Beautiful Kate
Beautiful Kate is a 2009 Australian drama film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Maeve Dermody and Sophie Lowe. Ward adapted the script from a 1982 novel of the same name by Newton Thornburg; this was the first novel by Thornburg used for a movie since Cutter's Way (1981). The film was shot on location in the Flinders Ranges. The film premiered in June 2009 at the Sydney Film Festival and was released in limited release across Australia on 6 August 2009. Plot Writer Ned Kendall is returning to the remote and isolated family home inhabited by his sister Sally, to say goodbye to his father, Bruce, who is dying. Ned also brings his fiancée, Toni, who has trouble getting used to the isolation and harshness of rural Australia. Ned starts reliving memories of his childhood, many involving his beautiful twin sister Kate, and his older brother Cliff. These memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past. He begins writing, and his fiancée reads that he had an awkward sexual encounter with Kate, and leaves him without giving him a chance to explain. Kate continues to entice Ned despite his obvious revulsion, and after a drunken night out with friends, Ned goes for a swim in the family dam. He is joined by Kate, who seduces and subsequently has sex with him on the banks of the dam. Ned shows immediate remorse while Kate remains unperturbed. After Ned's refusal to have further sexual relations with Kate, Kate instigates a fight between the brothers by suggesting that Ned made unwanted advances towards her. As punishment, Bruce makes Ned accompany Kate to the Christmas dance. During the dance, Ned leaves Kate, and she is left to go home with Cliff. Ned leaves separately and on his way home he finds his sister's dead body in Cliff's crashed car, and then finds that Cliff has hanged himself. Fearing that Ned will tell Bruce the truth about Kate, Sally reveals that she knew of Ned and Kate's secret. She also reveals that the car's clock stopped on impact of the crash and no one could figure out what took Kate and Cliff so long to get home from the dance. Sally speculates that Kate also had sexual relations with Cliff, who then crashed the car in which Kate died. She tells Ned she believes that Cliff's guilt from his part in Kate's death was multiplied knowing he had committed incest. But Bruce still believes that Kate was an innocent victim, the best of his children, and she doesn't want him shattered with the truth. Ned then makes amends with Bruce and says that he is sorry for blaming him over Cliff's suicide. He doesn't tell Bruce the truth about Kate and lets him die still believing that Kate was everything he thought she was. Before he leaves, he tells Sally that Bruce died never knowing that she was his greatest achievement. Cast Ben Mendelsohn as Ned Kendall Rachel