Beautiful Kate - Australia 2009

**** spoilers ****

One liner: a man goes back to the family home to visit his dying father after fleeing 20 years earlier without an explanation after the accidental death & suicide of his two siblings.

Ned Kendall and his girlfriend, Toni, are travelling at night to Ned's family home, a rural property situated in the middle of nowhere. Ned is 40 and is a writer. Toni asks him to tell his family she is an actress and takes her name tag off her shirt, throwing it into the console. As they travel in the dark, they suddenly hit a kangaroo. Toni claims the kangaroo is moving and might have a baby but Ned just tells her to get back in the car and then he throws the roo to the side of the road without much sympathy.

When they reach the property, it is the middle of the night and the household is asleep. Ned wakes his sister but he does not immediately introduce Toni who is sitting on the porch seat out of view. As sister Sally moves to take in Ned, Toni moves to the door then pushes her way past. Sally looks visibly disturbed. Sally offers to wake up dad (Bruce) but Ned refuses saying they are not going anywhere.

It's fair to say Ned changes once he reaches the property and behaves like a nob. He doesn't bother trying to help Toni fit in and often leaves her alone while he goes off to do something else.

Ned looks around the house and into the bedroom of Kate, his twin sister. He finds it undisturbed and the light no longer works. He goes back to his room and says to Toni which bed do you want (there are two singles). Toni says why can't we push them together? Sally appears with single sheets. Toni again says, don't you have any doubles?

Ned remembers tracing his finger on Kate's back. They are twins. Kate has a game where she asks Ned for a tickle and he recites a poem while tracing his finger along to the narration while spooning. It flashes back to the present and he makes love to Toni.

In the morning, Sally says he will see you now. Ned and Toni make their way into dad's room. Ned (and in fact the whole family) only ever call him Bruce. From the start Bruce cannot say a single nice thing to Ned. He goads Ned now by saying he looks soft and then making comments about how Ned has good luck with finding pretty women but not much luck keeping them. He talks about Toni about her being pretty as if she isn't there. Toni walks around the room to look at things. Ned asks how Bruce is doing and Bruce shoots back that he is dying of heart disease. Ned has enough and says he is going to look around before it gets too hot. Toni remains in the room and asks about a photo of a young girl next to the bed.

Sally confronts Ned and asks why he brought Toni. Ned says what's it to you. Sally reveals that she didn't ask him to come because she wanted to, but because Bruce wanted to see him. She criticizes Ned for having brought Toni because he can't give Bruce his full attention. Ned asks if she plans to stay here after Bruce is gone. Sally informs him that the bank owns all of it. The dam they used to swim in has also dried up due to lack of rain. But everything in the shed is going to Ned. Ned scoffs but Sally says Bruce is sure the contents is worth up to $50,000.

Ned has further flashbacks to childhood, which paint a picture of his relationship with the family. Their mother died early. They had an older brother called Clifford that Bruce was always very hard on and treated him like a sissy. Then Ned and Kate, then Sally. Kate is very beautiful However she is also jealous. Ned and she are at a fair watching fake bullriding. A girl that Ned is interested in called Tamara is riding and he mentions to Kate he wishes he could cop a feel. Kate is so jealous that she pushes Ned. Everyone else jeers Kate so she rushes off. Tamara gets off the mechanical bull and goes to flirt with Ned when Kate comes back on a bike causing Tamara to jump out of the way.

At the table, Toni is looking through an old photo album and becomes disgusted at a photo of Kate with a big wichetty grub on her tongue. She asks Bruce what is going on and he tells her they eat them. She then asks whether Kate will be coming back as well. Bruce says, doubt it. She asks why, where is Kate now. Sally says apologetically - Kate has passed on. Confused, Toni says, you mean she's dead? Bruce makes a smart comment. Kate confronts Ned why he has never told her that he had a brother and sister. A couple days later she confronts Sally and asks why she does everything in the house. She should just leave Ned and Bruce together and tell them to piss off. Sally says Ned might kill Bruce. Toni says so what? I would.

Ned is more distant towards Toni. Toni pushes the two single beds apart and turns off the light without saying goodnight to Ned. Ned goes to find Sally in the computer room. She is on Second Life and is salsa dancing with her "boyfriend". She introduces Ned to her boyfriend. He comments that she has enormous bosoms and she says that her boyfriend promised to buy her a ring if she made them twice as big. She points out the ring on her avatar finger. She then comments that she likes that she can end it at any time and demonstrates by turning the speakers off. She then hands Ned a stack of papers saying these are the instructions for Bruce and says she plans to take a few days off to go get work done (she works at an Aboriginal community). Ned protests but Sally says they need son dad time together.

