The Getting of Wisdom

1977

1h 40m

Drama

List

80%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

50%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

A rebellious youngster has difficulty adjusting to her new life at a strict Victorian boarding school.

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Bruce McCabe

Boston Globe

This is a charming, sensitive and discreet portrait of female adolescence set in turn-of-the-century Australia.

Apr 28, 2018

Full Review

Luke Buckmaster

Guardian

Rightly regarded as one of the finest films ever made about Australian adolescents, the director Bruce Beresford's 1978 drama The Getting of Wisdom exists in a space unaffected by time

Aug 20, 2015

Full Review

Kathy Huffhines

Sojourner

In a world that's harder to like, it gives you a heroine who is often no moral peach and whose attractions are more difficult to understand.

Aug 15, 2019

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 5, 2005

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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

The Getting of Wisdom demonstrates the painful aspects of trying to win the approval of one's peers during adolescence.

Jan 29, 2004

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Audience Member

We could all use a bit of wisdom (a verse straight out of the Bible) Taking place in 1890's Australia and based on the novel published in 1910 A girl named Laura enters an all girls college in Melbourne This follows her struggle for acceptance, conformity, romance, friendship and achievement over the next four years Laura is met with ridicule and hostility from her clothes to her parents' religious views to her grammar and spelling difficulties She's very talented with the piano but the higher ups view her as a nuisance A large cast of unknowns do pretty well with this material Luscious scenery, great costume designs, and offers a look through the troubling process of womanhood This definitely exists in a space of the world unaffected by time's passing Trying to win peers approval is a challenge in itself Yet the movie has a heroine who is often no moral peach and whose attractions are more difficult to understand

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This film shows that the experiences of adolescence, like fitting in with peers, and finding one's identity, are timeless.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

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Audience Member

The Getting of Wisdom is a perfectly fine but somewhat unremarkable story demonstrating the painful aspects of trying to win the approval of one's peers during adolescence.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

walter m

Wanting to see more of the outside world and naturally ambitious, Laura Tweedle Rambotham(Susannah Fowle) looks forward to attending boarding school in Melbourne, run by Reverend Strachey(Barry Humphries), a 'lugubrious spaniel.' That all changes the instant she gets off the train in the dress made by her postmistress mother(Kay Eklund), making her the focus of ridicule. At least her roommate Lilith(Kim Deacon) likes the candy she brought with her, even as Mrs. Gurley(Sheila Helpmann), school enforcer and holy terror, points out that having food in the room is against the rules, before listing all of them in their entirety. As occasionally as unformed as some of its subjects, "Getting of Wisdom" is still a witty and engaging look at an awkward teenager trying to fit in to school society in Victorian Australia while quietly modifying the rules to help others. It is not only her unique fashion sense that sets her apart, as she also seems to be a head shorter than everybody else.(I know everybody else makes fun of her name, but I rather like it.) Even for some of us who went through something similar in our own school years, the movie is not painful in the least to watch, except for the poor character who is accidentally hit in the nose by the cricket bat.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Bruce Beresford

Director

Julia Blake

Isabella Shepherd

Dorothy Bradley

Miss Hicks

Kay Eklund

Mrs. Rambotham

Max Fairchild

Mr. O'Donnell

Jan Friedl

Miss Snodgrass

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Synopsis

A rebellious youngster has difficulty adjusting to her new life at a strict Victorian boarding school.

Director: Bruce Beresford
Screenwriter: Eleanor Witcombe
Production Co: Nine Network Australia, The Australian Film Commission
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2016
Runtime: 1h 40m

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