Winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the 2020 Mardi Gras Film Festival, ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) is a heartfelt and honest queer teen rom com about school captain Ellie (Sophie Hawkshaw) who has a serious crush on her classmate Abbie (Zoe Terakes).
Ellie is the squeaky clean school captain swot besotted by bad girl Abbie. Ellie wants to partner Abbie to the school formal but is awkward and bashful around her. She goes to bizarre lengths to get close to the object of her desire, like copping a detention, but the ploy backfires.
Enter her deceased aunt Tara (Julia Billington), a lesbian activist from the ‘80s who returns from the dead to act as a kind of fairy godmother to Ellie, guiding her through the trials and tribulations of debutante dating.
Ellie’s mum (Marta Dusseldorp), a ditzy solicitor isn’t exactly hostile about this same sex crush, but there is a concern, and it’s rooted in the not so distant past, a concern connected with Tara’s death.
Tragedy or turbulent pasts are not allowed to cast dark clouds over ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) however and its core brief is to be a brisk and breezy entertainment about the angst of teen romance, a blithe spirited comedy. And that’s what writer director, Monica Zanetti, delivers.
Sophie Hawkshaw and Zoe Terakes are excellent as Ellie and Abbie, and Marta Dusseldorp adds dollops of texture to a very complex, confused and confusing character.
A trio of supporting turns add terrifically to the mix – Bridie Connell as prim and proper with a dash of the surreptitious, Miss Trimble, Ed Wightman as the Maths Teacher, and Rachel House as Tara’s ex.
ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT) is screening at festivals and cinemas across the country in November. Visit ellieandabbie.com.au to find a session near you