Ned tries to get on with Bruce's schedule but Bruce proves to be a handful. He is in the middle of something when Toni starts yelling for him. He goes outside to find her sitting on a large barrel roped up to two trees which is a make shift bull. She says how does it work. He teaches her how to sit on it and starts rocking the bull by is distracted by another flashback. The flashback ends when Toni falls off the bull and yells at him that he did it on purpose. She gets up and is angry at him saying she is bored and it is hot. He tells her why don't you have a bath then, or wash your hair. She says she will and walks off suggestively taking off her t shirt. He goes to follow but then sees that Bruce has been watching them at his window, including seeing Toni walk past with no top.

Comedy moment. Toni is in a kiddy pool with sunnies and a big hat and a can of flyspray which she is busy spraying any fly that comes near her. This being the desert, they are everywhere.

Bruce spends all his time riling Ned more. Ned can seemingly never live up to any expectations. Bruce asks whether Ned has written anything worthwhile yet and asks about some book which he gets the title and subject wrong. Ned corrects him and says you mean the one that is in its third reprint, but no, I haven't written anything worthwhile yet. Later he and Toni are out in the shed and Ned is sitting on the bulldozer. He says they are better off just burying all this shit instead of trying to sell it. He starts up the bulldozer and pushes all the crap into the yard.

Later Toni hears Bruce's buzzer go off and again yells for Ned, but Ned is in the yard burning all the junk. Despondently she goes to Bruce's room. Bruce has tried to get up and fallen on the floor then wet himself while waiting the long time for Ned or Toni to appear. Disgustedly she says what is he doing, and then have you wet yourself? Realising Ned is not about to come back any time soon, she roughly hoists Bruce onto the bed, criticizing his whinging, and then changing his pants, throwing a towel over his waist so she doesn't have to observe his nakedness. She then opens the window and Bruce says he smells burning. When Toni tells him Ned is burning all the junk he is agitated but can do nothing. So he decides to do psychological retaliation instead. He tells Toni why is she dating Ned who must be twice as old as her and someone like her should be in Hollywood. Falling for the ruse, Toni says really? Bruce asks her to sit with him, then he tells her beauty is youth, and youth is beauty. That is the only thing you need to know. Toni tells him she was saving to get to Hollywood and started classes. He encourages her to show him some of her stuff.

Ned comes back in and approaches Bruce's room. He peers through the crack and sees Toni rehearsing one of her scenes and Bruce giving her warm praise. (we see through the rest of the film that Bruce has never had any warm praise for anyone except Kate)

Ned uses Bruce's study to start writing a memoire. First it is guided by anger. He remembers Clifford being confronted by Bruce why the neighbours kid managed to get a scholarship to Kings College and he didn't, could it be because so and so was smarter, or just not as lazy. Clifford cowers and says nothing but Kate rises to his defence. After the Tamara incident, Kate starts being more sexually overt. She leaves the bathroom door unlocked and Ned accidentally enters and finds Kate massaging her breasts. She lets him watch for a while before acting shocked and screaming for him to leave, but then lying down next to him and starting to cry that she misses mum. Ned tries to console her and rubs her shoulder, but still excited by seeing her breasts he accidentally ejaculates against her leg. He is embarrassed and ashamed but Kate seems unperturbed. After that he tries his best to avoid Kate alone. He volunteers to take 2 weeks off away from home so he can go to the far side of the property and do fencing. Bruce uses this to turn on Clifford and say what has he been doing, basically nothing, and Clifford tries to defend himself by talking about something he was planning to do. Bruce refuses to accept it as an answer and sends him off to do it now, even though it is night. Ned gets up to leave as well but Bruce tells him to sit down. He then also tells Sally off for playing with her food. The next day Ned is in a remote location when Kate appears in the ute. He tells her to go away but she says she has brought the fence posts for him. Reluctantly he gets on the ute and they proceed by throwing posts down along the track. When they finish, Ned tells her he will walk back which angers Kate who drives off.

