MIFF: The Slap

by Andrew Moraitis 08 August 2011 23:32 Filmink Festival Coverage

Another one of our bloggers shares his thoughts on 'The Slap'... an edgy miniseries that refuses to sentimentalise the social concerns of Christos Tsiolkas.

The ABC's ambitious (read: expensive) miniseries The Slap is one of the more impressive Australian programmes of recent times. An eight-part adaptation of the Christos Tsiolkas novel, the miniseries is a surprisingly frank and edgy depiction of Australian suburbia. Unlike the faux naturalism of other programmes, The Slap delves into truly uncomfortable social and racial territory, unafraid to tackle the novel's concerns of sex, violence, drug use and class prejudice.   

At a party for his cousin Hector's 40^th birthday, Harry (Alex Dimitriades) loses his temper with another couple's child. After Hugo's parents refuse to reprimand the troubled four year-old - and he continues to misbehave, swinging a cricket bat at the other children - Harry slaps the child. This act of discipline/abuse causes the child's parents Gary (Anthony Hayes) and Rosie (Melissa George) to press charges against Harry, and pushes others - including Hector's wife Aisha (Sophie Okonedo), her friend Anouk (Essie Davis) and Harry's wife Sandi (Dianna Glenn) - to comment on the event, as well. 

At MIFF, the ABC presented the first two episodes of the program - both handled by TV director Jessica Hobbs (Rake, Spirited) - but it is clear that The Slap is closer to the inventive storytelling of overseas programming than any Australian series of recent memory. Certainly, Tony Ayres - a co-producer of the entire series and director of two episodes - compares the series to the superior American television of American cable networks AMC and HBO. The contrast with The Sopranos and Mad Men is more indicative of the series' ambitions than its form or content: certainly, a more apt comparison - in terms of structure, at least - is Jimmy McGovern's excellent serial The Street.    

Like that British series, The Slap adopts a novelistic, multi-protagonist approach that differentiates itself from most ensemble dramas. In the first episode, for example, Jonathan LaPaglia's Hector is the central character, trying to resolve his attraction towards teenage babysitter, Connie (Beautiful Kate's Sophie Lowe). In the next episode, however, Hector serves as a supporting character, providing for an additional source of conflict for the frazzled Anouk.

This structure maintains the episodic nature of Tsiolkas novel, and preserves the complexity and dimension of the characterisations: in a film version, the story might have been distilled to the point of view of a single protagonist. On the other hand, the film could have featured a Robert Altman-like ensemble structure, in which the narrative jumps from one character to the other. Either alternative may have been less exciting than the choices of Ayres and his production team: the former would have lost the texture of the individual characters' motivations and the latter would have failed to communicate the subjectivity of the novel. 

This structure - which gives each character a rich internal life - also means that the producers could entice unlikely international actors to appear in a local program. Undoubtedly the series' casting coup is the Oscar-nominated Brit Okonedo. So good in Hotel Rwanda and the BBC miniseries Criminal Justice, Okonedo brings a great deal of distinction to her part. Similarly good are Lowe, Hayes, Dimitriades and, especially, Davis, who excel in their difficult roles. Some of the other performances are mixed, though: George - an Aussie ex-pat who has done her finest work on U.S. television (In Treatment) - gives a showy and un-naturalistic performance as the lower-middle class mother and LaPaglia often struggles with his role, lacking the expressiveness of his on-screen partner. 

For the most part, though, The Slap is an impressive work, bravely exploring taboo areas of contemporary Australian life.