Synopsis

Sophie Hartley is a successful illustrator who has been under pressure since the death of her mother. As the deadline looms for her latest illustrations, Sophie, who is terrified of failure starts to crack under the pressure. When she becomes convinced that she's being stalked by one of Craig’s co-workers, the beautiful, highly competent assistant Mara Toufiey, noone believes her. Her life begins to full apart. She feels she's being watched, followed, copied. Things go missing in the house: her daughters' toys, family photographs, even her favourite dress. To make matters worse, things aren’t going well with her husband Craig. Sophie tries to fend off paranoia, but she strongly believes Mara is trying to steal her husband, her daughters; her life. A cat and mouse game of obsession begins. She starts following Mara, crossing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour in her desperation to find something that will implicate her; something that will prove her own sanity. While doing so Sophie discovers something more frightening than anything she has ever encountered. A secret that can paradoxically destroy, heal and change everything.

What The Critics Say

"The less said about the plot the better, as "Irresistible" has a couple of fantastic twists up its sleeve that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats until the final denouement. The performances are excellent, with Sarandon skating the thin line between sanity and madness. Notable Australian actors pop up in supporting roles, including Bud Tingwell, Georgie Parker and William McInnes. 3 1/2 STARS" Mark Beirne YOURMOVIES "Susan Sarandon, always reliable to give depth to troubled, highly strung characters, is well cast in this melodrama that revolves around her. She is a loving mother and hard working, talented professional illustrator in middle class Melbourne, with two pretty little daughters and a caring husband (Sam Neill). Her world begins to wobble out of control when she starts noticing odd, inexplicable things around her house." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "This is an unsettling film exploring as it does, motherhood, guilt and the tenuous nature of family relationships. It’s remarkably gripping. The performances from Sarandon, Neill and Blunt are outstanding. 4 STARS." Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES

"Irresistible" is a nifty little Australian thriller with a big Hollywood drawcard: the acting talents of Oscar winner Susan Sarandon." Mark Beirne BRISBANE WHAT'S ON "It has taken 10 years for director Anne Turner to return to the big screen and one can only guess why. Could it have been the torturous experience of working with temperamental diva Sandra Bernhard on the doomed "Dallas Doll"? Whatever the reason, she is in solid company this time with Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, Emily Blunt, Charles Tingwell and even soapie star Georgie Parker in a story about paranoia and betrayal." NINEMSN MOVIE REVIEWS "The mix of talent in the cast gathered for writer-director Ann Turner's suspense drama filmed in Melbourne last year proves interesting, if not altogether irresistible. The tormented wife fearing for her sanity is a familiar enough storyline ("What Lies Beneath" is the most recent example), but Turner (encouraged by seasoned producer David Parker) delivers surprises right to the absolute climax and that too is a twist you're unlikely to be expecting. Small roles for veteran Charles Tingwell as Sophie's father and William McInnes as Mara's live-in lover can't take attention away from the intrigue that links Sophie and Mara. 3 1/2 STARS." Des Partridge THE COURIER MAIL

