The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 Australian coming of age drama film written and directed by John Duigan and starring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen and Ben Mendelsohn.
Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy of films centred on the experiences of an awkward Australian boy, based on the childhood of writer/director John Duigan.
In 1962 in rural New South Wales, Australia, Danny is a thin, socially awkward 15-year-old boy who has been best friends with Freya since childhood.
Through inquiries with his parents, Danny learns that Sara was well known for her sexual promiscuity years ago, and that she was Freya's biological mother, who died trying to give birth by herself at the abandoned house.
Unable to get the film funded, he wrote a prequel, The Year My Voice Broke, based on the leading character growing up in a country town.
At a 2005 special-event screening in Sydney, director John Duigan stated that he chose the piece as he felt it complemented Danny's adolescent yearning.
"[10] In a 2015 review for The Guardian, film critic Luke Buckmaster praised the film for managing to avoid stereotypes "despite being loaded with common archetypes and situations; there’s the bullied kid, the bad kid, the side plot about sexual awakening, the mid-year dance and the dramatic final event that sends shock waves through a conservative community.
"[11] Buckmaster added, "It certainly didn’t hurt that the three, deeply memorable, central characters are played by a trio of fine actors in the formative stages of their careers.
"[11] In an article discussing the lack of female coming-of-stories in film, Suzie Gibson cited The Year My Voice Broke as a rare movie that gives equal weight to the boy and girl characters, writing "[Freya] is arguably one of Australian cinema’s most finely developed female characters, evoking the subtle shades of a burgeoning womanliness.
[4] Special features include an introduction by George Miller and a 50-minute retrospective, with Duigan interviewing Loene Carmen and Ben Mendelsohn in Australia and Noah Taylor in England.