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Brenda Blethyn plays the domineering mother to Khan Chittenden's virgin hunk in this coming-of-age comedy drama from Australian director Cherie Nowlan
Riffing on her roles in Little Voice and Secrets & Lies, Brenda Blethyn stars as a monstrous mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown. This time she plays Jean Dwight, a boozy British divorcee Down Under whose matriarchal dominance is threatened when one of her brood starts dating.
Jean was a c-list stand-up comedienne in Blighty when, 30 years previously, she gave up the fame game to marry Australian one-hit wonder John (Holden). Now she's trying to revive her career in the shabby venues of Sydney's Clubland. But Jean hasn't changed her jokes since the 1970s. Her act is bad, blue and of the boom-boom variety. Introduced as "Clubland's raunchiest homemaker," she greets her audience with, "Hello ladies and genital-fondling enthusiasts." Her best gag goes, "Having sex with a bloke is like having a wardrobe fall on you in the middle of the night... with the key still in the door."
© Channel4 Film
