Bruce Beresford

5.0 The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972)
4.0 Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974)
4.0 Side by Side (1975)
5.0 Don's Party (1976)
4.5 The Getting of Wisdom (1977)
4.0 Money Movers (1978)
6.4 Breaker Morant (1980)
5.0 The Club (1980)
5.0 Puberty Blues (1981)
6.0 Tender Mercies (1983)
4.0 King David (1985)
5.0 The Fringe Dwellers (1986)
6.0 Crimes of the Heart (1986)
4.0 Her Alibi (1989)
6.6 Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
5.0 Mister Johnson (1990)
4.5 Black Robe (1991)
4.5 Rich in Love (1992)
4.5 A Good Man in Africa (1994)
6.0 Silent Fall (1994)
5.5 Last Dance (1996)
5.0 Paradise Road (1997)
5.5 Double Jeopardy (1999)
5.0 Bride of the Wind (2001)
5.0 Evelyn (2002)
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)
The Contract (2006)
5.0 Mao's Last Dancer (2009)
Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011)
Mr Church (2016)
Ladies in Black (2018)

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After working in Nigeria and having made commercials in England, Bruce Beresford (Australia, 1940) debuted in Australia with the satirical farces The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972), Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) and Side by Side (1975).

Don's Party (1976), an adaptation of David Williamson's play "Don's Party" (1976), marked a radical turn because it was devoted to a socio-sexual analysis of a group of people on the eve of political elections.

The Getting of Wisdom (1977), an adaptation of Henry Handel Richardson's novel "The Getting of Wisdom" (1910), is the biopic of a writer but contains an attack against male chauvinism.

After the awful thriller Money Movers (1978), he made the anti-war drama Breaker Morant (1980), an adaptation of Kenneth Ross's 1978 play which is based on a true story, a sort of Australian Paths of Glory, chronicle of a military scandal during the Boer War.

The Club (1980) is another adaptation of a David Williamson play.

Puberty Blues (1981), an adaptation of Kathy Lette's and Gabrielle Carey's novel of 1979, follows the coming of age of two girls.

After relocating to the USA, he directed a tender love story, Tender Mercies (1982).

After the Biblical epic King David (1985) and The Fringe Dwellers (1986), an adaptation of Nene Gare's novel "The Fringe Dwellers" (1961), set in an aboriginal slum and centered around an independent heroine who moves to the city, he directed Crimes of the Heart (1986), a diligent adaptation of Beth Henley's play "Crimes of the Heart" (1979), a grotesque southern gothic feuilleton about three eccentric sisters (Keaton, a frustrated spinster, Lange a singer with a turbulent sex life, Spacek married to a rich man whom she cheated on and killed) who were orphaned after their mother's suicide and meet at the bedside of their dying granpa.

After the romantic comedy Her Alibi (1989) he directed the melancholy Driving Miss Daisy (1989), perhaps his best theatrical adaptation, from Alfred Uhry's play (1987).

The film takes place in the 1940s in the segregated south. Daisy is an old rich Jewish lady who lives alone in her big mansion with her black housemaid Idella. One day Daisy crashes her car and her son Boolie, a successful businessman, decides that it's time to hire a chaffeur. The right man shows up at work: after helping rescue a worker stuck in an elevator, the middle-aged Hoke applies for the job and Boolie is happy to hire him. However, Daisy doesn't want to hear about it and snubs Hoke, who tries in vain to be polite and friendly. Daisy is consistently rude to him but one day finally he convinces her to get in the car. Daisy is a nuisance during the trip but at least they broke the ice. Slowly but steadily, she accepts that the good affable black man is her driver. One day she discovers that he can't read and write. She's a retired teacher and for Christmas she gives him one of the books she used to teach children. They further bond on a long drive to visit Daisy's brother, who is turning 90. They are stopped by racist cops who are disgusted by both the Jewish lady and the black chaffeur. One day Hoke cannot drive her to the synagogue because it has been bombed by right-wing fanatics. Idella dies and Daisy doesn't want a new housekeeper. The aging Hoke becomes the housekeeper. Daisy warms up to the cause of black people. She's happy to be invited to a dinner with Martin Luther King, but Boolie refuses to join her because he's afraid that his business would suffer if he's seen supporting the black preacher. Boolie tells Daisy to give Hoke the second ticket for the dinner, which she does only at the last minute. Hoke realizes that it wasn't really meant for him and remains in the car, listening to MLK's speech on the radio. Years go by and one day Hoke finds Daisy wandering restless around the house and uttering senseless statements. Hoke calms her down and Daisy admits that he is now her best friend. Boolie has her interned in a retirement home and sells the mansion. Hoke is now an old man with gray hair, who cannot drive anymore: his granddaughter drives him. A few years later Boolie and Hoke visit Daisy at the retirement home and she cares more for Hoke than for her son. Hoke realizes that Daisy cannot eat by herself anymore and feeds her a pie.

He then directed: Mister Johnson (1990), an adaptation of Joyce Cary's novel of 1939, Black Robe (1991), an adaptation of Brian Moore's 1985 novel, Rich in Love (1992), an adaptation of Josephine Humphreys' novel "Rich in Love" (1987), A Good Man in Africa (1994), an adaptation of William Boyd's 1981 novel, and finally an interesting movie, the psychological thriller Silent Fall (1994), followed by another thriller, Last Dance (1996). After the war movie Paradise Road (1997), he returned to the thriller with Double Jeopardy (1999). He ended his career with the dramas Bride of the Wind (2001) and Evelyn (2002), the western And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003), the thriller The Contract (2006), the biopic Mao's Last Dancer (2009), the comedy Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011) Mr Church (2016) and Ladies in Black (2018).