Given the regional setting of Ben Pfeiffer’s micro-budget drama The Returned, it’s fitting that news of the film moved like small-town gossip to attract its cast and crew.
Shot over the past three weeks in the Victorian town of Wannon, west of Hamilton, the story centres on Vianne (Louise Siversen), a feisty woman of almost 70 years who has received a terminal cancer diagnosis and is determined to die at her home in regional Victoria.
Her oldest child Connie (Edwina Wren), a detached and somewhat hard-headed individual, has decided to be her mother’s sole, end-of-life carer. The two younger children, Quinn (Pfeiffer) and Amal (Dushan Philips), both come to keep vigil as Vianne’s passing looms. Each child has a different way of grieving, with each approach shaped by their circumstances and their courage or desire to confront the truth.
The cast also includes Rebecca Bower and Jonah Phillips.
Pfeiffer wrote the script 12 months ago, having been inspired to tell the story after observing his three sibling’s differing reactions to his father’s death in 2006.
The theatre director and actor was then able to draw on his cast, made up of actors he had known “for a very long time”, to secure the services of producers Ahalya Maharaj, Josephine Croft, and Amanda LaBonte.
“Dushan had been in contact with Jo and then we found Ahalya through Lou,” he said.
“Then Amanda sent me a message saying the film sounded great and that she had actually been studying producing for the past 12 months.
“I found the farm where we are shooting on Airbnb and it is owned by a couple named Carol and Bill. Carol sent me her phone number and then said, ‘Yes, come shoot a film here. 50 per cent off’. She gave us the number of her neighbour who owned a scout camp and ended up providing our accommodation and also offered to do our catering because he has a commercial kitchen. All these extraordinary things fell into place which didn’t eat up a huge chunk of budget or time.”
A team of just over 30 people has been involved in the shoot, including DOP Stuart Mannion, composer Dingo Spender, and editor Michelle St Claire. The production has also employed 12 locals from the town of Wannon to do hair and make-up, as well as take production stills.
The film has a budget of $200,000, more than $20,000 of which was raised via the Australian Cultural Fund, with the rest self-financed.
Croft paid tribute to the cast and crew for how they engaged with the story.
“Although there is a nominal fee they have been paid, there is also a lot of passion in saying yes [to this] when they could be earning a lot more,” she said.
“It’s lovely that they are coming on with heart as well.”
Siversen said it was a privilege to be involved in the film and play someone who is forced to face their mortality.
“Ben had a very strong feeling about the actors he was writing for and that is underpinned by what occurs in a chemical nature between people if it’s appropriately cast,” she said
“That in itself creates a bond that you don’t have to work for, and that starts to produce an energy between you.
“I’ve known Dushan for quite some time, but I didn’t know Edwina. When you see the film, you understand that that was also a separate relationship to what I had with the two men [who played my other children], which was perfect for what was required.”
Pfeiffer’s script has also drawn a positive response from UK producer Richard Mansell, whose experience includes executive producing Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer’s 2022 drama God’s Creatures, while also serving as a financing consultant on Ruben Östlund’s The Triangle of Sadness and Richard Eyre’s The Children Act.
Maharaj said Mansell boarded The Returned as EP after being sent the script in a process she described as “serendipity plus research plus fate”.
“The sensibility of the films he does very much matches the tone of our film, so we’re grateful that he’s also recognised that,” she said.
“He loved the script and really wants to support us, especially from a post-production point of view, given he specialises in being a film financing closer. He also has great connections with film festivals and emerging artists.”
She added the producers were in talks with distributors, both at home and abroad, in regard to the film’s next steps, with the team hoping to confirm something “in the next few weeks” as the film heads into post-production.