| Flirting |
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Theatrical release poster |
| Directed by | John Duigan |
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| Produced by | Terry Hayes
George Miller
Doug Mitchell
Barbara Gibbs |
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| Written by | John Duigan |
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| Starring | Noah Taylor
Thandie Newton
Nicole Kidman
Naomi Watts |
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| Music by | James D'Arcy |
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| Cinematography | Geoff Burton |
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| Editing by | Robert Gibson |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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| Release date(s) |  March 21, 1991
 November 6, 1992 (New York City)
November 14 |
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| Running time | 99 min. |
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| Country | Australia |
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| Language | English |
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| IMDb • Allmovie |
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Flirting is a 1991 Australian coming of age film about a romance between two teenagers, written and directed by John Duigan. It stars Noah Taylor, who appears again as Danny Embling, a character from Duigan's 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke. It also stars Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman. Flirting is the second in a planned trilogy of autobiographical films by Duigan. It was also produced by Kennedy-Miller who made the Mad Max trilogy.
Primarily because of its complex characters, low-key atmosphere, and sumptuous cinematography, the movie was widely acclaimed critically.It was featured on Roger Ebert's Top 10 Best Films List of 1992. The film won the 1990 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film. This movie ranked number 46 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
The film features one of the last appearances by Nicole Kidman in an Australian-produced film before she made her transition to Hollywood; Kidman had previously met and worked with director Duigan on the Australian miniseries "Vietnam."
Plot
Danny Embling, an awkward, underdeveloped teen suffering from occasional bouts of stuttering, attends an all-male boarding school in New South Wales, Australia. The year is 1965 and it has been some time since Danny has had any romantic relationship with a girl (his former love, Freya, from The Year My Voice Broke, left him at a crucial point in his sexual/romantic development). He slowly becomes interested in Thandiwe Adjewa, a Ugandan-Kenyan-British girl (Father Ugandan, Mother Kenyan-British) attending the all-girls school across the lake. Throughout the course of the school year, they foster a budding romance, despite the overbearing regulations inflicted upon them - specifically racial politics (as the couple is interracial) and social conventions (Thandiwe is often regarded by the religiously-influenced authority figures as rebellious and overtly sexual).
Although the story evokes universal themes of romance and love, it also examines the properties of the "Australian character": existential isolation (brought on by both geographical and environmental conditions) and strong cultural ties to Great Britain.
