Babyteeth

Babyteeth

Shannon Murphy

AU
2019
Feature Film
117’
2020

To outsiders, they appear to be a well-off, bourgeois-liberal family. Henry is a psychiatrist, his wife Anna a laid-back creative type with a tendency towards depression. They satisfy each other sexually, he supplies her with antidepressants, and they give their daughter Milla, 15, entirely free rein. When Milla falls madly in love with scruffy, unconventional small-time drug dealer Moses, she seizes on the opportunity to rouse her parents from their indifference. Their first encounters at the dinner table are screamingly funny, but then Milla falls seriously ill with cancer. What unfolds then is not a classic survival story or death drama, neither is this a tear-jerker about a teenager battling cancer. Instead, Shannon Murphy delivers an episodic tale that celebrates life and explores each family member’s struggle to come to terms with a potentially disastrous ending. Of course they fail, yet Murphy depicts this showing great empathy with her characters. The screenplay for Babyteeth is based on Rita Kalnejais’ eponymous stage play.

Director

Shannon Murphy

Script

Rita Kalnejais

Cinematography

Andrew Commis

Editing

Stephen Evans

Music

Amanda Brown

Cast

Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Essie Davis, Ben Mendelsohn

Production

Jan Chapman, Alex White

Conatct

X Verleih

Portrait of Shannon Murphy

Shannon Murphy

Raised in Hong Kong, Singapore, Africa and Australia, Shannon Murphy studied stage directing in Sydney and is today one of Australia’s leading and most highly decorated theatre directors. She has directed productions at the Sydney Theatre Company, the Belvoir St Theatre, the Darlinghurst Theatre, The Ensemble and The Old Fitzroy Theatre. While working at Berlin’s Schaubühne theatre, she was inspired by the Berlinale Shorts screenings to go back to film school in Sydney before starting to direct mainly feature films and TV series.


Films by Shannon Murphy (Selection)
Killing Eve 2020 | On the Rope 2018 | Offspring 2016 |
Eaglehawk 2016 | Kharisma 2014