The Power Of Love
The Australian Women's Weekly|August 2019

Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown have a new film, a new grandchild and after more than three decades of marriage, they can still take each other’s breath away. Samantha Trenoweth gets personal with the golden couple of Australian film.

Samantha Trenoweth
The Power Of Love

The sky is mid-winter blue. Sunlight fractures in shards across the inky Pacific. High on a clifftop, in a razor-sharp breeze, half a dozen actors clink glasses, make languid conversation and evoke the illusion of summer on the set of Rachel Ward’s new feature, Palm Beach. Old friends Sam Neill, Greta Scacchi and Richard E Grant are here, along with new friends Jacqueline McKenzie, Heather Mitchell and Claire van der Boom, as well as Rachel’s husband of 35 years, Bryan Brown, and their daughter, Matilda.

Rachel calls to action and for the most part calls the shots. The only slightly meddlesome one is Bryan, who disputes the need for his character to shed tears in this scene. She indulges his spirited mansplaining with goddesslike calm.

Later, she confesses: “I respect that’s something he wants to say but I do wish he didn’t want to say it now. Could he not have said it yesterday or over breakfast or two years ago when we were writing this?”

Bryan is lead actor and producer of this friends-and-family venture, an idea he hatched after a house party in Wales. This is neither the couple’s first cinematic joint venture nor their first difference of opinion – not by a long shot.

They shared their first kiss on the set of The Thorn Birds in 1983 and married months later in Oxfordshire, where Rachel had grown up. Bushfires were blazing as they flew into Australia to spend their lives together in what seemed to her like “an apocalyptic place”.

Since then, Rachel and Bryan have produced a trio of fine progeny (Rose, 34, Matilda, 32, and Joe, 26), worked together on a number of much-admired films (including Beautiful Kate, which Rachel also wrote and directed) and the pair have become almost emblematic of the arts in this sunburnt land.

Denne historien er fra August 2019-utgaven av The Australian Women's Weekly.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra August 2019-utgaven av The Australian Women's Weekly.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLYSe alt
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 mins  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024