Careful, He Might Hear You (1983)

During the turmoil of the Depression, a young boy becomes a pawn in a bitter family rivalry. Estranged from his father and orphaned by his bohemian novelist mother after bequeathing her newborn with the name PS, "a postscript to her ridiculous life," six-year-old PS is caught in an elaborate web of deceit and torn between his two feuding aunts, an average suburban housewife and a wealthy socialite. Based on Sumner Locke Elliott's dramatic novel, this award-winning Australian film is a poignant tale of a young boy's coming of age. Heart-rending and compelling, Careful, He Might Hear You is a powerful story of how one child's love and courage triumphs over his family's painful past.

careful, he might hear you

I must say, I have read many reviews on this website about this movie, yet no one has talked about the movie itself, but just about the music and bits and pieces of the movie are being torn apart by most viewers. I saw this movie when it first came out. It's a good story. It's about two sisters trying to get custody of their 7 year old nephew. One sister is single, and in love with the boy's father, and thinks by raising him, she'll win the father's heart. The other sister truely loves the boy along with her husband, they have raised him so far. This sister, who loves the boy, is middle-low class and has medical problems which the rich sister tries to use against her in court. When the rich sister wins custody of the boy, she finds that the boy doesn't like her, and wants to go back to the other sister. It's a real battle, with the rich sister not even considering what the poor little boy wants, which is to live with his other aunt. It's a sad movie, really, if you have kids, it makes you think about what your kids might go through if you don't have a will in tact. Anyway, when all is said and done, dear old dad doesn't want custody of little P.S., and the rich sister drowns in a accident, so P.S. gets to live with who he wanted to begin with! Long time coming you must say. It's a good movie, if you like foreign films. My kids don't like accents, so I have a hard time getting them to watch this movie. I myself liked it and recommend watching it. May 3, 2006

A strange, textural film

Schultz' "Careful, He Might Hear You" wholly evokes a city of contrasts [Sydney] in the 1930's and 40's and the intricate personalities of the characters entwined in a complex family custody battle of a young boy. More a psychological study of the leading female widow, the supporting cast are all exceptional.

Particularly successful in the leading female role is the fine Australian actor Wendy Hughes (most recently seen in the magnificent Melbourne Theatre Company 2003 production of Edward Albee's "The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?" with Phillip Quast) Also an undoubtable standout, I think, is Geraldine Turner, the irrepressible Australian performer with bewildering versatility, (recently see in Cameron Mackintosh's production of "The Witches of Eastwick" at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Australia)

This beautiful period film will certainly not disappoint. November 4, 2003

Australian soap opera.

Though with some shocking, dirty twists. The title and the rather kinky cover-art for this DVD prove correct your darkest suspicions about this movie: yes, "you-know-what" really happens in *Careful, He Might Hear You*, though with a quite different aftermath than you might expect. It's about two sisters in a custody battle over their 7-year-old nephew (a startling, talented Nicholas Gledhill) in 1930's Australia. The mother has died from the birth, but not before pegging the poor little bugger with the name "PS", e.g., "a postscript to a ridiculous life". Robyn Nevin is the lower-middle-class auntie whom PS would prefer to live with; Wendy Hughes is the very wealthy auntie who suddenly takes an interest in the boy, for frightening psychological reasons that will be made clear soon enough. Hughes is just marvelous as the rich, beautiful, and sexually sociopathic aunt Vanessa. This character is a whole new variation on the wicked stepmother archetype. Her abusive behavior stems from a fearful frigidity -- though WHY she is frigid is left unexplained by director Carl Schultz, as is the reason for Vanessa's much vaster wealth in comparison with her working-class sister. At face value, everything remains on the surface in *Careful* -- any psychological or philosophical nugget-hunting in these characters' lives will have to be done by the viewer. Indeed, the movie is very much a latter-day Sirkian (is that less offensive than "Dickensian"?) melodrama, complete with an over-the-top score that takes some getting-used-to, but which also fits the material grandly, especially after you accept the film's logic. The image is overflowing with profuse flora, fauna, trinkets, details -- anything that's colorful. Recently, *Far from Heaven* has tried to mine this same vein -- it failed, because it was too overt in its copycatting. Here, Schultz goes for the feel of old melodramas, but rather than re-hash something like *All that Heaven Allows*, he relies firmly on an obscure novel by Sumner Locke Elliott. The originality of the subject-matter helps Schultz to avoid being a pale imitator. Instead, he emerges as an ENLARGER of Sirk's style, themes, and characterizations. Indeed, it is a measure of Schutlz' subtlety that by movie's end, you realize that you feel pity for Vanessa, whom you thought you had reviled, while simultaneously thinking that the "decent", poorer aunt is more tiresome -- and limiting -- than at first seemed apparent. Meanwhile, the boy's a hero through all this, easily demonstrating the petty insanity of the adults who unfortunately determine the courses of his life. *Careful, He Might Hear You* is quite simply a modern classic that demands to be discovered. [The DVD, by Image Entertainment, looks pretty good, but there are zero features -- not even a trailer. I guess Image goes broke just by securing the rights to masterpieces like this; hence the lack of any effort put into the product. I guess I should be glad they took the trouble to put it on DVD in the first place.] December 7, 2002

Careful He Might Say Dickensien

This is one of my favorite movies ever. I was thrilled to search for it on DVD at a whim and find it is available. It's an excellent drama to get lost in. "Careful..." is one of those movies you can sink into. It's a book of a movie. The first clue is that it's all about character development. I highly recommend this movie as an avid movie goer. My advice is,ignore the review that uses the word "Dickensien". Dickensien?! October 5, 2002

An Aussie fairytale in the Grimm Bros. mode

I'm afraid we have a difference of opinion here for CHMHY,split between pro and con. Well let me throw in my vote for the pro side.Ever since I first viewed this film it has haunted me,I knew I had to own it-so I got a copy of the tape,now I think I have to get the DVD.The performances all around are impeccable,Hughes,Nevin,and especially the child actor,Gledhill.I wonder whatever became of him? Was this just a flash in the pan role for him or did he go on acting regionaly?It is a performance of remarkable sensitivity and naturalism.That said the film itself looks great.Lush and golden the colors pop out at you.The musical score is one that I also had to seek out for its singular delicate beauty-is Ray Cook another regional talent, I can't think of another score that he has composed?It has a sort of P.Glass-like hypnotic quality.Then there is the story itself a shameless tearjerker I'll admit but so real, and skewed with a sense of unreallity-an almost supernatural quality near the end.(The Wendy Hughes boat departure scene,short as it is has a flash of "Titanic" terror about it,and at the same time a sad irony.Anyway this duality is what keeps me coming back to this film again and again.It's a small classic. March 1, 2002

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