For Love Alone

For Love Alone is a 1986 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace and starring Helen Buday, Hugo Weaving and Sam Neill. The screenplay was written by Wallace, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Christina Stead. The film marked the screen debut of Naomi Watts. The film was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

In the 1930s, Teresa (Buday) is a naive young woman dealing with the oppressive attitudes of society and her father's austere ways. She has a fling with university Latin professor Jonathan Crow (Weaving). It takes her some time to realize that he does not desire a serious relationship. Teresa then starts dating liberal-minded banker James Quick (Neill). Once she's settled down with Quick, the idealistic Teresa becomes enamored with another intellectual, poet Harry (Williams). Quick encourages the affair, hoping that Teresa will come to realize that there's more to true love than mere sexual impulsivity.

Principal cast

Production

The film was a pet project for Margaret Fink who took six years to raise finance. The bulk of the money came from a pre-sale to Greater Union and from UA. Fink had been impressed by Stir and asked Stephen Wallace to direct.