The Heartbreak Kid

The Heartbreak Kid (1993)

Between the joy of falling in love, and the pain of growing up... between the desire for knowledge, and the barrier to passion... something had to break...

Christina (Claudia Karvan) is a school teacher from a wealthy Greek-Australian background, engaged to a lawyer and content with the traditional course of her life. She begins teaching at an inner-city working-class school and she finds her ideas challenged by the students. Involving herself in a campaign by a group of non-anglo students to form a soccer club in a school where the racist PE teacher only supports Australian Rules Football, Christina starts falling in love with aspiring soccer player, 17 year old Nick (Alex Dimitriades). The ensuing affair forces Christina to challenge herself, her family and the culture she lives in. Managing to effectively combine comedy with a refreshing examination of contemporary ethnic relationships in Australia, beautifully acted by a young cast, and insightfully scripted.

Date of release
1993-06-17
TMDB
5.2 / 10 (18)
Runtime
1h 37m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Michael Jenkins

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Box office: A$2.7M
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 3

The Heartbreak Kid is a 1993 Australian romantic comedy film directed by Michael Jenkins, who, with Richard Barrett, also wrote the script. It stars Claudia Karvan as Christina Papadopoulos, a 22-year-old Greek-Australian teacher who falls in love with her 17-year-old, soccer-obsessed student, Nick Polides, played by Alex Dimitriades. The supporting cast includes Nico Lathouris, Steve Bastoni, Doris Younane and William McInnes.

Production

Mike Jenkins developed the script with Richard Barrett, who wrote the original play, over two years, doing around seven drafts. Jenkins and the cast then rehearsed for three weeks. The soccer scenes were filmed at South Melbourne's old ground at Middle Park (stadium) with Socceroo Con Boutsianis as the stand in for the soccer scenes involving Nick.

Jenkins and Gannon brought their Sydney production team to Melbourne as Victoria offered more funding incentives are more appropriate shooting locations.

The Greek-Australian characters are largely portrayed by actors from the community. Karvan was not ethnically Greek, but was partly raised by a Greek-Australian stepfather, from whom she has her surname. Gannon was pleased with her casting and performance: "It's such a difficult role. You don't want somebody coming across as a schoolteacher preying on a young student." Gannon continued: "She is intelligent. She has a complexity.

Dimitriades attended an open casting call in south-west Sydney and was cast in what was his screen debut and breakout role.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended