Release date12 February 1994 (1994-02-12) Based onnovel Priests Island by E.L. Grant Watson WriterPaul Cox, E.L. Grant Watson (novel) Initial releaseSeptember 13, 1995 (Turkey) CastAden Young (Peter Costello), Beth Champion (Mary), Claudia Karvan (Jean), Norman Kaye (Ghost Priest) Similar moviesRelated Paul Cox movies
Felix in exile william kentridge
Exile is a 1994 Australian drama film directed by Paul Cox. It was entered into the 44th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was shot entirely on location in Tasmania.
In the 19th century a young man is banished to an island for stealing a few sheep.
Cast
Aden Young as Peter Costello
Beth Champion as Mary
Claudia Karvan as Jean
Norman Kaye as Ghost Priest
David Field as Timothy Dullach
Chris Haywood as Village Priest
Barry Otto as Sheriff Hamilton
Hugo Weaving as Innes
Tony Llewellyn-Jones as Jean's Father
Nicholas Hope as MacKenzie
Gosia Dobrowolska as Midwife
Tammy Kendall as Alice
Production
The film is based on a novel which was set in Scotland but Cox relocated it to Tasmania. Although an earlier script was written by another writer, Cox wrote the screenplay for the film over eight days while on holiday on a Greek Island. Half the budget was provided by the Film Finance Corporation.
The film was shot from 15 March to 25 April 1993 on the Freycinet Peninsula on the east coast of Tasmania. Cox:
It's a very religious film. Because of that, it is not very commercial, is not very successful. I think it's a very good film... Exile is about the sea. It's also about society, how it always destroys the individual: that we're not the end product of that society, we're just there to be manipulated and used. It's about a man kicked out of society who really becomes himself. He shines, burns through all the rubbish of the mind and the body. He has to somehow survive physically as well, and he does it quite brilliantly. People even get jealous of him. They ban him and exile him.