Trial Run is a 1984 New Zealand film directed by Melanie Read starring Annie Whittle. The film is a feminist revision of the thriller genre.Jocelyn Robson Girls' Own Stories: Australian and New Zealand Women's Films 1997 ... and we are not given the images of vicious bloody attack or of unrestrained violence against the female body. Our 'victim' is a strong woman who despite intimidation, violence and threats survives a life-endangering situation and stands firm and physically undamaged finally to confront her tormentor. There is therefore a deliberate mismatch between certain aspects of the Hollywood psychological thriller and the film Trial Run. In making the strong woman both victim and protagonist, ...Jonathan Dennis, Jan Bieringa - Film in Aotearoa New Zealand 1992 Read's feature film Trial Run (1984), a feminist revision of the thriller genre, included vivid and somewhat enigmatic dream scenes.
Plot summary Rosemary Edmonds, a photographer and runner, must temporarily leave her husband and two children when she moves into a remote coastal cottage to carry out an assignment to photograph a colony of rare penguins. It soon becomes apparent that she is being stalked in the cottage by an unknown tormentor. In a twist ending, the "stalker" is revealed to be Rosemary's own teenage son.
Cast
Production Trial Run was the first New Zealand feature film to be written and directed by a woman, and had a largely female cast and crew. Marathon runner Allison Roe and reporter Karen Sims appear briefly as themselves in a television interview seen early in the film.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews. In New Zealand, The Press described it as "enjoyable and satisfying in its small way", while felt the film suffered from a "rather sketchy script". In the UK, critic F. Maurice Speed called it a "fascinating and cleverly worked thriller"; Leslie Halliwell and John Elliot found the film generated some suspense but criticised its surprise ending as weak; while Time Out and The Guardian found the final revelation of the culprit's motives to be "preposterous" and "verging on the incomprehensible".
Several film historians have compared Trial Run to Gaylene Preston's Mr. Wrong (1985), another New Zealand thriller with feminist themes.
Notes
References
External links
Trial Run at NZ On Screen