Toni finds Ned in the study and intimates she is bored. She blames him for bringing her here. She also doesn't want to attend to Bruce because he is not her father. She asks Ned what he is doing and he says writing down notes for his book. As she goes around the study, she points at a map with flag pins on it and asks what it is. Ned says it is a map of the radio schools. She asks weren't they sent to school. He says no, his dad knew better. Ned also previously found a bullrider medal in a box in the study drawer and it brings back memories of when he was very young and asking his mother to stop the car so he can go into the shed and show his dad his first prize. His dad glances at the badge then dismissively tells Ned he has a long way to go before he is a champion. Toni finds out more and more things about what a loser Bruce is. She picks up a marker as Ned is talking and draws on the poster of Bruce. Bruce once stood for parliament as a member of the Country Party. She draws a moustache on him then colours out the O R and Y then draws a big arrow to Bruce. Ned has sex with Toni but when she keeps calling out he says he will stop. But she starts again and he breaks off saying why do you have to sound like a tart? She says why do you have to fuck me like a tart. He says nothing and she goes on that he never looks at her. He says of course I look at you, you're beautiful. She asks do you love me? He says well I'm marrying you aren't I? She is enraged by this comment and goes to leave but Ned takes her up in his arms and tries to soothe her. He then tries to make love facing her and looking into her eyes but looks into his dad's eyes on the poster instead and gets a soft on. Toni is enraged again and leaves.

Ned decides to make amends with Toni and has made a candlelight dinner on a tray and cocktails. He goes looking for her and eventually finds her in the study where she is reading his manuscript. She reads out the part where he has ejaculated on Kate after she was crying and Toni tells him he is a perve and not to touch her. She slams the door. Ned drinks himself into an oblivion. Bruce at some stage also riles Ned that he always had a fondness for drink. This leads Ned into having another flashback into him as a teenager drunk and being dropped off by some people (more like kicked out of the car). He gets up and is bleeding from the forehead. He sees a woman in the kitchen and still drinking walks off to the dam. He is in the dam swimming in the nude when Kate appears. When he tells her to go away because he is drunk, she says it is her dam too. He tries to hide away behind the pylons but Kate won't leave him alone. She brings up the fair with Tamara and what Ned had said, then tells him if he wants to cop a feel he can do it now. She says that she had always felt weird until he ejaculated. Ned says no. Kate says go on, it will be our secret. She takes his hand and rubs her breasts, then moves forward to kiss him on the mouth. Ned gives in and goes into a frenzy. They end up stumbling onto the bank and having sex. After he has come he starts saying he's sorry but Kate simply says she's fine. She goes off to wash herself and then comes back to say just pretend it was someone else. She sings If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. However Ned is really traumatized and is still lying on the bank with his face in his hands.

Ned wakes up from a horn sounding. He stumbles to the bedroom but sees no one there, then to the kitchen. He is standing in a stupor when he hears an engine rev. He goes outside to find Toni leaving in a yellow car. He goes into Bruce's room and starts yelling at him what have you done? and says Bruce is still up to his old tricks, that it was his fault Clifford killed himself and whatever it takes he will kill him. He is holding Bruce up by the collar then drops him and runs off after Toni. Bruce falls back onto the bed choking and coughing. He runs off to his car and starts following them, yelling at them to stop. He sees Toni in the back who is mouthing fuck off to him and giving him the finger. He hits something and stumbles out of his car, but Toni is gone. He yells several times I'm still here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! until he falls over in the dirt.

The next day he walks back to the property with blood on his face. He washes himself and has another flashback. He has returned home and is playing with Sally when Kate tells him Clifford wants to see him. As he follows Kate he asks her what has she done. She says nothing, just that Clifford wants to see him and he is inside the shed. Ned gets angry and says you told him, why did you tell him? why? but Kate refuses to answer. He goes in and says innocently, you wanted to see me? Clifford comes out of the shadows and says that Kate told him Ned tried to cop a feel. Realising Kate hasn't told Clifford the whole story he then steps up and says so what if I did, what are you going to do about it? Clifford can't man up, so Ned starts badgering him, go on hit me. Clifford hits Ned in the stomach, but Ned fights back, still yelling hit me, hit me. Clifford isn't fighting but Ned won't let him leave and wrestles him. Kate comes to the shed and starts yelling for Bruce. Bruce comes in but even though Kate says Ned is to blame, Bruce starts kicking Clifford in the back and the guts. As they separate, Kate hugs Clifford and kisses him on the forehead.

He goes back inside and makes breakfast for Bruce but when he goes into Bruce's room, Bruce has his rifle pointed at him. He says he remembers what Ned said to him last night. Ned sweet talks Bruce into giving up the gun and says he is a bad drunk and says Clifford killed himself because he killed his sister. That is all. Bruce refuses to eat or drink so Ned gives up. Bruce asks him again why he won't talk about that last summer. He then demands to be wheeled outside.