The Inside Story "Irresistible" was written and directed by Ann Turner, who graduated from theSwinburne School of Film and Television (now VCA) in 1981. Her 1989 début feature film "Celia" won international critical acclaim premiering at the 1989 Berlin Film Festival and going on to be named by 'Village Voice', 'The Face' and 'Film Comment' as one of the world’s 10 best films of 1990. It also won the Jury Prize at the International Women’s Film Festival in Creteil in 1989. Now twenty five years after graduating, cinemagoers can take in the 1991 Australian Writers Guild Award winners latest work, which by the way first came to her when a friend told her she thought she was being stalked, but couldn't be sure. "What fascinated me about the story was what happens when you're not believed, when paranoia builds and you then don't know if you're going crazy or not," recalls Turner. Producer Tatiana Kennedy, who worked with Turner on her third feature, "Dallas Doll", first saw a draft script five years ago and immediately recognized in it a continuing theme of the director's; that of exploring the family unit under attack. Kennedy also saw similar qualities to Turner's highly regarded début feature "Celia". "Ann is able to unsettle audiences, to enable them to enter worlds they would not normally enter," Kennedy notes, "and to carry an audience along with the sheer boldness and inventiveness of her story." The lead character in Turners "Irresistible" is Sophie Hartley, played by Academy Award winning actress, Susan Sarandon. What is not revealed until late in the film is that Sophie has a dark secret. One she has repressed throughout her marriage. "I believe we all have a secret part of ourselves that we hide from others, even those closest to us, and I believe we all live in fear of our secrets being revealed," says Kennedy. Sarandon who had expressed her interest in the role mid-2004 says, "I thought this was an opportunity to get back to having to keep your focus, because it's a very delicate balance of grading where Sophie is, at what time, because it's shot out of order, and a real challenge to try and plug in where you are in terms of her emotional decline." Sarandon also "thought it would be fun to play a character that the audience may become ambivalent about as the film progresses. Her character, who juggles a career and motherhood with an appealing self-deprecating style, becomes less sympathetic as the story unfolds." Turner recalls she was thrilled when Sarandon finally signed on for the role. "She was always on the top of my list," says Turner. "She has an ability to be truthful in a role and I wanted Sophie to be very real; an honest portrayal. Susan is enormously intelligent and brought so many ideas to her role. Every take is fresh and she is always adding details. Susan has a gift of simplifying and cutting straight to the heart of things, which makes a scene more profound. I think that sort of simplicity is one of the very hardest things to achieve." Acclaimed New Zealand actor Sam Neill plays Sophie's hisband Craig. Neill describes his character as, "A touchstone for decency and moderation. He's not a perfect guy though; he doesn't have the monopoly on virtue." "It was an honour to work with him. Sam is a wonderfully physical actor," says director Ann Turner. "He has a way of expanding space, utilizing a set to make the most of its dramatic possibilities. As a director himself, he has a great understanding visually as well as emotionally. I learnt a lot watching him." In "Irresistible", Craig becomes the centre of attention from a vivacious young IT employee named Mara Toufiey. Couple with Sophie's problems, this adds extra stress to his marriage. Sam Neill aptly summarises, "she's a handful." Mara is played by the Evening Standard Most Promising Newcomer British Film Award winner, Emily Blunt, who can also be seen in "The Devil Wears Prada". Turner says the role "needed someone who was really appealing but who could also portray an edge where you weren't sure what was going on. I felt Emily could absolutely do all that and more." The challenge of playing a character whose life is the opposite of her own was a challenge Blunt was happy to take up. "I know people like Mara; they are the life and soul of a party but cry themselves to sleep every night," she said. There's a lot of tension in "Irresistible" thanks to the collaboration between Turner and her Director Of Photography Martin McGrath who aimed for a shooting style that created an intense and dangerous mood. They took a cue from the formal blocking of Hitchcockian thrillers whilst giving the film a contemporary treatment of light. "With Susan Sarandon's high cheek bones and general film-savvy instincts, my job was made easy," says the 2003 Cinematographer of the Year Award winner. "She knows film mechanics well and the script backwards which always made for spirited conversations around the camera. She won't do anything just for the sake of serving the camera, it has to come from the script, and rightfully so." When it came to the right 'look' for the film, it was paramount the film had, not only a look of quality but also one of beauty. "The 'attractiveness' of the settings was in counterpoint to the darkness in the characters' inner world," notes former architect and the films Production Designer, Kim Buddee. For editor Ken Sallows, "Irresistible" provided the fourth opportunity to work with Ann Turner. Sallows believes Turners attention to detail is matched only by that of Susan Sarandon. Sallows was obviously impressed with Sarandon too. "She dictated to me her dialogue rhythm," he said. "Sentences with pauses in the middle, not at the end. Ms Sarandon knows about film manufacture, about how those pauses mean so much and how to relay a meaning by a hesitation." Composer David Hirschfelder who joins forces with Turner for the third time revealled, "It was wonderful to work with Ann again. She really knows what she wants and how to ask for it. Clarity of communication can be very tricky in the subjective and relatively abstract realm of screen composition. Words can mean different things to different people when it comes to music." Producer Tatiana Kennedy believes "Irresistible" fits with the times. Where paranoia and insecurity have flourished in recent years under certain political leaders. More intimately it deals with a situation that will strike a chord with almost anyone; how the past impacts upon the present and the future. The Verdict "With Susan Sarandon in the lead, Ann Turner at the helm and a cast that includes Sam Neill and rising star Emily Blunt, you'd expect "Irresistible" to be very entertaining. Well here's the good news. It is. There's plenty of intrigue and tension as the film progresses. What starts out as a content and happy family setting slowly disintegrates when personal items start to mysteriously disappear from the Hartley household. Sophie, already under pressure is backed into a corner when her sanity is questioned. She is convinced the cause of all her troubles is her husband's very attractive IT employee Mara. It's a role well suited to Oscar winner Sarandon. Her character will gain a lot of sympathy from the audience until the self-doubt sets in. Then the audience will be forced to question Sophie's motives. They will be forced to take sides. To reassess their evaluation of her situation. The big question is asked: "Is it all in her mind?" Recommended. 3 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "IRRESISTIBLE" stars .......
Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon ["The Rocky Horror Picture Show ", "Thelma and Louise", "Dead Man Walking" and "Shall We Dance"]; Sam Neill ["My Brilliant Career", "Dead Calm", "Perfetc Strangers" and "Jurassic Park III"]; Gold Logie Hall of Fame Award winner Charles 'Bud' Tingwell ["The Desert Rats", "Puberty Blues " and "Jindabyne"]; Variety Club Drama Award, Two time Logie Most Outstanding Actor Awards winner William McInnes ["Do Or Die", "Dirty Deeds" and "Look Both Ways"], and Emily Blunt ["My Summer of Love" and "The Devil Wears Prada"] as Mara.
"IRRESISTIBLE" was .......
directed by Ann Turner ["Celia", "Over The Anvil" and "Dallas Doll"]; screenplay by 1991 Australian Writers Guild Award winner Ann Turner ["Turtle Beach", "Over The Anvil" and "Dallas Doll"]; production design by Five Time New York Clio Award winner Kim Buddee ["Lantana" and "Danny Deckchair"]; director of photography 2003 Cinematographer of the Year Award winner Martin McGrath ["Proof", "Muriel’s Wedding" and "The Sound of One Hand Clapping"]; original music by BAFTA and APRA Award winner David Hirschfelder ["Strictly Ballroom", "Shine", "Elizabeth" and "Hanging Up"]; edited by Three Time AFI Award winner Ken Sallows A.S.C ["Malcolm", "Proof", "Chopper" and "Getin' Square"]; produced by Eleven time AFI Award and Byron Kennedy Pursuit of Excellence Award winner David Parker ["Amy", "The Big Steal" and "Malcolm"] and Tatiana Kennedy ["Dallas Doll"]. Run Time 103 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Palace Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved