Peaches (2004) Movie Script
STEPH: Every birth is traumatic,
but mine went off the Richter scale.
My dad died neatly, but they reckon
Mom's head got severed clean off.
So you might say
she didn't really have her mind on the job.
[Speaking foreign language]
Jass? Where is she?
[Baby crying]
Miracle! Miracle baby.
Miracle baby.
STEPH: Where my dad came from,
they have shrines to their ancestors.
Here in Swan Reach,
this sign is the best we could do.
Miracle baby. That's me.
Living proof that miracles
aren't all they're cracked up to be.
- Hi.
- Good day.
Where do I sign?
STEPH: This is where my mother
met my father and they fell in love.
And on the day she left, so the story goes...
There you go.
... my mother stood on the peach line
with me half bursting out of her belly...
and told them all to go fuck their jobs.
Of course, you could do that back then.
- Hey.
- Brian.
- How you been?
- I'm... I'm good.
WOMAN: [Over P.A. System] Forklift drivers
to report to dispatch immediately.
Do not complete your current jobs.
Report immediately to dispatch.
Repeat.
Forklift drivers to dispatch immediately.
[Whistle blowing]
WOMAN: Peaches!
[Gasping]
[Breathing heavily]
Hold on a minute.
Can I go to the toilet, please?
Too slow. Off the line. Down on the cookers.
- Hey, bub, are you all right?
- Too slow!
Take her off the line. Down to the cookers.
To the cookers.
Come on.
Hey, Alan Taylor can't sack me
on my first day, can he?
How would I know?
- Well, you reckon he's your brother.
- Half brother.
They say he's a real prick.
If you really grew up around here,
how come I've never seen you before?
I took off to see the world, didn't I?
What the bloody hell
do you think you're doing?
Actually, you know what, taking a kid
off the line on her first day and all...
it must be karma.
[All laughing]
- I can't believe you did that.
- Darling, it was a little tap.
- So now he sacks me. Wicked.
- He wouldn't dare.
- Where am I gonna get another job?
- You just have to do better.
Hey.
You know, you can look in my bag
if you like.
Happy birthday, bub.
- Shit, Jude. Thanks.
- Don't swear, darling.
- Who will I ring?
- Well, you ring me.
But you have to use that earphone thing
or you'll get a brain tumor if you don't.
Oh, right.
[Dance music playing]
JUDE: He's actually taking it out on Steph.
I want her to do the trainee shift.
This bloody dyslexia doesn't go away,
you know.
KATH: Hello, gorgeous.
JUDE: Hey, what are you doing here?
I was just gonna ask you guys what
you think about at work so you go really fast.
What we think about?
We think about sex, baby!
They don't. We don't.
They might, but we don't, darling.
KATH: I do.
JUDE: Stop it!
- Come on.
- Settle down.
Oh, come on. She's...
[Kath cackling]
GRANDPA: That's a girl.
- Bit slow for you, Grandpa?
- Fine.
Thank you. That feels... That's good.
This is for you.
It was your mother's.
They gave it to me along with
all the other things from the accident.
Next of kin.
I thought, now that you're all grown up...
- Read it to me?
- Now, that'd be cheating.
- It's my job, isn't it?
- That's right.
The dollar rose. The goal post moved.
We've got to export more.
It's as simple as that.
So we've got to increase productivity
by another 2%.
WORKER 1: Oh, what?
WORKER 2: There's no way.
- And we've got to lose a few.
- Oh, great.
JUDE: Lose a few what? Kilos? Brain cells?
Now, anyone interested
in discussing redundancy...
Oh, people?
So this is just an excuse
to get rid of permanents...
- and replace them with casuals?
- Discussing redundancy...
drop in to personnel.
All right?
WORKER: It's not right.
ALAN: Any questions?
Yeah, bro.
Do we still get a Christmas hamper?
[Workers laughing]
The brutal truth, mate.
Permanents get a hamper, and casuals don't.
And I'll tell you something else for free.
The unions, they're finished.
Without their closed shop, they're history.
So why aren't you inside with the girls?
'Cause they're reading Cosmos
and comparing orgasms.
So? What, you can't read
or you've never had an orgasm?
Yeah.
[Chattering]
Bunyip. Bunyip.
Her best friend was a bunyip.
This bunyip lived in the...
Mosquito-infested waters
at the bottom of the quarry.
You've got to sound it out.
Why do you hate the Taylors?
How do we get permanent, Steph?
We've got to make ourselves
absolutely indispensable.
And how do we do that?
We've got to learn to read properly.
- And now, come on.
- You should wear blue more often.
All right. Alan Taylor...
he just crawled out
from under a rather large rock.
- Cute, but. They both are.
- Jesus, don't go getting adolescent on me.
These don't work, Jude.
They've never worked.
Listen. Do you know,
it's actually quite tough out there, darling?
This is the only job going in this town...
and it's probably the only job going
for someone who didn't finish school.
Now, you are going to make it
through that season...
and they're going to send you to Tech.
But if you can't read fluently by then,
my God!
I know! I know. I know.
Well, all right, we'll try the coaching again,
but you have to show up.
Jude...
I can't do it any better than I fucking do.
Don't swear, darling.
- Shit! Oh, shit.
- Gregory.
Oh, shit!
I swear to God, if that thing bites me again,
I mean, I'm really serious, I'm going to fry it.
You didn't answer me
about whether you think Alan Taylor's cute.
Alan Taylor is a ruthless, two-faced,
utterly toxic turd.
And those are his good qualities.
Gregory thinks he's cute.
[Moaning]
Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
[Screaming]
[Peaches by The Stranglers]
[Horn blaring]
[Cell phone ringing]
Good day, Jude.
Okay, I'll be home in half an hour.
I got a flat. Bye.
I think you should know there's a woman
having a wank in the back of your van.
I was present at the ceremony.
Do you always stick your nose
into other people's bedrooms?
Other people should close their curtains.
- She wants me to make sure you won't tell.
- Who am I gonna tell?
She's my parole officer.
It kind of pays me to stay on her good side.
An idea you've comprehensively rooted.
Sorry.
I just wanted to...
Here.
You can read.
What?
Read this to me?
I don't think so.
What did you say her name was again?
Your parole officer?
Cherie.
Her name's Cherie.
BRIAN: "November 19.
"Maybe I'm going to go somewhere exotic
with jungles and beaches.
"Somewhere like
where Li Jun or Hoa comes from.
"Or Johnny.
"November 21.
"The seasonals have started arriving."
Why me?
Huh?
What makes you think you can trust me?
I don't, but I don't trust anyone else.
"I can't seem to get Jude as excited
about the new chums this year.
"There's not as many as there used to be...
"and they don't come in from Queensland
like they used to...
"but there's enough to liven things up.
"She's Ajaxed her hair, so she's got her eye
on someone, but she won't say who.
"And I sure as hell
haven't mentioned the Big J.
"I'm not sure how she'll take it.
BRIAN: "We made a pact, though.
JASS: We made the pact, though.
- "After it was over...
- After it was over...
- "...she claimed it was my idea.
...she claimed it was my idea.
- "But it wasn't, Your Honor.
- But it wasn't, Your Honor.
- "She made me do it."
- She made me do it.
[Whistling]
[Lady Bump by Penny McLean playing]
JASS: Cover my bottom!
Good day, Al. Did you notice
anything unusual this morning?
[Stammering] Well, the bloody forklift
broke down again, yeah.
Oh.
You're not serious?
- You are serious.
- Shut up.
WOMAN: There she is!
[All whistling and hooting]
JASS: It occurs to me that
Johnny's mob might think...
a chick who flashes her backside
a bit, well, loose.
But I'm sure Johnny would agree...
when in Rome or Saigon...
or Swan Reach...
Hey! Margo's kid's got gastro.
Does anyone want a double shift?
Let me.
Alan...
Alan Taylor...
is...
ALAN: Shirt lifter.
Well, technically, Alan Taylor is a shit lifter,
but you get the idea.
Here. Hop in. I'll drop you home.
- I've got my bike.
- Well, now, it's midnight.
The bike will still be here in the morning.
Hop in.
You and Jude still swim in the river?
Not anymore. We used to.
She says it's polluted now.
Years ago we used to have something called
the Cannery Cavalcade at the end of shift.
It was a mass exodus to Fisher's Bend.
There was skinny-dipping, dive-bombing.
All sorts.
- Don't they do it anymore?
- No.
Safety regulations. You're covered
by workers comp to and from the job...
so it's a public lynching if you're caught.
[Door shutting]
Hi.
- Who dropped you home?
- No one.
One of the nightshift girls.
- Oh, who?
- Julie Morrissey.
Ah.
Why don't you have your hair long anymore?
You used to when I was little.
- I don't know. I'm just too old for it, I think.
- You might get a root if it was long.
WOMAN: [Over P.A. System] Forklift drivers
to report to dispatch immediately.
Do not continue existing jobs.
Report immediately to dispatch.
WORKER: This is crazy.
They let eight go today.
What's the CEO's bonus this quarter?
I hope he's invested it wisely.
WORKER: Here he comes.
How can you do this? I'll get you, Taylor.
You got to step off the curb sometime.
JUDE: Oh, it's an absolute shit, Kenny.
Well, I guess my fingers just aren't as nimble
as they used to be.
Well, that's not what Kath says.
Oh, since we got him on the Viagra,
his fingers have never felt better.
