December 14, 2001 -- "Lantana" is one of those films which start out with several seemingly unrelated stories which end up being related after all. This cleverly written and directed film has already wrapped up seven awards, including best film by the Australian Film Institute last month. Here in the U.S., most of the best films of the year haven't even been released yet. This one might end up being nominated for best foreign film, along with Amelie, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"Lantana" stars Anthony LaPaglia of "Autumn in New York," who plays Leon Zat, a cop investigating the disappearance of author and psychiatrist Dr. Valerie Somers (played by Barbara Hershey of "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries"). Zat figures it is the husband (John Knox, played by Geoffrey Rush of "The Tailor of Panama"). Nine times of out 10 it is the husband, he says. It turns out that Somers and Knox have marital troubles all right, including infidelity, and the stress caused by the murder of their 11-year-old daughter some years before.

While interviewing Knox, Zat asks him if he has been unfaithful to his wife. Knox fires back "have you?" That puts Zat on the spot because he has been cheating on his wife. Zat finds himself all tangled up in the missing persons case in very uncomfortable ways. The case also turns out to be a lot more complicated that he thought and it forces him to re-evaluate his own relationship with his wife. Other interlocking stories involve Zat's wife, Sonja (played by Kerry Armstrong), who finds herself attracted to another man as she senses her marriage is falling apart. There is also the cozy relationship between Nik and Paula D'Amato (and Vince Colosimo and Daniella Farinacci) and their uneasy relationship with their next door neighbor, Jane O'May (played by Rachael Blake). As Paula tells her unemployed husband, he is bored and Jane is lonely, "that's a deadly combination" she says. She spells out the rather dire consequences to him if he starts fooling around. Another interesting character is Zat's police partner, Claudia Weis (Leah Purcell) who finds herself affected by her partner's marital problems. There are other important characters as well.

The plot, written by Andrew Bovell, adapted from his play "Speaking in Tongues," very cleverly intertwines all these different relationships into a single story, revealing new layers as the film rolls along. While the film certainly has a dark, sexual edge to it, the film is not nearly as dark and depressing as "Short Cuts," and it does not require random violence or acts of God to advance the story. Virtually all of the film's drama is character driven. The motivations are unforced and believable. There are nonetheless, some interesting plot twists and there are several red herrings thrown in to make it harder to guess the answer to the film's central mystery. It does take some time to get going, perhaps because there are so many characters to introduce. The actual missing persons case, the most compelling part of the story, doesn't begin until near the middle of the film.

Director Ray Lawrence ("Bliss"), does a good job of gluing the many sides of the story together into a complete polyhedron, without resorting to a lot of flashbacks, flashforwards, or other overt cinematic tricks. Several scenes stop just short of their natural conclusion in order to extend the mystery to the end of the film. In one scene, a woman is asked by a psychiatrist if she loves her husband. She pauses, and the scene abruptly ends. The answer hangs over the film. LaPaglia is excellent in his role as the police detective. Rachael Blake is also excellent as the lonely woman separated from her husband. LaPaglia and Kerry Armstrong won best actor and actress, respectively from the AFI for their performances in this film, beating out Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman of "Moulin Rouge." The entire supporting cast is strong. This film rates a B.

As for why this film is named "Lantana," I don't know, but I noticed a flower on the official Lantana web page (linked below) that looks like a Lantana flower, so the film could be named after that thorny plant.

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