Against the tide

Many of us remember Russell Mulcahy (Highlander, Razorback) from his elaborate music videos for people like Duran Duran and Bonnie Tyler. Total Eclipse of the Heart is synonymous with 1980s video excess, so it's quite a leap for Mulcahy to take on this fairly pedestrian film. He throws in visual effects, such as split screens and wipes during the swimming race scenes, and a dreamy fantasy, but elsewhere it's fairly traditional stuff.

Not that Swimming Upstream lends itself to much more than Mulcahy's treatment. It's more like a telemovie, and doesn't really have what it takes to draw in cinema audiences. We've seen the story of a sporting hero up against the odds so many times that there really has to be something very special to make us want to see it again.

The film's protagonist, Brisbane-born swimmer Tony Fingleton (former Neighbours star, Jesse Spencer), has to struggle in the pool but also at home to win his father's love, and it's the latter that makes the film quite involving. The fact that it's based on real events and was written by Fingleton himself makes it all rather poignant.

Geoffrey Rush does a good job of playing Tony's father, Harold, a thoroughly hateful alcoholic who seems intent on making his son miserable by not acknowledging any of his accomplishments. Instead, Harold focuses on Tony's brother John (Tim Draxl), because he thinks he should be the champion of the family.

Why he favours John over Tony is never really spelt out but there's an implication that because of childhood sexual abuse, Harold fears Tony's soft, gentle nature. He can't show him any affection because it somehow threatens his own sense of manhood.
Judy Davis plays the long-suffering wife, Dora, and she as usual is the most watchable person on the screen.

The family lives in an old house in 1950s Spring Hill and there are plenty of scenes of Spring Hill streets and the beautiful Spring Hill baths for Brisbanites to enjoy.

Tony and John are competitive swimmers and Harold is a tough trainer who has no qualms about turning the close brothers against each other, as long as it brings him vicarious glory if they win their races. The title obviously refers to Tony's hopeless quest to win his father's approval, but there's a little too much repetition of this in the film and of the races.

In the end, it's Harold's unrelenting hardness that stays with you after it's all over, and you have to feel pity for a man who was so full of anger and who made his family's lives so hard. Despite this being well acted, Swimming Upstream is rather workmanlike. This is one you might want to wait for on video or DVD.

Vicki Englund