching this on a Friday eve. This movie is more suited to Sunday tea time spent with your old fashioned, reminiscing granny over tea and scones. Awfully nice, nostalgic and terribly twee. Very lightweight and empty in substance with little character development and peculiar separate storylines for the main characters which lead nowhere. The 50's dresses were nice to see tho. Very syrupy uber chic flic.