KATH: Sorry, honey.
ALAN: How's that old van of mine going?
BRIAN: Oh, it's okay.
- I ought to have your balls for this.
- Mate, you couldn't lift them.
You reckon?
Go on. Inhale, for Christ's sake.
Sue says,
why don't you come and stay at the house?
No. It's too crowded for me, bro.
You know, it'd give me a break.
[Brian exclaims]
A witness. Now you're stuffed.
The foreman ripped on company time.
[Coughing]
[Clarinet playing]
I can hear music.
Of course you can. This stuff's all heads.
It's Kenny.
He wanted to practice in the cold store
for old times' sake.
[Playing melancholy tune]
You know what we ought to do?
Cannery Cavalcade.
[Whooping]
You waiting for a wetsuit or what?
Don't forget your floaties, mate.
[Whooping]
It's the best. It's the best show.
Here they come.
[Screaming hysterically]
I love you guys!
CROWD: Countdown!
JASS: I don't know who they are.
[Live It Up by Mental As Anything
playing on TV]
JASS: What Johnny needs
is a crash course in having fun.
I keep telling him,
if it's got a beat, you dance to it.
[Jass and Jude singing The Carnival Is Over]
JASS: That night,
Jude got another one of her ideas.
The biggest surprise was Al.
For a nerd with specs and a stammer,
who would have thought?
He and Jude might just go the distance.
Hey, mate!
Come around.
- AI. Late night, mate?
- Yeah.
Bit of extracurricular studying.
This? You want to take this?
I'm conducting a survey
on behalf of the union, you know.
Late shift arrivals and departures,
that sort of thing.
- Oh, right. You want a beer?
- Yeah, why not?
Help yourself, mate.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
[Jass and Jude singing The Carnival Is Over]
JASS: I told the Harper Valley PTA at work...
that Johnny's descended from some prince
or sultan or something.
[Screaming excitedly]
But it's not true.
His father traveled...
fell in love in Indonesia,
and took her home to Vietnam.
JOHNNY: It's from my uncle.
He write that my father's sick
in a re-education camp.
He hope that they will release him,
but he's not sure.
JASS: When his dad was taken...
they smuggled Johnny out on a boat
to the Philippines.
He had some US dollars and no one.
JOHNNY: Ten year.
ALAN: Jesus.
JUDE: Where are your brothers and sisters?
JOHNNY: I don't know.
JASS: It occurred to me, and to Jude
and Alan, as it later turned out...
that we could make him a new family.
I reckon we should get out of here.
Take this thing and head out north.
- How far north?
- Not that far north, Johnny.
Queensland.
We could deck it out like a caravan,
and we could put a fridge in it, an oven...
run a chimney up through the top.
There was an old woman
that lived in a peach.
Who lost both her tits
on the way to Swan Reach.
- Well, it's not all that funny.
- It'd be fun.
I mean,
do you really want to hang around here...
stinking of peach juice your whole life
because your old man did?
Or 'cause some knob in a suit
was big enough to class you as a reffo?
Up there, they've got nude beaches.
JUDE: I don't know.
I don't know where you'd be without me,
all of you.
Clueless, the lot of you.
You got no bloody drive.
What sort of drive have you got in mind?
- We can get it out.
- You're a weird kid.
Shouldn't you be out taking drugs
or having sex or something?
JASS: Johnny's not like us at all.
He wasn't raised to be a shit kicker
in a cannery.
He wanted to be a professor of literature.
[Both chanting]
He was falling for a girl who can't spell "cat."
In any language.
Mo.
- "Miaow"?
- Yeah, mo.
It mean, cat.
"Jude beat me, the bitch. It took her a while.
"Why are men such slow starters?"
She said the most he'd do
was stick his hand down her bra.
And it happened
in the peach store, apparently.
She reckoned Kenny was serenading
on his clarinet from the store next door.
So she found him in there on his own...
and she just stripped right off.
And he said...
I can hear this.
[Stammering] "You seem to be making
a habit of this."
But he rose to the occasion...
and she got that warm, strong,
tugging feeling between her legs.
Like a hunger pang.
And he ran peach juice over her body.
He even licked it from between her toes...
and the back of her knees.
She said she'd forgotten to shave her legs...
and she was embarrassed,
and he just laughed.
And they even hung a peach half
on his dick.
And all the time,
Kenny's tootling Summer of '42 next door.
And Al's so into it,
he's forgetting to stammer.
She lost her favorite hairclip in the frenzy.
And then they did it.
She said next time,
she'll warm the peaches first.
And I thought Big Al only got a boner
from an enterprise bargain.
[Brian sighs]
I better get on, mate.
I've got to meet someone.
Off to visit Cherie?
I suppose you're in love now?
Her husband's a lawyer. And the van,
it turns her on 'cause it's putrid.
Cherie's slumming it big time.
But when no one's touched you
for the best part of two years...
you kind of take what you can get,
you know?
Hey.
You're in the doghouse.
- See you.
- See you.
JUDE: Steph, where are you?
I thought we were going to ring
the reading coaches today.
Maybe that's why you've vanished.
JASS: It was different for me and Johnny.
Had to be, I suppose.
The first time we made love was the day
he found out his father was dead.
He said he felt them near us,
his mom and dad...
watching over us somehow.
I've never thought like that.
Johnny swears his ancestors
are back in the world.
Not as people. Maybe dogs or beetles...
or water buffalo.
Isn't that wild?
Coming back in disguise
to keep an eye on the things you loved.
I like that.
I haven't got the stomach for it
anymore, Jude.
Somebody's got to take on Taylor before
he pushes too hard and people get hurt.
He's the worst kind.
He used to be ours, and now he's theirs.
Like an ex-smoker.
Yeah, or an ex-wife.
He's also favoring casuals
who are not union members.
I mean, I'm a casual, Jude. And how long
is a casual union rep gonna last?
So we thought...
who's the one person we know
who detests Taylor enough to break him?
Where the hell have you been?
I've been calling you all night.
- I had my phone switched off.
- Oh.
Is there any tea?
Yeah, it's in the microwave.
Along with your bloody rodent.
THOMMO: I guarantee you'll be unopposed.
JUDE: See you later.
Hey, you're looking pretty good
these days, Jude.
JUDE: [Laughing] Give it a rest. Night-night.
Steph?
Steph?
Just in case you're not asleep...
I fed Gregory.
He bit me.
Well, you'll be sorry when I die of tetanus.
Why did you split up with Alan Taylor?
- Who told you that?
- Everyone knows.
Isn't that why they want you for the union?
'Cause you're not scared of him?
Well, he... He pissed off after I adopted you.
- Because of me?
- No. No.
- Because he's a weak prick.
- Why didn't you ever tell me?
- Well, I...
- Kath and all of them know. Grandpa.
What do they know, Steph?
I mean, what do they know?
I mean,
I told you how Jass and Johnny died...
and then that Nerida, bloody four-eyes...
and those freakish little friends
started telling you all these details...
that God knows where they got them from.
And then they start calling you dyslexic.
I mean, you had nightmares for months.
What do they know?
What do they know? You are such a grub.
Are you going to tell me where you've been
half the night?
- Are you going to tell me about Alan Taylor?
- No.
Only place you can get cool, eh?
- Except down the river.
- I wouldn't make a habit of that.
The union are out to get you, you know.
Yeah, they're siccing Jude on to me.
You know her old man
used to call her a pit bull?
Well, he'd be pissing himself laughing
up in Surfers or wherever he is.
How many more will be going?
I don't know.
Will I?
Guess what I found in the shed
on top of Mahlberg Hill?
A trailer with a giant peach on it.
They never did find out who took it,
did they?
All those years sitting there
and all that time no one ever found it.
It looks like a real wreck now.
I could take you there if you like.
Why would you want to do that?
This is where you and Jude first did it,
isn't it?
With Kenny Carter playing the clarinet
next door.
She lost her hairclip.
You've made my day, Steph.
Jude's tried to turn you into her little puppet
and look at you, eh?
What do you want, Steph?
I don't know.
Go on. Piss off.
JASS: They didn't find out about qua do.
That's Vietnamese for peach.
They haven't even questioned us.
I think they're too scared.
No one believes about Johnny
and the sultan stuff.
They reckon he's just another refugee here
to steal their jobs and rape their women.
ALAN: These are the best of times.
These are the worst of times.
Now we've had our door open
for a decade now.
We've invited the world in,
but ask yourselves this.
How do we treat our guests?
Now I guarantee if you elect me
to the union committee...
I'll pledge myself to union protection for all.
No favoritism, no individual contracts,
no inequality.
- Equal pay for women.
- Yeah!
Free spaying for family pets.
Subsidised mercy killing for nuisance rellies.
[Stammering] And Christmas hampers for all.
ALAN: Fuck off!
JASS: It was Jude's idea. The four of us.
We were going to have our very own,
very grown-up little party.
JASS: Saturday night.
BRIAN: "Saturday night.
- Four sleeps to go.
- "Four sleeps to go."
BRIAN: The end.
- Look.
- Yeah, someone's ripped them out.
You know the rest.
She and Johnny got minced.
Al and Jude messed up their lives.
- No, they didn't.
- Okay.
Have it your own way. They didn't.
- You off to visit Cherie?
- No, they changed parole officers on me.
- Doesn't she like doing it in here?
- No, the new one's a bloke.
And I tell you, he fell out of the ugly tree
and hit every branch on the way down.
No, I'm going bush. I need to commune.
Don't you ever get lonely?
What do you think?
You never told me why they put you in jail.
You know all about me.
[Sighs]
I got too attached to something.
Someone. And she wanted out.
And I couldn't let go.
But I worked one thing out in the care
of our fine correctional services department.
You gotta learn to travel light.
Hey, you see this place?
When I clear parole
and get some money together...
I'm gonna find this place.
It's in Queensland.
They reckon dinosaurs walked there
millions of years ago.
Now, just imagine what your foot
would look like inside that.
I imagine how that would feel.
Are you going or what?
Yeah, can you dump me at the Black Spot?
The clutch is gone.
Hitchhikers get murdered, you know.
Yeah, I'll risk it.
BRIAN: Mate, how are you?
Help! Help, I'm being murdered!
Don't know, love. Never read it.
Wanted to read it. Damn right I did.
Maybe there are some things
a father shouldn't know?
Why didn't you take me to live with you
when she died?
Because Jude wanted you. Begged for you.
So I bundled you up in Jassy's bunny rug
and handed you over.
You were bright yellow.
Jaundiced, not genes.
Did I do wrong?
[Marching band instrumental music
playing on TV]
And here at the Peach Baby Contest...
we've just seen miracle baby
Stephanie Callaghan crowned Peach Baby.
Well, Jude,
what's the miracle baby's favorite food?
Swan Reach Preserved Peaches
because they're love in a can.
REPORTER: What's your dream
for the miracle baby?
Yes, can you connect me
to an Alan Taylor please?
Just that she grows up safe.
Monash Street, Swan Reach.
REPORTER: And?
STEPH: Thank you.
JUDE: Safe.
[Knocking on door]
What's this? Neutral territory?
You can pick the lock from the balcony.
They used to do it at school when they
wanted somewhere private to... You know.
They never check the rooms during the week.
Christ.
I couldn't think of anywhere else
to talk in private.
I want to ask you some stuff
about before I was born?
- Ask Jude.
- She won't talk about it.
Maybe she's scared...
that you'll turn out to be like Jass
and not her.
It's what keeps her awake at night.
Well, that and hating me.
Make me permanent.
- I can't.
- Why can't you?
I just can't.
There won't be anyone permanent
in six months.
Steph, I'm gonna go.
I have to prove that I can get one thing right.
- I have to pay her back.
- Pay who back?
"Whom," she'd say, wouldn't she?
Convent girl.
Nothing's right anymore.
You were there before,
when things were different.
How come all the good stuff
happened back then?
How come it all happened for you?
Hard work and a commitment to excellence?
You had specs...
and a stammer.
What happened to your stammer?
It was panel beaten out of me.
Take me back to then.
Take me back
to when all the good stuff happened.
No.
"Scab." Fuck me!
I must be time traveling.
I'm in the fucking '60s.
Oh, fuck it!
[Alan grunting]
- Fucking scab! Let's go.
- Bloody prick.
Hey!
Years ago,
they would have finished me off properly.
Everywhere you look...
Declining bloody standards.
Oh, fuck.
So apparently I'm the despicable shithead
they think I am.
Christ.
- What is that shampoo?
- La Flair.
La Flair. That's it.
"La Flair," stupid bloody name.
With active fruit concentrate.
[Jude singing Live It Up]
Hey.
Yeah?
Can we get some different shampoo?
I'm sick of that stuff.
- Yeah.
- Cool.
[Whooping]
Hello?
Hello?
Hi.
[Steph giggles]
I did it. I did it. I did it.
How about that?
[Steph laughs]
Hey, who's for the Cannery Cavalcade?
- Good day, stranger.
- Hi. Did you commune?
No, I did the washing up, though.
I thought you might drop in
so I can show it off.
ALAN: Shit!
[Alan groans]
What did you expect, Al?
You pour salts in one end,
you're gonna get shit out the other.
Poor dickless bastard.
And you'd be hung like a dinosaur yourself?
Careful, Steph. Your slip's showing.
- Are you laughing at me?
- No.
What are you doing?
Well, he might be dickless,
but he's still my brother.
- What are you up to?
- Nothing.
- Jesus!
- I've got a joke for you.
What goes, "Ha, ha, ha, plonk"?
A man laughing his head off.
- Where'd you hear that?
- Don't know. I've always known it.
It was Johnny's. Hanoi Harry.
He had this weird bloody
Vietnamese sense of humor.
No one else even smiled,
but he used to crack up every time.
- His real name was Bnh.
- Yeah.
He was a good bloke.
Tt bun, that's what they'd say.
Good heart.
You're lucky he was your dad.
I love you.
Let's not go there, eh?
[Steph giggles]
Don't!
- Don't get too cocky, Steph.
- What'll you do, fire me?
Do you have any idea
how compromised I am with this?
Then what are you doing here?
I wanted to see what it was like
to take a risk again.
And what's it like?
It's fucking unreal.
[Both laughing]
Steph: Ouch!
- Alan, do you think I'm sexy?
- No.
JASS: I'm never leaving Johnny.
We're going to live to a great old age...
and have a tribe of kids...
who'll grow up warm and tanned, loved.
And then we're going to die together
in our sleep.
His ancestors talk about hungry ghosts.
We're not going to be hungry ghosts.
Until it's our time to come back...
- Can't you knock?
...we'll be happy ghosts.
You know how I told you
all that stuff about...
how signing on at the cannery
gives you two families instead of one?
- Capital T tradition and stuff?
- Yeah.
I think someone sold us a pup.
You know, years ago, I thought
of going away with Jass and Johnny.
But...
But?
The moment sort of passed.
ALAN: [Stammering] My old man built this.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Well, the whole family did it.
- Yeah?
Every night and every weekend
for six months.
- Here. Look. Look.
- Really? It's pretty cute, you know.
- Look.
- Oh, yeah.
"Taylor and Sons 1969 with thanks."
Dad used to say when you work for the...
Oh, yes, you are hanging to the left tonight.
When you work for SRC, you're lucky
'cause you've got two families...
instead of the one.
- Did he cry in the Bambi movies as well?
- No, I'm serious, Jude.
'Cause, you know,
Bambi was really quite sad.
I mean, this is who I am, you know?
I'm gonna be the union rep.
- Are you?
- I'm serious, Jude.
Look, I'm serious.
I need you to commit.
And if you don't want...
If you don't want to help me, it's okay...
but let's forget the whole thing.
All right. That's all right.
Yeah. Now will you kiss me?
Jude, look.
- I don't know how to say this but...
- Do you think I'm ugly?
Look, don't interrupt me
or finish my sentences ever.
I...
I want to wait until... The sex thing until...
- Until it's right, yeah?
- What?
And I think you're beautiful.
Look, I've messed up...
I've messed up a lot of relationships before.
And I don't want to with you, okay?
Really?
[Whispering] Is this because
you're a communist or 'cause you're scared?
I'm scared.
Deal.
- Communists do do it, don't they?
- Yeah.
Like... Like...
Bunnies. Look at China.
WOMAN: [Over P.A. System] All personnel on
the floor are expected to report at all times...
which is required by law...
How can you expect us
to produce less and employ more people?
I think at this point, we should probably
look at some figures, shouldn't we?
If you reach for the graph that I sent you
in the memorandum over a week ago...
- comparing the figures of productivity...
- Listen, I got that graph...
...at the cannery.
I employ on merit, union members or not.
That's the law, you know?
That's a lie.
What, do the figures scare you?
What's that doing here?
Oh, felt like a change of scenery.
That man, with the specs and the stammer...
where did he get to?
He pissed off somewhere.
Having a good time without us.
Bastard.
I was looking for him.
He's disappointed you, hasn't he?
You wanted him to make it all right again,
but he can't.
You're going to have to do that for yourself.
We have to stop, Steph.
Why?
Only you've got to call it.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- You did not.
- What? I did.
That's so bizarre.
J-A.
Whoa, it's moving fast.
- Jass.
- What's the message, Jass?
Our? Our.
S.
O.
- N. Son.
- Our song.
Our song? Our song.
- You're pushing it.
- No.
- Yes, you are.
- Fiddlesticks!
Okay.
Say goodbye, my one true lover...
as we sing a lover's song.
How it breaks my heart to leave you
now the carnival is gone.
How does it go?
[Singing The Carnival Is Over]
Steph. Steph?
What are you up to?
You're trying to kill Jude, are you?
Steph.
JUDE: What are you trying to do?
ALAN: Jude, stop it!
You blame me 'cause we're not dead?
No! This is all about fucking Jass!
Get over it,
or you'll drive us all fucking crazy!
[Baby crying]
Oh, my darling. Oh, my darling.
JUDE: Steph.
Steph?
Steph.
[Pulsating music playing]
- Hi. Hey, how are you doing?
- Good.
This is Tom. Tom, Steph.
Hi.
You want a drink?
So, how you even bother... Sorry...
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Hey, don't...
[Phone ringing]
STEPH: Hi, this is my voice mail.
Leave a message and I'll call you back. Bye.
Yes, Steph, darling, it's me. Where are you?
[Groaning]
Say no to drugs.
It's the only way.
[Cell phone ringing]
Oh, shit.
It's been going all night.
You went ape if I touched it.
Hey.
Surprise for you.
How did they know?
Stuffed if I know.
Hello, qua do.
Well, hello.
Well, you're just in time
to say goodbye to Gregory.
You mad bitch.
Where the bloody hell have you been?
Have you been sleeping
with that slime bucket?
You know what he did, don't you?
He caught some bloke
sleeping with his girlfriend...
so he beat the poor bloke senseless
with a lump of wood.
That's why he went to jail.
Steph, why didn't you call me,
for God's sake?
I mean, look, that's why I gave you
the mobile.
I'm sick of you worrying.
You're not normal.
Normal?
Bloody normal? What in...
Oh, God, Steph!
It shat in the bloody microwave.
Listen...
I'm not going to get angry at you
'cause I'm just too bloody tired.
I just need to know.
Are you sleeping with this Brian guy?
Because, Steph, he's been in jail.
He could have AIDS. He could have Hep-C.
He could have Christ knows bloody what.
There always has to be something,
hasn't there?
AIDS or pollution or brain tumors
or backpack murderers.
You never tell me any of the good things.
That's bullshit.
I mean, I told you about Jass.
I told you about running away together...
we went to school together,
how we started work together.
But you never told me any of it was fun.
I need to know, Steph.
You sleeping with this Brian guy?
Are you jealous?
He's got great legs, Jude.
Don't take that tone with me.
No.
No.
No. No. I'm not sleeping with Brian Taylor.
Then who?
Who's asking?
My mother?
I always remember as a kid
feeling sad when the seasons finished.
Don't know why.
There's always another one round the corner.
You still planning on being permanent?
Hmm?
Yeah, why not?
I'll send you a postcard.
You wanted this, Steph.
You want someone with no history,
find a kid your own age.
Just tell me why you left.
Just... I don't know. Because I was a prick.
Jude lost all her joy. What does it matter?
I think I missed you.
You on your own tonight, mate?
Yeah, Sue wouldn't come.
Apparently we're having a trial separation.
[People cheering]
Oh, fuck.
Remind you of something?
[People booing]
I don't know. A time when there was
some kind of meaning in it all?
My dad used to say something.
He'd say:
"Well, I'll have them lined up in rows,
but he'll never be a poet."
See, you never had soul, Al.
You only had ambition.
I never knew your old man was such a cunt.
What did you want to say?
You said I had to call it.
So why now?
Season's over, isn't it?
Are you okay?
I owe you an apology.
I've barbequed your penis in my dreams.
I've enjoyed it, too.
I hope you marinated it first.
I read somewhere barbequing
un-marinated meat gives you cancer.
Really?
Do something for me, Steph.
Read, okay?
Read everything you can get your hands on.
You bastards wouldn't know hard work
if it held you down and fucked you.
The fastest forklift driver by a country mile
was Johnny Nguyen.
And the second was me.
Fucking prove it.
Oh, look, shut up and go home.
DAVE: I'm just so fucking sick of him.
You want to have a go, Davo?
Well, I've stepped off the curb.
Why?
I assume you mean Steph?
Why did you leave me?
Oh, Christ! Jude, you're kidding?
No.
No.
You left the house...
and then, two weeks later,
you were marrying Sue Kelly.
Three. Legally it has to be three weeks.
- Oh, bugger off. Tell me why.
- You don't mind if I...
I left...
I left because...
I left because we were fucked, Jude.
We didn't make love for 18 months...
because you had to watch Steph every night,
waiting for her to die of cot death.
I mean, maybe I married Sue
because I was horny.
No, that's not true.
Johnny and Jass, you dumped the lot on me.
And when I got out, you dumped it on Steph.
And you've been dumping on the poor kid
ever since.
So you thought you'd kiss it better
by screwing her yourself?
There are laws against that, you know?
- What are you doing?
- Oh, bullshit.
- What, harassment in the workplace?
- Oh, no.
There isn't going to be a workplace, Jude.
The cannery is being sold.
- All of you, it's being sold.
- What?
They're going to flog off every cog
and every widget and every bloody forkie.
They're going to asset-strip the whole joint
and us with it.
So you knew this?
And you let me go on humiliating myself.
No, I thought there might be a chance
if we could cut costs...
but they'd already decided.
So all this stuff about production
is just a sham.
Every deal we've ever struck
has been just fake, and all this time...
All this time,
do you know what he's been doing?
Don't, Jude. It won't be me you'll hurt.
I just wish you were dead.
Yeah. You and me both, mate.
Get off me. Get off me, darling. Just get...
[Jude sobbing]
It wasn't Alan's fault. I started it.
Oh, God. Kidnapped him, did you?
Ah.
Do you know, ever since you were a baby...
if you were out of my sight
for more than 10 minutes...
I'd get this bloody choking thing.
What were you scared of?
I don't know. It's not rational.
Fear's not rational.
It's just not bloody rational.
Well, well, well.
Bloody Grandpa Jass,
he's an interfering old turd, isn't he?
This thing...
with Alan...
I didn't do it to hurt you.
No. Oh, God. How did it turn out like this?
I never wanted it to bloody turn out like this.
I wanted to teach you.
To teach me what?
To imagine.
You know, just to imagine...
a better life than I've lived, you know?
You can still.
Because you're young still.
You got to close your eyes,
you can conjure good things.
Go on.
Conjure something good.
I can't, Jude.
Whatever I think of just isn't here...
anymore.
You read it.
JUDE: Have I lost some hair?
JASS: Saturday night finally came.
- A fat white...
- Yeah.
...male.
- Yeah.
- Rich?
- Yes.
Am I in the northern hemisphere?
ALL: No!
[Screaming]
Oh, thank you.
JASS: Is it possible to be in love
with three people at the same time?
'Cause I think I am.
- Oh, well. See?
- Am I...
a Japanese?
ALL: No!
- Take it off!
- Take it off!
Oh, that's pathetic.
- Well, Johnny.
- Johnny.
- I'm a singer?
- Yes.
- Elton John.
- No!
Off! Off!
Strip. Celebrity strip.
- Am I Rick Astley?
- No!
Come on! Take it off!
[Jude squealing]
JASS: It was Jude's idea. The four of us.
Tonight sealed it.
We're going to Queensland.
From now on, we'll never be apart.
No matter what.
No, I didn't always know anything.
What happened to:
"Who wants to hang around here
stinking of peach juice your whole life?"
You promised.
OFFICIAL: We have the vote.
JASS: Please, God, I promise
I will never enjoy sex again...
if you just don't let him win.
And with a clear majority of 147 votes...
Alan Taylor.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Don't stammer.
Not long ago, I thought...
running away to Queensland
was a pretty good idea...
but work and the workplace
is only ever as good...
as the people who fight for it.
And if we take our eyes off the ball now...
I guarantee enterprise bargaining
will be the beginning of the end.
So it's a time for vigilance...
but it's also a time for celebration,
so I thank you.
What's the matter with you people?
Do you really want to be chained
to this bloody peach line...
for the rest of your lives?
Because you're trapped. And you and you.
And you.
You're never gonna be anything different.
Life's too short,
you spineless pack of sheep!
Fuck this place.
And fuck your miserable job.
JASS: There's a better life somewhere.
There's got to be.
As wide as the ocean
Johnny crossed to find me.
And as wondrous as the miracle in my belly.
It's my gift to this child:
not to be born in this place.
- Right, you.
- Jass.
- Look after Jude, all right?
- Yeah, of course.
Hey, Al.
What go, "Ha, ha, ha, plonk"?
Stupid sense of humor.
ALAN: We'll be up at Christmas, okay?
JUDE: Jass. Hey.
Are you going to forgive me?
I promised Johnny a life. We swore.
We can't all be like you, Jass.
I knitted this.
It's not really my size.
Oh, darling.
BRIAN: Now you know why Jude hid them.
'Cause you'd see how easy it is.
What?
To leave.
It's not.
It's not easy.
Life's a risk, Steph.
Even doing nothing's a risk.
You ever taken a risk?
A real one?
It's fucking unreal.
It can be.
Miracle baby.
If you're interested, I'm leaving at 5:00.
That's when the big hand's on the 12,
and the little hand's on the 5, and...
[Fire alarm ringing]
If you think I'm bad, your mother could eat
three packets of these in a single sitting.
I could only fit in one jumper
with your jacket as well.
Your Reeboks are in there,
both sets of bathers...
And don't forget, darling.
I'll always be here for you.
You know that, don't you?
I'll write.
JUDE: You'll write?
Well, you bloody well better.
I'll feed Gregory.
Don't forget to get some Rid.
The mossies up there are killers.
JASS: Maybe we were on a collision course
all along.
Jude and me.
Al and Johnny.
I thought the glue between us
was stronger than Al's ambition...
but I never understood how much
Al needs the place.
It's like his skin or something.
And Jude needs Al. Like skin.
I feel oddly nervous tonight.
And sometimes Johnny's so far away.
Hey.
JASS: What's in store
for our intrepid adventuress, Miss Liz?
Well, whatever it is, it's out there waiting.
So put your foot down, Hanoi Harry.
Let's fang it.
Apparently someone tried to immolate
the peach line.
I heard.
Didn't do much of a job.
Declining bloody standards.
You okay?
You're a bastard.
I'm 42. My job's gone belly up,
I've got three kids...
and my wife wants me dead
for the insurance.
And that's on a good day...
so tell me something I don't know.
You know your trouble?
You got no bloody drive.
