Ladies in Black

"Topics dominating the current news cycle get a sanitized but heartfelt and charming exploration in Bruce Beresford’s long-gestating passion project Ladies in Black. A frothy morsel that pops and fizzes as the women at a Sydney department store at the tail-end of the 1950s take centre stage, in a story of romance and female empowerment built around Australia’s history of multiculturalism and the cultural debt we owe the many refugees who have come here to make Australia their home."

"Some elegant and accomplished production and costume design, by Felicity Abbott and Wendy Cork respectively, elevate this lighthearted film translation of the best-selling novel The Women in Black by Madeleine St John. Ladies in Black presents an evocative snapshot of Sydney in the summer of 1959, as we follow the lives of a group of women who work on the fashion floor of smart department store F.G. Goodes."

"From our vantage point 60 years on, Ladies in Black offers a vision - idealised, but perhaps not wholly false - of a moment when it was possible to welcome newcomers to the country and the unfamiliar ideas they brought with them."

"This is a deftly assembled and rigorously paced showcase for some truly excellent comic writing and performances."

"Fans of British dramas like Mr Selfridge will lap up this 1950-set tale."

"Beresford gives the material the warm, light, heartfelt embrace that it demands - and while the mid-section drags, the end result remains buoyant."

"The characters behave as though they are stuck in some kind of handsome display case. The filmmakers fail to bring them to life."

"Ladies in Black quietly but effectively points out the seldom-stressed positives of immigration and integration, and thus deserves attention far beyond its own native shores."

"...not so much a journey to be taken as an experience to luxuriate in..."