The Year My Voice Broke

The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 Australian coming of age drama film written and directed by John Duigan and starring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen and Ben Mendelsohn. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy of films centred on the experiences of an awkward Australian boy, based on the childhood of writer/director John Duigan. The film itself is a series of interconnected segments narrated by Danny who recollects how he and his best friend Freya grew apart over the course of one year. Although the trilogy never came to fruition, it was followed by a 1991 sequel, Flirting. The film was the recipient of the 1987 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film, a prize which Flirting also won in 1990. Plot In 1962 in rural New South Wales, Australia, Danny is a thin, socially awkward 15-year-old boy who has been best friends with Freya since childhood. Freya was adopted as a baby; as a result, she is the subject of town gossip and rumors about her possible biological parents. The two spend their days at their childhood hangout on the outskirts of town, experimenting with telepathy and hypnosis. Danny has grown feelings for Freya, but unfortunately for him, Freya becomes attracted to Trevor, a high school rugby league star, larrikin and petty criminal who helps Danny with the school bullies. Danny begrudgingly befriends Trevor, and the trio discover an abandoned house that is rumored to be haunted. The three teens spend a night in the house, with Trevor and Freya sleeping together while Danny is off in a corner, faking being asleep. The next day, Trevor steals a car for a joyride. He is arrested and sent to juvenile detention; during his time away, Freya reveals to Danny that she is pregnant. Danny offers to marry her and claim the child is his, but Freya refuses, saying that she does not want to marry anyone. Meanwhile, intrigued by a locket left to Freya by an elderly friend of theirs who recently died—engraved "SEA"—Danny begins to investigate the town's past, and discovers a lone cross in the cemetery bearing those initials, belonging to a "Sara Elizabeth Amery," who died days after Freya was born.