[5] Starring Angourie Rice, Rachael Taylor, Julia Ormond, Ryan Corr and Shane Jacobson, the film is based on the 1993 novel The Women in Black by Madeleine St John, and tells the story of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney.

Lisa gets honours on her school leaving exam and applies for a scholarship at Sydney University after getting the approval of her father.

Ladies in Black was twenty years in the making, with writer-director Bruce Beresford attached to the project.

[11][12] Prior to release, Ladies in Black was projected to have "a sizable opening weekend and a long run sustained by word-of-mouth and repeat business.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Ladies in Black gleans socially relevant observations from Australian history with entertaining flair, embroidering a tale that touches on immigration and female empowerment with a fashionable pizazz [sic].

"[14] Neil Young of The Hollywood Reporter said of the film, "Ladies in Black quietly but effectively points out the seldom-stressed positives of immigration and integration, and thus deserves attention far beyond its own native shores".

[15] Jake Wilson in The Sydney Morning Herald says the period details "carry the authority of first-hand experience".