Petersen (film)

Petersen is a 1974 Australian drama film directed by Tim Burstall.

Petersen was a box office success and received wide distribution in the UK and US under the title Jock Petersen. Petersen is first and foremost a sobering critique of Australian life in the early 1970s. Petersen is one of the better social dramas from the early years of the Australian film revival. Stanley Kubrick praised the film on its release, particularly Burstall's direction and Jack Thompson's lead performance. Jack Thompson won the Hoyts Prize for Best Performance at the 1975 AFI Awards for his performance in Petersen.

Plot

Tony Petersen is an electrical tradesman and former football star who is studying arts at the University of Melbourne, and majoring in English. Despite being married to adoring wife Susie, he is having an affair with his lecturer, Trish Kent, and has a fling with student Moira as part of a protest. Trish's husband Charles fails Petersen in his exams and Trish leaves for Oxford. Petersen rapes Trish and returns to his old life.