Helen Garner
The Nation Reviewed
Red Dog: A Pet’s Mutiny
Helen Garner
In January my family, who live next door, went down the coast and left me in charge of our vegetable garden and their dog. Excellent. I...
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Film
A Port for the Soul: Aki Kaurismäki’s 'Le Havre'
Helen Garner
A watchman strolling late one night on the wharves of the French port of Le Havre raps his stick on the side of a container, and hears the...
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Arts & Letters
Like the Day and Night: Terrence Malick’s 'The Tree of Life' and Julia Leigh’s 'Sleeping Beauty'
Helen Garner
Terrence Malick’s new movie The Tree of Life (in national release), recently garlanded with the Palme d’Or at Cannes, comes muscled up with...
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The Nation Reviewed
Where the Heart Is: The Home Hospice
Helen Garner
When they told our sister Marie that her untreatable lung cancer would kill her in less than a year, she said she wanted to die at home....
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The Greatest Gift: How and Where We Die
Helen Garner
Helen Garner, Joel Nathan and Kathy Lee share their personal stories and perspectives about caring for loved ones in their final weeks and...
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Film
Broken Communities: Helen Garner on Justin Kurzel’s Snowtown and Brendan Fletcher’s Mad Bastards
Helen Garner
In 1999, in the small South Australian township of Snowtown, police entered the vault of a disused bank and found a serial killer’s stash:...
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Film
Economies of Scale: Peter Weir’s 'The Way Back' and Leon Ford’s 'Griff the Invisible'
Helen Garner
Epic is one word people resort to when confronted by a tale like the one Peter Weir tackles in his new movie, The Way Back. Seven prisoners...
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The Nation Reviewed
Life Juices: Fasting at a ‘Fat Farm’
Helen Garner
At 5 pm on Boxing Day we sweep up the drive of the establishment my sister refers to as “the fat farm”. Its modest buildings are set in an...
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The written death. Garner, Maloney, Sparrow, Walker
Part 1 | Part 2 Presented by the Wheeler Centre in partnership with the Melbourne Intl Arts Festival, the Matter of Life and Death series...
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The Monthly Essays
While Not Writing a Book: Diaries
Helen Garner
Early in the morning, after a heavy night of babysitting, I’m watering out the back when I hear a shuffling sound. Olive comes up behind me...
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