THE STORY
Young Edward (Philip Quast) is an impressionable lad who is used by friends and family. While attending a prim and proper boarding school, he loses his best friend when the young Asian hangs himself after repeated racial slurs and taunts from cruel classmates. When he is older, Edward is set up by his drug-dealing brother in a money-laundering scam. The crooked brother gets off, while Edward suffers the humiliation of being branded a criminal.

(Source: All Movie Guide)

DETAILED SYNOPSIS
The film is divided into two parts. The first, set in Melbourne in 1965, concerns 13 year-old Edward who yearns to be close to his mother, a shop assistant married into titled society. His father is a stern disciplinarian who even insists Edward practices bowel control. Nothing can save him from paternal contempt, or from the sinister games Edward's siblings play.

The narrative then jumps 22 years to 1987, Edward is a very successful lawyer in his father's firm, but he has been unable to grow closer to either parent. His sister and brother who display a disturbing sexual ambience towards one another, tolerate Edward only in so far as they can use him. This involves his brother William forcing him into making an illegal cash transfer to Hong Kong which results in a police investigation. Edward's parents believe his brother William and sister Suzanna when they tell them it is all Edward's fault. The family plans to tell Edward he must go. But Edward beats them to the punch by resigning, not only from the firm but the family as well. Taking one last calm look around at the family home before he closes the door, we observe along with Edward, the place he had called *home*. A barren sterile world, devoid of any human warmth.

The film opens with a baby suspended over a table by someone in shadow; the film ends with a puppet child climbing a ladder, before floating in space, free. To Market To Market is the story of a boy/man's journey to that freedom, which comes from his leaving a family he has fought so hard to be part of. The irony is that it is the sinister machinations of his sister and brother that ensure his departure, not self-will.

The women in the film are appalling, coming across as cruel and frustrated throughout film. The men are not much better either, coming through as hostile and bitter. It is only Edward who draws our sympathy and remains the sole likable figure thoughout the entire film.

This is a film with a definite and bold perspective, a commitment to personal cinema outside the genre codings, based on a script full of ideas and originality.

(Source: 'Australian Film', by Scott Murry)