Force of Destiny

{{Infobox film

| name = Force of Destiny

| image = Force_of_destiny.jpg

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| director = Paul Cox

| writer = Paul Cox

| screenplay =

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| producer = Mark Patterson
Maggie Miles
Baby Mathew Somatheeram.

| starring = David Wenham

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| released = {{Film date|2015}}

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| country = Australia

| language = English

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Force of Destiny is a 2015 Australian film written and directed by Paul Cox. It was Cox's last feature. It starred David Wenham.{{cite web|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/force-of-destiny-review-paul-cox-faces-mortality-as-only-paul-cox-can/rxpx0wjx0|date=4 August 2015|title=Force of Destiny review: Paul Cox faces mortality as only Paul Cox can|website=SBS|first=Rochelle|last= Siemienowicz}}

The film was based on Cox's liver transplant.{{cite web|url=https://theblurb.com.au/wp/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsforce-of-destiny-movie-review/|website=The Blurb|title=Force of Destiny – movie review|first=Dave|last=Edwards}}{{cite web|website=Screen Australia|url=https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2015/08-25-director-paul-cox-on-his-latest-work-force|title=Director Paul Cox on Force of Destiny|date=25 August 2015|access-date=2 February 2025|first=Emma|last=Carroll}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/24/film-maker-paul-cox-i-was-supposed-to-be-dead-quite-a-few-times-now|date=24 September 2015|title=Film-maker Paul Cox: 'I was supposed to be dead quite a few times now'|first=Luke |last=Buckmaster}}

Premise

A sculptor, Robert, who lives and works by himself outside Melbourne discovers he has terminal liver cancer. He shuts down emotionally until he meats a marine biologist, Maya,

Cast

  • David Wenham as Robert
  • Hannah Fredericksen as Poppy
  • Jacqueline McKenzie as Hannah
  • Shahana Goswami as Maya
  • Kym Gyngell
  • Terry Norris

Reception

The film screened at the Melbourne Internationa Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote the film "constitutes a series of scenes repeated with variation in pitch: Robert in hospital, Robert fretted over by his wife and daughter, then soothed by the devotion of Maya. The character of Maya is solicitous, unquestioning, mysterious but earthy: a flattened version of a real woman... the Indian sections in Force of Destiny — in which Maya returns to India to be by the bedside of her uncle (Mohan Agashe), also stricken by cancer — feel organic only to the film’s financing."{{cite news|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|title=Force of Destiny|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/force-destiny-melbourne-review-815072/|first=Harry|last=Windsor|date=13 August 2015}}

References

{{reflist}}