Some Aussie yarns never get old: Henry Lawson’s short story The Drover’s Wife is one such tale, elevating a simple story of woman versus nature to mythic extent.
First published in 1892, the outback saga is well-deserving of some 21st century retelling, and Leah Purcell has already done so in a Helpmann-winning stage play and a 2019 novel. What’s left to do but adapt it to the big screen?
With Purcell as its writer, director and star, The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson was scheduled in as the Opening Night premiere for last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. But with the tragic cancellation of MIFF’s in-person screenings due to lockdowns, the film’s release was postponed. The good news is it’s now playing in Australian cinemas.
Set in a remote Snowy Mountains township in 1893, the film stars Purcell as a heavily pregnant Indigenous woman. Molly is left to raise her four children alone, protecting the family homestead from floodwaters, intruders and deadly creatures while her drover husband Joe works away for months at a time. It’s notable that Lawson’s story doesn’t even give its titular character a name, where Purcell’s film adaptation centres Molly right there in the title.
The trailer below is all sweeping landscapes, and Purcell standing proudly with a gnarly rifle in her hands. “I’ll shoot you where you stand and I’ll bury you where you fall”, she promises one grimy intruder. However, she gives refuge to Yadaka (Rob Collins), a travelling storyteller accused of a terrible crime; initially committed only to the safety of her children and family homestead, Molly is forced to reckon with what’s right.
The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson had its illustrious world premiere at Texas’ South By Southwest film festival, where ScreenDaily claimed that the movie “both earns its boldness and wears it as a badge of honour.”
Australian cinema tends to really nail the revisionist western, with recent hits like The Rover and True History of the Kelly Gang turning our sunburnt country and its bad men into the stuff of modern legend. But Purcell’s clear and personal passion for this particular outback yarn will make The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson an entirely new experience, with a rare eye for the intersection of race, gender, and historical memory.
All of which makes the pain of waiting until May all the more acute. Originally scheduled for a general cinematic release this October, we’ll now be pining for the old Australian west well into mid-2022. Strewth.
