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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1980s Movies»Movies 1985
    Movies 1985 Movies B 2 Mins Read

    Bliss (1985)

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    Sydneysider Harry Joy (Barry Otto) is a successful advertising man, with a nice house, a wife he loves (Lynette Curran) and two children, David (Miles Buchanan) and Lucy (Gia Carides).

    After a long birthday lunch, Harry has a heart attack in his garden. He dies – for four minutes – during which time he leaves his body and has a vision that frightens him back to life.

    When he is revived, he realises he’s living in hell.

    His wife Bettina (Curran) is openly having an affair with his business partner Joel (Jeff Truman), his son David sells cocaine, his daughter Lucy is an addict who gives her brother sexual favours in return for free drugs and Harry’s advertising agency promotes products that cause cancer.

    Harry decides to be good when he meets Honey Barbara (Helen Jones), a north coast hippie beekeeper who dabbles in prostitution. He follows her to her commune in the forest and begins the long process of earning her trust, and his own redemption.

    Based on a novel by Peter Carey, no Australian distributor would touch the film initially, especially once it received an ‘R’ classification, because of the depiction of incest between Harry’s children, David and Lucy.

    The classification was overturned on appeal and the film eventually opened in the smallest cinema in Sydney, a former newsreel theatre with 130 seats.

    A couple of glowing reviews helped it to find an audience that kept growing, and when the film won the AFI Awards for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay for 1985, Bliss had become an art-house hit.

    Harry Joy
    Barry Otto
    Bettina Joy
    Lynette Curran
    Honey Barbara
    Helen Jones
    Lucy Joy
    Gia Carides
    David Joy
    Miles Buchanan
    Joel
    Jeff Truman
    Alex Duval 
    Tim Robertson
    Adrian Clunes
    Bryan Marshall
    Aldo
    Jon Ewing
    Alice Dalton
    Kerry Walker
    Reverend Des
    Paul Chubb
    Harry’s Mother
    Sara De Teliga
    Harry’s Daughter
    Saskia Post
    Vance Joy
    George Whaley
    Damian
    Robert Menzies
    Ken McLaren
    Nique Needles
    Dwarf
    Marco Colombani
    De Vere
    Tommy Dysart
    Paul Bees
    Les Foxcroft
    Bettina’s Father
    Allan Penney
    Hastings 
    Rob Steele
    Hasting’s Daughter
    Nicole Black
    Box
    Paul Kean
    Dr Hennessey
    Peter Carmody
    Cornelius
    David Nettheim
    Jim
    Jack Cheslyn
    Mr Clark
    Stephen Wall
    Mrs Clark
    Chrissy James
    Clive
    Mike Chandler
    Jimmy
    Marc Cristan
    Dani
    Philip Dodd
    Masturbator
    Gerry Corpey

    Director
    Ray Lawrence

    Video

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