Saturday, August 15

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This was published 8 years ago

Saturday, August 15

FREE TO AIR

Room 101, SBS One, 8.30pm

<I>Room 101</i> host Paul McDermott with Noni Hazelhurst.

Room 101 host Paul McDermott with Noni Hazelhurst.

This looms as one of the more intriguing episodes of Room 101 because both host and guest can be that little bit prickly. At the helm is Paul McDermott, who over the years has traded heavily on a raised eyebrow that can suggest anything from playful cynicism to outright disdain. Sitting opposite is Noni Hazlehurst, a forceful presence who as an actor and presenter has played a part in shaping Australia’s TV landscape. One of the most appealing things about Hazlehurst is she has a contempt for bulldust. Her bluntness makes her an ideal guest on Room 101 because the format demands guests talk about things that really get up their nose. It turns out Hazlehurst has zero tolerance for chorizo. Then there’s her loathing of the comb-over.

Last Tango in Halifax, ABC, 7.30pm

Derek Jacobi’s lauded for many things, including his riveting portrayal of King Lear. Given he’s shone so brightly in Shakespeare’s profound and merciless story of dispossession, old age, and death, it’s hard to imagine the thought of tackling the role of Alan in Last Tango in Halifax is going to plague him with anxiety-induced insomnia. That’s not to diminish the quality of Halifax or Jacobi’s commitment to the part. Rather than stroll through proceedings without really challenging himself, the actor’s application to his craft is evident in every scene. The first episode of season three brims with heart and pathos thanks to Jacobi and a hugely talented ensemble. The series began as a story of childhood sweethearts Celia (Anne Reid) and Alan, reunited after nearly 60 years apart, negotiating the highs and lows of life and relationships. That remains at its core, but the show has become much more than that.Little does Celia know that a revelation about Alan’s past is about to create shockwaves in her own marriage.

Bledisloe Cup, Ten, 5pm

The Wallabies are about to enter the house of horrors known as Eden Park. Not only are they contending with the psychological challenge of a 13-year Bledisloe Cup drought, they are renewing one of the great rivalries in sport in an arena that has caused them much heartache. In 2014, the All Blacks-Wallabies scoreline at Eden Park was a miserable 51-20. The Wallabies will need to produce something special to triumph.

Darren Devlyn


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PAY TV

Shocking Sharks, Nat Geo Wild, 7.30pm

An eye-opening rundown of some of the oceans’ more unusual sharks, including wobbegongs, the pack-hunting broadnose sevengill shark and the mysterious, freaky-looking frilled shark. Coolest of all is the elusive cookie-cutter shark, which spends its days at depths of up to 3 kilometres, migrating all the way to the surface at night to tear little circular chunks out of much larger animals – including whales, great whites, and even the odd unlucky human.

Brad Newsome


MOVIES

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941), TCM (pay TV), 6.35pm

Rumours have long been spread about an early draft of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that was sexually explicit. This makes sense, because why wouldn’t a man freed of all moral restraint not indulge in uninhibited sexual activity? Rouben Mamoulian’s 1932 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde achieved some of the missing frisson, setting the attempts of Dr Jekyll (Fredric March) to explore the dark side within a stultifying Victorian society that represses sexuality. But tonight’s 1942 version from Victor Fleming with Spencer Tracy succumbs to the draconian rule of the Production Code and censors out the interesting stuff. One never really understands why Jekyll wants to be Hyde.

Cafe de Flore (2011), SBS, 9pm

Cafe de Flore is one of the most iconic cafes in Paris, a block from the equally famous Deux Magots. But apart from one photo, Cafe de Flore does not figure in this Canadian movie from writer-director Jean-Marc Vallee (Young Victoria, C.R.A.Z.Y.). Rather, it is the name of a band whose music DJ Antoine (Kevin Parent) plays at high-paid gigs around the world. His actual home is in Montreal where, until recently, he lived with wife Carole (Helene Florent) and their two daughters. A quirk of fate saw Carole send Antoine to an AA meeting, where he met his new love, Rose (Evelyne Brochu). Intercut with this story is a starkly different one, set in Paris and beginning in 1969. Jacqueline (Vanessa Paradis) is a strong and courageous mother, bringing up a young son, Laurent (Lucas Bonin), who has Down syndrome. Jacqueline refuses to accept he is disadvantaged or that she can’t have him educated so that he fits imperceptibly into society.

But when Laurent becomes inseparable at school from Veronique (Alice Dubois), Jacqueline believes they must be parted at any cost. We know these two relatively straightforward narratives must overlap in some way, but we aren’t sure how. In an era where much Hollywood cinema assumes – indeed demands – that we leave our brains at the door, any film that gives the audience the challenge of putting a narrative jigsaw back together is to be strongly applauded. But Vallee goes too far with his disjointed storytelling and some viewers will consider switching channels. Cafe de Flore can be very demanding: it is clever and smug, infuriating, pretentious and sometimes great. So stay the course, because the film does become what it always intended to be: a thoughtful exploration of the shape of our lives and the reasons why we know certain people.

Scott Murray


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