Outside near the dam Bruce says that when their mother died he tried to fill her shoes and get close to them like she did but he didn't know how. He always tried hard but the kids didn't love him. Ned says that isn't true. Bruce says you have always called me Bruce. You never called your mother Emily. He says he was harder on Clifford because he thought that the world would be harder for Clifford than it would be for Ned and Kate. He demands to be wheeled back inside.

Ned has a flashback to the Christmas Party. After the fight, Bruce told Ned he had to take Kate to the Christmas Party even though Ned protests. Kate looks satisfied. They are dancing when a slow dance comes on. Kate looks very happy but Ned wants to keep his distance. Kate then says she wants to leave. Ned says he is not ready to go home yet. Kate says I never said I wanted to go home. Ned becomes angry and says he is not going anywhere with her. She says fine, just take me home then. Ned refuses. He turns to Tamara who is dancing with another boy and says lets go. Tamara says will she be ok? Ned and Tamara look at Kate and Ned says she will be fine. At the door Ned gives Tamara a big kiss, making sure Kate sees. Kate is enraged and goes off to look for Clifford. Clifford is at a drinks stand and puts down his things. Ned and Tamara are somewhere having sex. Later Ned is driving by himself back to the property but sees something and reverses. He sees a stationary car so he gets out and starts calling for Clifford. He opens the passenger door and finds Kate with her head smashed in and blood all over her face. He starts screaming her name and holding her tightly. We also see a paid of legs hanging in the dark in the shed. Clifford had hung himself.

Sally returns. She tells Ned she is sorry about Toni. He replies no you're not. She just smiles. She asks whether Bruce ate much as she is having trouble getting him to eat. Ned says he didn't eat much. She suggests that he might eat some custard because he likes that. Ned offers to take it in. She tries to stop him and says are you going to talk to him about you and Kate? Ned says what do you mean? She reveals that she had been ten when it happened and that she had been sent down to the dam to get yabbies for dinner and saw them on the bank, she thought Ned was hurting Kate at the time (but now she understands). Ashamed, Ned asks if she forgives him. Sally says she forgave him a long time ago. Seeing Ned having a hard time, she reveals that when the car crashed (with Kate) the clock had stopped on impact. Both she and Bruce had wondered a long time why it took so long for Clifford and Kate to be coming back from the party. Ned asks if she is saying that Kate and Clifford were also having sex. Sally says this is what she thinks happened. She says Clifford didn't kill himself for killing Kate, he killed himself because he wasn't able to forgive himself for having sex with Kate. Ned gets up with the bowl of custard. Frantic Sally begs him not to tell Bruce and that it won't do any good. Ned says: why, why shouldn't he know that he thought she was his greatest achievement but she was just a fucked up little girl?

Ned charges into Bruce's room and Bruce is still stubborn. Ned aggressively says you know what I remember about last summer? But then he tells Bruce that what he said was true, Ned always had a weakness for cunt and did he remember Tamara from the roadhouse? Well that was the reason he didn't drive Kate home. Then he starts crying and pressing his head to Bruce's chest says that he didn't drive Kate home over again, he should have except he was with Tamara, but if he had of, he would never have swerved for a roo. (earlier on we find out Clifford swerved to avoid hitting a roo on the road and run the car into a tree). Bruce looks relieved to find out the story at last.

Ned is fast asleep early in the morning and hears his name being called. He wakes up to find Sally sitting next to him. She doesn't say anything and Ned understands Bruce has died.

They start preparing him. Sally says Bruce always believed no two people would care about him when he died, but she thinks that once word gets out there will be plenty of people coming to the house. She is picking out clothes for him, and Ned takes a washcloth from her and lovingly washes Bruce's face.

Bruce's ashes are scattered by Ned and Sally while the last rites are read out by an Aboriginal elder. The Aboriginal community have gathered around. Sally tells Ned she has something to show him. They go out to the community she works at where children are playing football. She says she has about 40 children here. Ned asks if she will get lonely now (that Bruce is gone). She finds it funny and says with 40 kids I don't think I can be lonely. Ned says it was right in front of him and he never realised. Sally asks what he means. Ned says you were his greatest achievement. (meaning that she has found meaning for her life and does something she enjoys).

Ned drives off. While he is doing up his seatbelt he pricks his finger. Looking down he realises it is Toni's name tag from her uniform. He smiles and props it up on the dashboard to keep him company on his drive home.