Based on a then-unpublished novel by Roger Ward about the impact of the sexual revolution on Australian teenagers, The Set has become a cult film, due in large part to being the first Australian film to concentrate on a homosexual relationship.
Australian Screen offers the following synopsis:
A young working-class man who sells shirts at a Sydney department store, Paul Lawrence (Sean McEuan), dreams of going to art school. When his girlfriend Cara (Julie Rogers) leaves for London, Paul becomes the protégé of renowned designer Marie Rosefield (Brenda Sender). Marie belongs to ‘the set’, an upper-class clique whose members include Mark Bronoski (Denis Doonan), an influential artist. Bronoski commissions Paul to design a set for flamboyant British stage director John L Fredericks (Michael Charnley). Helping Paul is Tony Brown (Rod Mullinar), a handsome student who is dating Paul’s cousin, Kim Sylvester (Bronwyn Barber). As Paul becomes part of ‘the set’, he begins a homosexual relationship with Tony. Meanwhile, Kim’s mother, Peggy (Hazel Phillips), is bored with her marriage and has an affair with Bronoski. As the deadline for the set approaches, Paul starts to question his values and those of his new friends.
(Sighted: 29/9/2014)
Note on authorship:
In an interview accompanying the release of his novel in 2011, Roger Ward noted:
I discovered that the script that I had diligently written had been re-written and toyed with by not only the producer, but by his 24-year-old third wife [Dianne Brittain] and also Elizabeth Kata who had written the book A Patch of Blue. I was devastated to see the ruination of a previously polished and highly tuned script and spent my short time on set leaping in front of the camera’s yelling, “Cut! That is not the dialogue”. It got to the stage that the actors were ignoring the director and coming to me in a clandestine manner to ask for interpretations and the correct lines to say. Understandably the director was angered by this and I was packed up and sent out of town on a phony publicity tour so a lot of the film went through without my input or salvaging and ended up in what I thought at the time was a ‘cringeworthy state’.
Source: 'The Set: An Interview With Roger Ward', Spike Magazine, 15 August 2011 (http://www.spikemagazine.com/the-set-roger-ward.php). (Sighted: 29/9/2014)
The Set
London
:
Janus
,
2011
7881947
2011
single work
novel
'Tony was really the only one who had it all from birth. A privileged upbringing, an architectural career offered on a plate. All that was ever asked of him was to live a conventional life, but he could not comply. The story follows the lives of five Australian teenagers and their battle to be accepted by their peers. Set in the 1960s amongst the backdrop of parental rebellion, sexual experimentation and individuals struggling to forge careers, The Set is an Antipodian Peyton Place with a touch of television's Desperate Housewives. Previously unpublished, The Set became a controversial motion picture in 1970, in an era when homosexuality was a taboo subject in Australia. It tackles the issues teenagers faced and is a true insight into uncertain times. This edition has been updated and edited for modern audiences.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
