Cactus (1986) User Reviews

interesting

[littlejake4 · 5/10 · 1 June 2000]

Cactus is a film that you walk away from thinking you would like to see it again; I think because it ends so abruptly. The film moves rather slow and throughout I wanted more. More dialogue more emotion I wanted more of the main characters Colo and Robert. I really liked Robert Menzies performance he could say so much in his expressions and did not have to talk much and there is little talking in this film. The landscapes and sceneries are filmed beautifully; it makes you want to head to Australia it is gorgeous. The love scenes between Robert and Colo were very dark you could not see anything I think that should have been filmed differently because the love scenes add very little to the movie. Also, there are others around friends they add little I guess in some ways they are there for narrative. I have not really decided if I liked this film or not because it is just there like many of the cactus sitting around in Robert's green house. Cactus expressed a lot of emotion in scenes but rating the movie as a whole it loses a lot of it appeal.

A strange love story in the Australian bush

[PeterM27 · 6/10 · 16 November 2021]

Paul Cox makes the most European of Australian films, and in Cactus, a foreign star, Isabelle Huppert, plays the main character. The film is slow and thoughtful, and full of beautiful photography and music. Colo is private and withdrawn, with shy smiles and glances.

Her Australian friends, played by Norman Kaye and Monica Maughan, live in a quite mountain village outside Melbourne, full of tall forests and lush gardens. They take care of Colo, and introduce her to their friends, including Robert. When Colo and Robert form a friendship, a new world opens up to Colo leading her to new options in her life.

The film is full of Australian birdsong, and music (English, Greek and Classical). Huppert is a hard actress to love, but she does a sensitive portrayal of this largely passive woman, dissatisfied with her marriage in France, but unsure whether to find something more satisfying. Robert Menzies' portrayal of a blind man is also convincing, as he lives in his own interior world and senses the outside world in other ways. For both of them, the relationship is an unfamiliar venture.

Many will find the film too slow, with too little dialogue, but others will love its exploration of the human heart.

Remarkable

[howie73 · 8/10 · 9 January 2005]

Paul Cox triumphed again with this unsentimental yet heartfelt story of blindness. What is most remarkable about the film is its refusal to sentimentalize the effect of blindness on its protagonist. A typical Hollywood treatment of the subject probably would have been too sentimental and melodramatic. Here, Cox evokes subtlety and nuance to display a myriad of emotions. It's very much a human film with a true sense of cinema. The breathtakingly static panoramic opening is the most cinematic you will ever witness, demanding the viewer's participation in equating film with art. Huppert gives her usual quality performance, aided by the familiar Australian cast Cox so often uses for his films.

The story of a woman who begins to lose her sight following an accident.

[anoble2 · 10/10 · 13 November 2001]

This is a brilliant work about sensory deprivation. Cox portrays the fear and uncertainty of loss of sight throughout his visual style. The Australians, notably Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford and Fred Schepisi have an astounding control and use of cinematic language to portray the senses and emotions of their characters.

I recommend other Aussie picks such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, The year of living dangerously, Breaker Morant, Devil's Playground, The chant of Jimmy Blacksmith.