Age of Consent (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Age of Consent (1969) – M. Powell

Director Michael Powell’s final film follows on the heels of his previous Australian venture (They’re a Weird Mob, 1966) moving from Sydney up to Brisbane and North Queensland. It stars James Mason (with tenuous accent) as an Australian painter who leaves New York to return to his roots on a remote tropical island near the Great Barrier Reef.  Although he’s burnt out, the relaxed environment starts to bring back his creative streak.  A cheeky teenager (played by young Helen Mirren) soon becomes his muse; Mirren spends a lot of the movie in a state of undress as a result.  This is a bit jarring if you only know her from Prime Suspect and her late career superstardom (possibly Calendar Girls, 2006, which I haven’t seen, brings things full circle).  Similarly to Weird Mob, there’s a bit of comic relief here as well, poking fun at Aussie stereotypes and slang, when Mason’s insufferable friend Nat Kelly (Jack MacGowran) comes to visit and gets into trouble.  But overall the tone is laid back, as if the gentle rhythm of the waves was setting the pace of the picture. Plenty of shots of the lush locations and underwater photography of the reef do not disappoint. Mason ultimately gets his mojo back, although the May-September romance that eventuates does have an ick factor. The paintings on display don’t strike me as particularly notable but an early shot of a Sidney Nolan artbook suggests that Powell does have better taste.  It’s a shame (after his masterworks with Pressburger) that his career ground completely to a halt after this, due to lack of funding, aged 64.