The Rage in Placid Lake

Placid Lake is the son of hippie parents and has been encouraged his whole life to be out of the ordinary. He has paid for it at school; nobody likes him, and on graduation night he falls off the school roof and breaks every bone in his body. In hospital he makes a decision: from now on he will be normal. He buys a suit, shaves, and takes a job at an insurance company. His parents are horrified. It is Tony McNamara's first feature, adapted from a play he wrote himself; he would later be known as the screenwriter of films like The Favourite and Poor Things. The sharp, merciless humour of those films is here too. Ben Lee plays Placid and Rose Byrne his only friend Gemma, an early part for her. Miranda Richardson plays the mother. Eighty-nine minutes. The film's question is simple: can being normal be a rebellion too?