What sort of drive you got in mind?
but mine went off the Richter scale.
My dad died neatly, but they reckon
Mom's head got severed clean off.
So you might say
she didn't really have her mind on the job.
[Speaking foreign language]
Jass? Where is she?
[Baby crying]
Miracle! Miracle baby.
Miracle baby.
STEPH: Where my dad came from,
they have shrines to their ancestors.
Here in Swan Reach,
this sign is the best we could do.
Miracle baby. That's me.
Living proof that miracles
aren't all they're cracked up to be.
- Hi.
- Good day.
Where do I sign?
STEPH: This is where my mother
met my father and they fell in love.
And on the day she left, so the story goes...
There you go.
... my mother stood on the peach line
with me half bursting out of her belly...
and told them all to go fuck their jobs.
Of course, you could do that back then.
- Hey.
- Brian.
- How you been?
- I'm... I'm good.
WOMAN: [Over P.A. System] Forklift drivers
to report to dispatch immediately.
Do not complete your current jobs.
Report immediately to dispatch.
Repeat.
Forklift drivers to dispatch immediately.
[Whistle blowing]
WOMAN: Peaches!
[Gasping]
[Breathing heavily]
Hold on a minute.
Can I go to the toilet, please?
Too slow. Off the line. Down on the cookers.
- Hey, bub, are you all right?
- Too slow!
Take her off the line. Down to the cookers.
To the cookers.
Come on.
Hey, Alan Taylor can't sack me
on my first day, can he?
How would I know?
- Well, you reckon he's your brother.
- Half brother.
They say he's a real prick.
If you really grew up around here,
how come I've never seen you before?
I took off to see the world, didn't I?
What the bloody hell
do you think you're doing?
Actually, you know what, taking a kid
off the line on her first day and all...
it must be karma.
[All laughing]
- I can't believe you did that.
- Darling, it was a little tap.
- So now he sacks me. Wicked.
- He wouldn't dare.
- Where am I gonna get another job?
- You just have to do better.
Hey.
You know, you can look in my bag
if you like.
Happy birthday, bub.
- Shit, Jude. Thanks.
- Don't swear, darling.
- Who will I ring?
- Well, you ring me.
But you have to use that earphone thing
or you'll get a brain tumor if you don't.
Oh, right.
[Dance music playing]
JUDE: He's actually taking it out on Steph.
I want her to do the trainee shift.
This bloody dyslexia doesn't go away,
you know.
KATH: Hello, gorgeous.
JUDE: Hey, what are you doing here?
I was just gonna ask you guys what
you think about at work so you go really fast.
What we think about?
We think about sex, baby!
They don't. We don't.
They might, but we don't, darling.
KATH: I do.
JUDE: Stop it!
- Come on.
- Settle down.
Oh, come on. She's...
[Kath cackling]
GRANDPA: That's a girl.
- Bit slow for you, Grandpa?
- Fine.
Thank you. That feels... That's good.
This is for you.
It was your mother's.
They gave it to me along with
all the other things from the accident.
Next of kin.
I thought, now that you're all grown up...
- Read it to me?
- Now, that'd be cheating.
- It's my job, isn't it?
- That's right.
The dollar rose. The goal post moved.
We've got to export more.
It's as simple as that.
So we've got to increase productivity
by another 2%.
WORKER 1: Oh, what?
WORKER 2: There's no way.
- And we've got to lose a few.
- Oh, great.
JUDE: Lose a few what? Kilos? Brain cells?
Now, anyone interested
in discussing redundancy...
Oh, people?
So this is just an excuse
to get rid of permanents...
- and replace them with casuals?
- Discussing redundancy...
drop in to personnel.
All right?
WORKER: It's not right.
ALAN: Any questions?
Yeah, bro.
Do we still get a Christmas hamper?
[Workers laughing]
The brutal truth, mate.
Permanents get a hamper, and casuals don't.
And I'll tell you something else for free.
The unions, they're finished.
Without their closed shop, they're history.
So why aren't you inside with the girls?
'Cause they're reading Cosmos
and comparing orgasms.
So? What, you can't read
or you've never had an orgasm?
Yeah.
[Chattering]
Bunyip. Bunyip.
Her best friend was a bunyip.
This bunyip lived in the...
Mosquito-infested waters
at the bottom of the quarry.
You've got to sound it out.
Why do you hate the Taylors?
How do we get permanent, Steph?
We've got to make ourselves
absolutely indispensable.
And how do we do that?
We've got to learn to read properly.
- And now, come on.
- You should wear blue more often.
All right. Alan Taylor...
he just crawled out
from under a rather large rock.
- Cute, but. They both are.
- Jesus, don't go getting adolescent on me.
These don't work, Jude.
They've never worked.
Listen. Do you know,
it's actually quite tough out there, darling?
This is the only job going in this town...
and it's probably the only job going
for someone who didn't finish school.
Now, you are going to make it
through that season...
and they're going to send you to Tech.
But if you can't read fluently by then,
my God!
I know! I know. I know.
Well, all right, we'll try the coaching again,
but you have to show up.
Jude...
I can't do it any better than I fucking do.
Don't swear, darling.
- Shit! Oh, shit.
- Gregory.
Oh, shit!
I swear to God, if that thing bites me again,
I mean, I'm really serious, I'm going to fry it.
You didn't answer me
about whether you think Alan Taylor's cute.
Alan Taylor is a ruthless, two-faced,
utterly toxic turd.
And those are his good qualities.
Gregory thinks he's cute.
[Moaning]
Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
[Screaming]
[Peaches by The Stranglers]
[Horn blaring]
[Cell phone ringing]
Good day, Jude.
Okay, I'll be home in half an hour.
I got a flat. Bye.
I think you should know there's a woman
having a wank in the back of your van.
I was present at the ceremony.
Do you always stick your nose
into other people's bedrooms?
Other people should close their curtains.
- She wants me to make sure you won't tell.
- Who am I gonna tell?
She's my parole officer.
It kind of pays me to stay on her good side.
An idea you've comprehensively rooted.
Sorry.
I just wanted to...
Here.
You can read.
What?
Read this to me?
I don't think so.
What did you say her name was again?
Your parole officer?
Cherie.
Her name's Cherie.
BRIAN: "November 19.
"Maybe I'm going to go somewhere exotic
with jungles and beaches.
"Somewhere like
where Li Jun or Hoa comes from.
"Or Johnny.
"November 21.
"The seasonals have started arriving."
Why me?
Huh?
What makes you think you can trust me?
I don't, but I don't trust anyone else.
"I can't seem to get Jude as excited
about the new chums this year.
"There's not as many as there used to be...
"and they don't come in from Queensland
like they used to...
"but there's enough to liven things up.
"She's Ajaxed her hair, so she's got her eye
on someone, but she won't say who.
"And I sure as hell
haven't mentioned the Big J.
"I'm not sure how she'll take it.
BRIAN: "We made a pact, though.
JASS: We made the pact, though.
- "After it was over...
- After it was over...
- "...she claimed it was my idea.
...she claimed it was my idea.
- "But it wasn't, Your Honor.
- But it wasn't, Your Honor.
- "She made me do it."
- She made me do it.
[Whistling]
[Lady Bump by Penny McLean playing]
JASS: Cover my bottom!
Good day, Al. Did you notice
anything unusual this morning?
[Stammering] Well, the bloody forklift
broke down again, yeah.
Oh.
You're not serious?
- You are serious.
- Shut up.
WOMAN: There she is!
[All whistling and hooting]
JASS: It occurs to me that
Johnny's mob might think...
a chick who flashes her backside
a bit, well, loose.
But I'm sure Johnny would agree...
when in Rome or Saigon...
or Swan Reach...
Hey! Margo's kid's got gastro.
Does anyone want a double shift?
Let me.
Alan...
Alan Taylor...
is...
ALAN: Shirt lifter.
Well, technically, Alan Taylor is a shit lifter,
but you get the idea.
Here. Hop in. I'll drop you home.
- I've got my bike.
- Well, now, it's midnight.
The bike will still be here in the morning.
Hop in.
You and Jude still swim in the river?
Not anymore. We used to.
She says it's polluted now.
Years ago we used to have something called
the Cannery Cavalcade at the end of shift.
It was a mass exodus to Fisher's Bend.
There was skinny-dipping, dive-bombing.
All sorts.
- Don't they do it anymore?
- No.
Safety regulations. You're covered
by workers comp to and from the job...
so it's a public lynching if you're caught.
[Door shutting]
Hi.
- Who dropped you home?
- No one.
One of the nightshift girls.
- Oh, who?
- Julie Morrissey.
Ah.
Why don't you have your hair long anymore?
You used to when I was little.
- I don't know. I'm just too old for it, I think.
- You might get a root if it was long.
WOMAN: [Over P.A. System] Forklift drivers
to report to dispatch immediately.
Do not continue existing jobs.
Report immediately to dispatch.
WORKER: This is crazy.
They let eight go today.
What's the CEO's bonus this quarter?
I hope he's invested it wisely.
WORKER: Here he comes.
How can you do this? I'll get you, Taylor.
You got to step off the curb sometime.
JUDE: Oh, it's an absolute shit, Kenny.
Well, I guess my fingers just aren't as nimble
as they used to be.
Well, that's not what Kath says.
Oh, since we got him on the Viagra,
his fingers have never felt better.
