Man of Flowers

Man of Flowers
Directed by	Paul Cox
Produced by	Jane Ballantyne
Written by	Paul Cox, Bob Ellis
Starring	Norman Kaye Alyson Best Chris Haywood Sarah Walker
Cinematography	Yuri Sokol
Edited by	Tim Lewis
Distributed by	International Spectrafilm Palace Academy Home Video Roadshow Entertainment
Release dates	1983
Running time	91 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	A$240,000[1]
Box office	$396,041 (Australia)

Man of Flowers is a 1983 Australian film about an eccentric, reclusive, middle-aged man, Charles Bremer, who enjoys the beauty of art, flowers, music and watching pretty women undress. Werner Herzog has a cameo role as Bremer's father. The film was directed by Paul Cox and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Plot

Charles Bremer (Norman Kaye) is a wealthy, reclusive man. He finds erotic satisfaction in the beauty of art, flowers, and a young woman (Alyson Best), who undresses for him. During the undressings he listens to operatic music such as Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor".^[3] Throughout the film, he reads letters he has sent to his mother. His mother had long since died, and the letters, it is later revealed, are addressed to himself.

Cast

Production

The idea for the film came out of a discussion between Paul Cox and Chris Haywood where they decided to make a low budget erotic film, along with Haywood's then-girlfriend Alyson Best. Bob Ellis was brought on to work on the script. (Ellis says he spent nine hours on it because Cox didn't want to spend any more time.^[4]) The movie was shot over three weeks.^[1]

Reception

The film was an art house hit around the world. It grossed $396,041 at the box office in Australia,^[5] which is equivalent to $1,045,548 in 2009 dollars.

Awards

See also

• Cinema of Australia

References

External links

• Man of Flowers at the Internet Movie Database
• Man of Flowers at Rotten Tomatoes
• Man of Flowers at Oz Movies
• Man of Flowers at Allmovie
• Article on Man of Flowers at Senses of Cinema 28 November 2009
• Man of Flowers at New York Times