Man of Flowers
Life, art and sensuality intersect in one of Paul Cox's most celebrated films.
Norman Kaye (who won an AFI for his role) stars as a reclusive older man who, in between playing the organ at the local church, pays a young artist's model to come to his house and strip for him.
Cox and co-screenwriter Bob Ellis draw a deft study of male sexuality, stunted and distorted by a painful childhood. Seen mainly through flashback, these haunting and sensitive scenes add a layer of psychological insight that stop short of turning Kaye's character into an object of ridicule.
The film's darker moments are balanced by its mordant wit, provided by a fine cast of supporting characters including Bob Ellis as a self-pitying psychiatrist and Barry Dickens as a postman who has strong opinions on the meaning of life.