KATH: Sorry, honey.
ALAN: How's that old van of mine going?
BRIAN: Oh, it's okay.
- I ought to have your balls for this.
- Mate, you couldn't lift them.
You reckon?
Go on. Inhale, for Christ's sake.
Sue says,
why don't you come and stay at the house?
No. It's too crowded for me, bro.
You know, it'd give me a break.
[Brian exclaims]
A witness. Now you're stuffed.
The foreman ripped on company time.
[Coughing]
[Clarinet playing]
I can hear music.
Of course you can. This stuff's all heads.
It's Kenny.
He wanted to practice in the cold store
for old times' sake.
[Playing melancholy tune]
You know what we ought to do?
Cannery Cavalcade.
[Whooping]
You waiting for a wetsuit or what?
Don't forget your floaties, mate.
[Whooping]
It's the best. It's the best show.
Here they come.
[Screaming hysterically]
I love you guys!
CROWD: Countdown!
JASS: I don't know who they are.
[Live It Up by Mental As Anything
playing on TV]
JASS: What Johnny needs
is a crash course in having fun.
I keep telling him,
if it's got a beat, you dance to it.
[Jass and Jude singing The Carnival Is Over]
JASS: That night,
Jude got another one of her ideas.
The biggest surprise was Al.
For a nerd with specs and a stammer,
who would have thought?
He and Jude might just go the distance.
Hey, mate!
Come around.
- AI. Late night, mate?
- Yeah.
Bit of extracurricular studying.
This? You want to take this?
I'm conducting a survey
on behalf of the union, you know.
Late shift arrivals and departures,
that sort of thing.
- Oh, right. You want a beer?
- Yeah, why not?
Help yourself, mate.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
[Jass and Jude singing The Carnival Is Over]
JASS: I told the Harper Valley PTA at work...
that Johnny's descended from some prince
or sultan or something.
[Screaming excitedly]
But it's not true.
His father traveled...
fell in love in Indonesia,
and took her home to Vietnam.
JOHNNY: It's from my uncle.
He write that my father's sick
in a re-education camp.
He hope that they will release him,
but he's not sure.
JASS: When his dad was taken...
they smuggled Johnny out on a boat
to the Philippines.
He had some US dollars and no one.
JOHNNY: Ten year.
ALAN: Jesus.
JUDE: Where are your brothers and sisters?
JOHNNY: I don't know.
JASS: It occurred to me, and to Jude
and Alan, as it later turned out...
that we could make him a new family.
I reckon we should get out of here.
Take this thing and head out north.
- How far north?
- Not that far north, Johnny.
Queensland.
We could deck it out like a caravan,
and we could put a fridge in it, an oven...
run a chimney up through the top.
There was an old woman
that lived in a peach.
Who lost both her tits
on the way to Swan Reach.
- Well, it's not all that funny.
- It'd be fun.
I mean,
do you really want to hang around here...
stinking of peach juice your whole life
because your old man did?
Or 'cause some knob in a suit
was big enough to class you as a reffo?
Up there, they've got nude beaches.
JUDE: I don't know.
I don't know where you'd be without me,
all of you.
Clueless, the lot of you.
You got no bloody drive.
What sort of drive have you got in mind?
- We can get it out.
- You're a weird kid.
Shouldn't you be out taking drugs
or having sex or something?
JASS: Johnny's not like us at all.
He wasn't raised to be a shit kicker
in a cannery.
He wanted to be a professor of literature.
[Both chanting]
He was falling for a girl who can't spell "cat."
In any language.
Mo.
- "Miaow"?
- Yeah, mo.
It mean, cat.
"Jude beat me, the bitch. It took her a while.
"Why are men such slow starters?"
She said the most he'd do
was stick his hand down her bra.
And it happened
in the peach store, apparently.
She reckoned Kenny was serenading
on his clarinet from the store next door.
So she found him in there on his own...
and she just stripped right off.
And he said...
I can hear this.
[Stammering] "You seem to be making
a habit of this."
But he rose to the occasion...
and she got that warm, strong,
tugging feeling between her legs.
Like a hunger pang.
And he ran peach juice over her body.
He even licked it from between her toes...
and the back of her knees.
She said she'd forgotten to shave her legs...
and she was embarrassed,
and he just laughed.
And they even hung a peach half
on his dick.
And all the time,
Kenny's tootling Summer of '42 next door.
And Al's so into it,
he's forgetting to stammer.
She lost her favorite hairclip in the frenzy.
And then they did it.
She said next time,
she'll warm the peaches first.
And I thought Big Al only got a boner
from an enterprise bargain.
[Brian sighs]
I better get on, mate.
I've got to meet someone.
Off to visit Cherie?
I suppose you're in love now?
Her husband's a lawyer. And the van,
it turns her on 'cause it's putrid.
Cherie's slumming it big time.
But when no one's touched you
for the best part of two years...
you kind of take what you can get,
you know?
Hey.
You're in the doghouse.
- See you.
- See you.
JUDE: Steph, where are you?
I thought we were going to ring
the reading coaches today.
Maybe that's why you've vanished.
JASS: It was different for me and Johnny.
Had to be, I suppose.
The first time we made love was the day
he found out his father was dead.
He said he felt them near us,
his mom and dad...
watching over us somehow.
I've never thought like that.
Johnny swears his ancestors
are back in the world.
Not as people. Maybe dogs or beetles...
or water buffalo.
Isn't that wild?
Coming back in disguise
to keep an eye on the things you loved.
I like that.
I haven't got the stomach for it
anymore, Jude.
Somebody's got to take on Taylor before
he pushes too hard and people get hurt.
He's the worst kind.
He used to be ours, and now he's theirs.
Like an ex-smoker.
Yeah, or an ex-wife.
He's also favoring casuals
who are not union members.
I mean, I'm a casual, Jude. And how long
is a casual union rep gonna last?
So we thought...
who's the one person we know
who detests Taylor enough to break him?
Where the hell have you been?
I've been calling you all night.
- I had my phone switched off.
- Oh.
Is there any tea?
Yeah, it's in the microwave.
Along with your bloody rodent.
THOMMO: I guarantee you'll be unopposed.
JUDE: See you later.
Hey, you're looking pretty good
these days, Jude.
JUDE: [Laughing] Give it a rest. Night-night.
Steph?
Steph?
Just in case you're not asleep...
I fed Gregory.
He bit me.
Well, you'll be sorry when I die of tetanus.
Why did you split up with Alan Taylor?
- Who told you that?
- Everyone knows.
Isn't that why they want you for the union?
'Cause you're not scared of him?
Well, he... He pissed off after I adopted you.
- Because of me?
- No. No.
- Because he's a weak prick.
- Why didn't you ever tell me?
- Well, I...
- Kath and all of them know. Grandpa.
What do they know, Steph?
I mean, what do they know?
I mean,
I told you how Jass and Johnny died...
and then that Nerida, bloody four-eyes...
and those freakish little friends
started telling you all these details...
that God knows where they got them from.
And then they start calling you dyslexic.
I mean, you had nightmares for months.
What do they know?
What do they know? You are such a grub.
Are you going to tell me where you've been
half the night?
- Are you going to tell me about Alan Taylor?
- No.
Only place you can get cool, eh?
- Except down the river.
- I wouldn't make a habit of that.
The union are out to get you, you know.
Yeah, they're siccing Jude on to me.
You know her old man
used to call her a pit bull?
Well, he'd be pissing himself laughing
up in Surfers or wherever he is.
How many more will be going?
I don't know.
Will I?
Guess what I found in the shed
on top of Mahlberg Hill?
A trailer with a giant peach on it.
They never did find out who took it,
did they?
All those years sitting there
and all that time no one ever found it.
It looks like a real wreck now.
I could take you there if you like.
Why would you want to do that?
This is where you and Jude first did it,
isn't it?
With Kenny Carter playing the clarinet
next door.
She lost her hairclip.
You've made my day, Steph.
Jude's tried to turn you into her little puppet
and look at you, eh?
What do you want, Steph?
I don't know.
Go on. Piss off.
JASS: They didn't find out about qua do.
That's Vietnamese for peach.
They haven't even questioned us.
I think they're too scared.
No one believes about Johnny
and the sultan stuff.
They reckon he's just another refugee here
to steal their jobs and rape their women.
ALAN: These are the best of times.
These are the worst of times.
Now we've had our door open
for a decade now.
We've invited the world in,
but ask yourselves this.
How do we treat our guests?
Now I guarantee if you elect me
to the union committee...
I'll pledge myself to union protection for all.
No favoritism, no individual contracts,
no inequality.
- Equal pay for women.
- Yeah!
Free spaying for family pets.
Subsidised mercy killing for nuisance rellies.
[Stammering] And Christmas hampers for all.
ALAN: Fuck off!
JASS: It was Jude's idea. The four of us.
We were going to have our very own,
very grown-up little party.
JASS: Saturday night.
BRIAN: "Saturday night.
- Four sleeps to go.
- "Four sleeps to go."
BRIAN: The end.
- Look.
- Yeah, someone's ripped them out.
You know the rest.
She and Johnny got minced.
Al and Jude messed up their lives.
- No, they didn't.
- Okay.
Have it your own way. They didn't.
- You off to visit Cherie?
- No, they changed parole officers on me.
- Doesn't she like doing it in here?
- No, the new one's a bloke.
