Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business (1985)

Maureen's biological clock is ticking, and she wants a baby. Her husband George is unable to oblige. When Maureen bumps into Geoff, a former lover from years ago she decides he might be able to supply the wanted seed. But the scientific controls on their weekend encounter soon give way to natural urges and the consummation is concluded with tenderness.

Date of release
1985-10-04
TMDB
3.8 / 10 (4)
Runtime
1h 18m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Bob Ellis

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 5

Unfinished Business is a 1985 Australian film directed by Bob Ellis and starring John Clayton, Michele Fawdon, and Norman Kaye. Unfinished Business was nominated for five AFI Awards.

Production

Bob Ellis originally wanted to make a film in the style of My Dinner with Andre starring Patrick Cook and John Clarke called Business Lunch. Clarke would play an ABC executive about to tell Cook he was going to be fired and dialogue would be largely improvised. $60,000 was raised by Patric Juillet and Rebel Penfold-Russell to make the film but then Clarke became unavailable.

"Cook was ready and willing to go whenever we were but Clarke was impossible to pin down and so the whole thing lost momentum," said Ellis. "We had to spend the money so the producer, Rebel Penfold Russell, asked me to come up with another small idea with "business" in the title. The result was Unfinished Business. We had to raise a little more money to cover it because you've no idea how hard it is to come up with a small idea.

Ellis wrote a script in three days (spread over three weeks) and constructed roles specifically for John Clayton and Michelle Fawdon. Ellis' wife Anne Brooksbank participated at rehearsals and contributed to the script.

Ellis says the film was based on a personal experience. "Twice in my life I've had girls ask me to oblige them in that way. And both times I've said yes. And both times they failed to turn up and go through with it. The frustrating stop-start love-making Geoff and Maureen indulge in as they go about graphing his sperm count and her temperature to maximise their chances of conceiving is also something I've been through.

The film was rehearsed and shot in eleven days at three locations - Ellis' houses in Wahroonga and Palm Beach and his flat in Bellevue Hill.

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