Duet for Four (1982)

Anecdotes

Duet for Four is a 1982 film directed by Tim Burstall.

Production

The script by David Williamson was originally commissioned by Hexagon Productions in the wake of the success of Petersen. Tim Burstall asked Williamson to write a script on a mid-life crisis even though he was in his early thirties at the time. Williamson wrote the script in eight days under the title The Toy Man; Jack Thompson was originally considered for the main role, but Hexagon decided not to make it.

In the 1980s Williamson's reputation remained high and Burstall decided to proceed with the film. Burstall said:

I was going through a mid-life crisis of some sort and thought – 'What is the nature of work? Have I wasted my time? Am I doing the right thing?' That sort of thing. And toys was the industry we decided to use because it was being taken over by the Yanks. It was a sort of image of what was happening in film at the time. I don't think the picture works very well.

The title during shooting was Partners (the title of the finished film is perplexing as there are more than four prominent characters). The film was shot in Melbourne (Heide II, La Trobe University, Nicholson Street Carlton and Prince Henry's Hospital provide locations) and Queenscliff. According to David Stratton's The Avocado Plantation, the movie features some in-jokes about the Australian film industry of the early 1970s.

Finance was partly provided by the Australian Film Commission and Victorian Film Corporation.

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