And I tell you, he fell out of the ugly tree
and hit every branch on the way down.
No, I'm going bush. I need to commune.
Don't you ever get lonely?
What do you think?
You never told me why they put you in jail.
You know all about me.
[Sighs]
I got too attached to something.
Someone. And she wanted out.
And I couldn't let go.
But I worked one thing out in the care
of our fine correctional services department.
You gotta learn to travel light.
Hey, you see this place?
When I clear parole
and get some money together...
I'm gonna find this place.
It's in Queensland.
They reckon dinosaurs walked there
millions of years ago.
Now, just imagine what your foot
would look like inside that.
I imagine how that would feel.
Are you going or what?
Yeah, can you dump me at the Black Spot?
The clutch is gone.
Hitchhikers get murdered, you know.
Yeah, I'll risk it.
BRIAN: Mate, how are you?
Help! Help, I'm being murdered!
Don't know, love. Never read it.
Wanted to read it. Damn right I did.
Maybe there are some things
a father shouldn't know?
Why didn't you take me to live with you
when she died?
Because Jude wanted you. Begged for you.
So I bundled you up in Jassy's bunny rug
and handed you over.
You were bright yellow.
Jaundiced, not genes.
Did I do wrong?
[Marching band instrumental music
playing on TV]
And here at the Peach Baby Contest...
we've just seen miracle baby
Stephanie Callaghan crowned Peach Baby.
Well, Jude,
what's the miracle baby's favorite food?
Swan Reach Preserved Peaches
because they're love in a can.
REPORTER: What's your dream
for the miracle baby?
Yes, can you connect me
to an Alan Taylor please?
Just that she grows up safe.
Monash Street, Swan Reach.
REPORTER: And?
STEPH: Thank you.
JUDE: Safe.
[Knocking on door]
What's this? Neutral territory?
You can pick the lock from the balcony.
They used to do it at school when they
wanted somewhere private to... You know.
They never check the rooms during the week.
Christ.
I couldn't think of anywhere else
to talk in private.
I want to ask you some stuff
about before I was born?
- Ask Jude.
- She won't talk about it.
Maybe she's scared...
that you'll turn out to be like Jass
and not her.
It's what keeps her awake at night.
Well, that and hating me.
Make me permanent.
- I can't.
- Why can't you?
I just can't.
There won't be anyone permanent
in six months.
Steph, I'm gonna go.
I have to prove that I can get one thing right.
- I have to pay her back.
- Pay who back?
"Whom," she'd say, wouldn't she?
Convent girl.
Nothing's right anymore.
You were there before,
when things were different.
How come all the good stuff
happened back then?
How come it all happened for you?
Hard work and a commitment to excellence?
You had specs...
and a stammer.
What happened to your stammer?
It was panel beaten out of me.
Take me back to then.
Take me back
to when all the good stuff happened.
No.
"Scab." Fuck me!
I must be time traveling.
I'm in the fucking '60s.
Oh, fuck it!
[Alan grunting]
- Fucking scab! Let's go.
- Bloody prick.
Hey!
Years ago,
they would have finished me off properly.
Everywhere you look...
Declining bloody standards.
Oh, fuck.
So apparently I'm the despicable shithead
they think I am.
Christ.
- What is that shampoo?
- La Flair.
La Flair. That's it.
"La Flair," stupid bloody name.
With active fruit concentrate.
[Jude singing Live It Up]
Hey.
Yeah?
Can we get some different shampoo?
I'm sick of that stuff.
- Yeah.
- Cool.
[Whooping]
Hello?
Hello?
Hi.
[Steph giggles]
I did it. I did it. I did it.
How about that?
[Steph laughs]
Hey, who's for the Cannery Cavalcade?
- Good day, stranger.
- Hi. Did you commune?
No, I did the washing up, though.
I thought you might drop in
so I can show it off.
ALAN: Shit!
[Alan groans]
What did you expect, Al?
You pour salts in one end,
you're gonna get shit out the other.
Poor dickless bastard.
And you'd be hung like a dinosaur yourself?
Careful, Steph. Your slip's showing.
- Are you laughing at me?
- No.
What are you doing?
Well, he might be dickless,
but he's still my brother.
- What are you up to?
- Nothing.
- Jesus!
- I've got a joke for you.
What goes, "Ha, ha, ha, plonk"?
A man laughing his head off.
- Where'd you hear that?
- Don't know. I've always known it.
It was Johnny's. Hanoi Harry.
He had this weird bloody
Vietnamese sense of humor.
No one else even smiled,
but he used to crack up every time.
- His real name was Bnh.
- Yeah.
He was a good bloke.
Tt bun, that's what they'd say.
Good heart.
You're lucky he was your dad.
I love you.
Let's not go there, eh?
[Steph giggles]
Don't!
- Don't get too cocky, Steph.
- What'll you do, fire me?
Do you have any idea
how compromised I am with this?
Then what are you doing here?
I wanted to see what it was like
to take a risk again.
And what's it like?
It's fucking unreal.
[Both laughing]
Steph: Ouch!
- Alan, do you think I'm sexy?
- No.
JASS: I'm never leaving Johnny.
We're going to live to a great old age...
and have a tribe of kids...
who'll grow up warm and tanned, loved.
And then we're going to die together
in our sleep.
His ancestors talk about hungry ghosts.
We're not going to be hungry ghosts.
Until it's our time to come back...
- Can't you knock?
...we'll be happy ghosts.
You know how I told you
all that stuff about...
how signing on at the cannery
gives you two families instead of one?
- Capital T tradition and stuff?
- Yeah.
I think someone sold us a pup.
You know, years ago, I thought
of going away with Jass and Johnny.
But...
But?
The moment sort of passed.
ALAN: [Stammering] My old man built this.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Well, the whole family did it.
- Yeah?
Every night and every weekend
for six months.
- Here. Look. Look.
- Really? It's pretty cute, you know.
- Look.
- Oh, yeah.
"Taylor and Sons 1969 with thanks."
Dad used to say when you work for the...
Oh, yes, you are hanging to the left tonight.
When you work for SRC, you're lucky
'cause you've got two families...
instead of the one.
- Did he cry in the Bambi movies as well?
- No, I'm serious, Jude.
'Cause, you know,
Bambi was really quite sad.
I mean, this is who I am, you know?
I'm gonna be the union rep.
- Are you?
- I'm serious, Jude.
Look, I'm serious.
I need you to commit.
And if you don't want...
If you don't want to help me, it's okay...
but let's forget the whole thing.
All right. That's all right.
Yeah. Now will you kiss me?
Jude, look.
- I don't know how to say this but...
- Do you think I'm ugly?
Look, don't interrupt me
or finish my sentences ever.
I...
I want to wait until... The sex thing until...
- Until it's right, yeah?
- What?
And I think you're beautiful.
Look, I've messed up...
I've messed up a lot of relationships before.
And I don't want to with you, okay?
Really?
[Whispering] Is this because
you're a communist or 'cause you're scared?
I'm scared.
Deal.
- Communists do do it, don't they?
- Yeah.
Like... Like...
Bunnies. Look at China.
WOMAN: [Over P.A. System] All personnel on
the floor are expected to report at all times...
which is required by law...
How can you expect us
to produce less and employ more people?
I think at this point, we should probably
look at some figures, shouldn't we?
If you reach for the graph that I sent you
in the memorandum over a week ago...
- comparing the figures of productivity...
- Listen, I got that graph...
...at the cannery.
I employ on merit, union members or not.
That's the law, you know?
That's a lie.
What, do the figures scare you?
What's that doing here?
Oh, felt like a change of scenery.
That man, with the specs and the stammer...
where did he get to?
He pissed off somewhere.
Having a good time without us.
Bastard.
I was looking for him.
He's disappointed you, hasn't he?
You wanted him to make it all right again,
but he can't.
You're going to have to do that for yourself.
We have to stop, Steph.
Why?
Only you've got to call it.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- You did not.
- What? I did.
That's so bizarre.
J-A.
Whoa, it's moving fast.
- Jass.
- What's the message, Jass?
Our? Our.
S.
O.
- N. Son.
- Our song.
Our song? Our song.
- You're pushing it.
- No.
- Yes, you are.
- Fiddlesticks!
Okay.
Say goodbye, my one true lover...
as we sing a lover's song.
How it breaks my heart to leave you
now the carnival is gone.
How does it go?
[Singing The Carnival Is Over]
Steph. Steph?
What are you up to?
You're trying to kill Jude, are you?
Steph.
JUDE: What are you trying to do?
ALAN: Jude, stop it!
You blame me 'cause we're not dead?
No! This is all about fucking Jass!
Get over it,
or you'll drive us all fucking crazy!
[Baby crying]
Oh, my darling. Oh, my darling.
JUDE: Steph.
Steph?
Steph.
[Pulsating music playing]
- Hi. Hey, how are you doing?
- Good.
This is Tom. Tom, Steph.
Hi.
You want a drink?
So, how you even bother... Sorry...
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Hey, don't...
[Phone ringing]
STEPH: Hi, this is my voice mail.
Leave a message and I'll call you back. Bye.
Yes, Steph, darling, it's me. Where are you?
[Groaning]
Say no to drugs.
It's the only way.
[Cell phone ringing]
Oh, shit.
It's been going all night.
You went ape if I touched it.
Hey.
Surprise for you.
How did they know?
Stuffed if I know.
Hello, qua do.
Well, hello.
Well, you're just in time
to say goodbye to Gregory.
You mad bitch.
Where the bloody hell have you been?
Have you been sleeping
with that slime bucket?
You know what he did, don't you?
He caught some bloke
sleeping with his girlfriend...
so he beat the poor bloke senseless
with a lump of wood.
That's why he went to jail.
Steph, why didn't you call me,
for God's sake?
I mean, look, that's why I gave you
the mobile.
I'm sick of you worrying.
You're not normal.
Normal?
Bloody normal? What in...
Oh, God, Steph!
It shat in the bloody microwave.
Listen...
I'm not going to get angry at you
'cause I'm just too bloody tired.
I just need to know.
Are you sleeping with this Brian guy?
Because, Steph, he's been in jail.
He could have AIDS. He could have Hep-C.
He could have Christ knows bloody what.
There always has to be something,
hasn't there?
AIDS or pollution or brain tumors
or backpack murderers.
You never tell me any of the good things.
That's bullshit.
I mean, I told you about Jass.
I told you about running away together...
we went to school together,
how we started work together.
But you never told me any of it was fun.
I need to know, Steph.
You sleeping with this Brian guy?
Are you jealous?
He's got great legs, Jude.
Don't take that tone with me.
No.
No.
No. No. I'm not sleeping with Brian Taylor.
Then who?
Who's asking?
My mother?
I always remember as a kid
feeling sad when the seasons finished.
Don't know why.
There's always another one round the corner.
You still planning on being permanent?
Hmm?
Yeah, why not?
I'll send you a postcard.
You wanted this, Steph.
You want someone with no history,
find a kid your own age.
Just tell me why you left.
Just... I don't know. Because I was a prick.
Jude lost all her joy. What does it matter?
I think I missed you.
You on your own tonight, mate?
Yeah, Sue wouldn't come.
Apparently we're having a trial separation.
[People cheering]
Oh, fuck.
Remind you of something?
[People booing]
I don't know. A time when there was
some kind of meaning in it all?
My dad used to say something.
He'd say:
"Well, I'll have them lined up in rows,
but he'll never be a poet."
See, you never had soul, Al.
You only had ambition.
I never knew your old man was such a cunt.
What did you want to say?
You said I had to call it.
So why now?
Season's over, isn't it?
Are you okay?
I owe you an apology.
I've barbequed your penis in my dreams.
I've enjoyed it, too.
I hope you marinated it first.
I read somewhere barbequing
un-marinated meat gives you cancer.
Really?
Do something for me, Steph.
Read, okay?
Read everything you can get your hands on.
You bastards wouldn't know hard work
if it held you down and fucked you.
The fastest forklift driver by a country mile
was Johnny Nguyen.
And the second was me.
Fucking prove it.
Oh, look, shut up and go home.
DAVE: I'm just so fucking sick of him.
You want to have a go, Davo?
Well, I've stepped off the curb.
Why?
I assume you mean Steph?
Why did you leave me?
Oh, Christ! Jude, you're kidding?
No.
No.
You left the house...
and then, two weeks later,
you were marrying Sue Kelly.
Three. Legally it has to be three weeks.
- Oh, bugger off. Tell me why.
- You don't mind if I...
I left...
I left because...
I left because we were fucked, Jude.
We didn't make love for 18 months...
because you had to watch Steph every night,
waiting for her to die of cot death.
I mean, maybe I married Sue
because I was horny.
No, that's not true.
Johnny and Jass, you dumped the lot on me.
And when I got out, you dumped it on Steph.
And you've been dumping on the poor kid
ever since.
So you thought you'd kiss it better
by screwing her yourself?
There are laws against that, you know?
- What are you doing?
- Oh, bullshit.
- What, harassment in the workplace?
- Oh, no.
There isn't going to be a workplace, Jude.
The cannery is being sold.
- All of you, it's being sold.
- What?
They're going to flog off every cog
and every widget and every bloody forkie.
They're going to asset-strip the whole joint
and us with it.
So you knew this?
And you let me go on humiliating myself.
No, I thought there might be a chance
if we could cut costs...
but they'd already decided.
So all this stuff about production
is just a sham.
Every deal we've ever struck
has been just fake, and all this time...
All this time,
do you know what he's been doing?
Don't, Jude. It won't be me you'll hurt.
I just wish you were dead.
Yeah. You and me both, mate.
Get off me. Get off me, darling. Just get...
[Jude sobbing]
It wasn't Alan's fault. I started it.
Oh, God. Kidnapped him, did you?
Ah.
Do you know, ever since you were a baby...
if you were out of my sight
for more than 10 minutes...
I'd get this bloody choking thing.
What were you scared of?
I don't know. It's not rational.
Fear's not rational.
It's just not bloody rational.
Well, well, well.
Bloody Grandpa Jass,
he's an interfering old turd, isn't he?
This thing...
with Alan...
I didn't do it to hurt you.
No. Oh, God. How did it turn out like this?
I never wanted it to bloody turn out like this.
I wanted to teach you.
To teach me what?
To imagine.
You know, just to imagine...
a better life than I've lived, you know?
You can still.
Because you're young still.
You got to close your eyes,
you can conjure good things.
Go on.
Conjure something good.
I can't, Jude.
Whatever I think of just isn't here...
anymore.
You read it.
JUDE: Have I lost some hair?
JASS: Saturday night finally came.
- A fat white...
- Yeah.
...male.
- Yeah.
- Rich?
- Yes.
Am I in the northern hemisphere?
ALL: No!
[Screaming]
Oh, thank you.
JASS: Is it possible to be in love
with three people at the same time?
'Cause I think I am.
- Oh, well. See?
- Am I...
a Japanese?
ALL: No!
- Take it off!
- Take it off!
Oh, that's pathetic.
- Well, Johnny.
- Johnny.
- I'm a singer?
- Yes.
- Elton John.
- No!
Off! Off!
Strip. Celebrity strip.
- Am I Rick Astley?
- No!
Come on! Take it off!
[Jude squealing]
JASS: It was Jude's idea. The four of us.
Tonight sealed it.
We're going to Queensland.
From now on, we'll never be apart.
No matter what.
No, I didn't always know anything.
What happened to:
"Who wants to hang around here
stinking of peach juice your whole life?"
You promised.
OFFICIAL: We have the vote.
JASS: Please, God, I promise
I will never enjoy sex again...
if you just don't let him win.
And with a clear majority of 147 votes...
Alan Taylor.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Don't stammer.
Not long ago, I thought...
running away to Queensland
was a pretty good idea...
but work and the workplace
is only ever as good...
as the people who fight for it.
And if we take our eyes off the ball now...
I guarantee enterprise bargaining
will be the beginning of the end.
So it's a time for vigilance...
but it's also a time for celebration,
so I thank you.
What's the matter with you people?
Do you really want to be chained
to this bloody peach line...
for the rest of your lives?
Because you're trapped. And you and you.
And you.
You're never gonna be anything different.
Life's too short,
you spineless pack of sheep!
Fuck this place.
And fuck your miserable job.
JASS: There's a better life somewhere.
There's got to be.
As wide as the ocean
Johnny crossed to find me.
And as wondrous as the miracle in my belly.
It's my gift to this child:
not to be born in this place.
- Right, you.
- Jass.
- Look after Jude, all right?
- Yeah, of course.
Hey, Al.
What go, "Ha, ha, ha, plonk"?
Stupid sense of humor.
ALAN: We'll be up at Christmas, okay?
JUDE: Jass. Hey.
Are you going to forgive me?
I promised Johnny a life. We swore.
We can't all be like you, Jass.
I knitted this.
It's not really my size.
Oh, darling.
BRIAN: Now you know why Jude hid them.
'Cause you'd see how easy it is.
What?
To leave.
It's not.
It's not easy.
Life's a risk, Steph.
Even doing nothing's a risk.
You ever taken a risk?
A real one?
It's fucking unreal.
It can be.
Miracle baby.
If you're interested, I'm leaving at 5:00.
That's when the big hand's on the 12,
and the little hand's on the 5, and...
[Fire alarm ringing]
If you think I'm bad, your mother could eat
three packets of these in a single sitting.
I could only fit in one jumper
with your jacket as well.
Your Reeboks are in there,
both sets of bathers...
And don't forget, darling.
I'll always be here for you.
You know that, don't you?
I'll write.
JUDE: You'll write?
Well, you bloody well better.
I'll feed Gregory.
Don't forget to get some Rid.
The mossies up there are killers.
JASS: Maybe we were on a collision course
all along.
Jude and me.
Al and Johnny.
I thought the glue between us
was stronger than Al's ambition...
but I never understood how much
Al needs the place.
It's like his skin or something.
And Jude needs Al. Like skin.
I feel oddly nervous tonight.
And sometimes Johnny's so far away.
Hey.
JASS: What's in store
for our intrepid adventuress, Miss Liz?
Well, whatever it is, it's out there waiting.
So put your foot down, Hanoi Harry.
Let's fang it.
Apparently someone tried to immolate
the peach line.
I heard.
Didn't do much of a job.
Declining bloody standards.
You okay?
You're a bastard.
I'm 42. My job's gone belly up,
I've got three kids...
and my wife wants me dead
for the insurance.
And that's on a good day...
so tell me something I don't know.
You know your trouble?
You got no bloody drive.
What sort of drive you got in mind?