Broad Canvas Of A Life Well Lived

Florence Broadhursts life was surrounded by mystery, learns Sacha Molitorisz.

AUSSIE icon and oddball Florence Broadhurst had a life almost too big to squeeze onto the screen.

Born in 1899 in rural Queensland (though she denied both the time and place), Broadhurst enjoyed early successes as a singer in Shanghai and a dressmaker in London before finally meeting a mysterious, violent end in Sydneys Paddington. Somewhere in between, at an age when most people contemplate retirement, the fiery, diminutive redhead became a celebrated designer of wallpaper.

Much of her success stemmed from her willingness to lie about her qualifications and heritage. "We prefer to call it creative self-description," says director Gillian Armstrong, who has taken an appropriately colourful approach in her documentary, Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst.

With animation, reconstructions and interviews, Armstrongs film seeks to explore the truth of an enigmatic eccentric. "This started out as a one-hour doco for TV," says Armstrong, whose own successes include My Brilliant Career, Oscar and Lucinda and Charlotte Gray. "At that stage, SBS were on board with Film Australia, but when we started the research the story just became larger than I first thought. So we went to Dendy and they came in, and thats how it ended up as a feature."

One might assume Armstrong has long been fascinated by Broadhurst. "Actually, I didnt know of her at all," she says. "It was the producer who had read a little article in an in-flight magazine and approached me with a rough treatment. Back in the 70s, when her designs were big, I was a grunge filmmaker. I didnt mix in wallpaper circles. Wallpaper was the last thing I was interested in."

A few decades later, Armstrong is very interested and shes not alone. Indeed, the timing for Armstrongs film could not have been better. "Whats Hot" lists often feature several unlikely entries: who can explain the popularity of toy-sized dogs, planet-sized sunglasses or hotel heiresses? And who can explain wallpaper? But there it is, transported out of nannas bedroom and in the spotlight. Especially Florence Broadhursts wallpaper, with all its bold, striking patterns.

A book by Sydney journalist Helen ONeill, Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives, has been such a hit locally (its into its fifth print run) that it was recently released in the US.

Like ONeills book, Armstrongs film has also proved a resounding success at festival screenings. "I had the best reviews of my life in Melbourne, my home town," she says. "The most unanimously good reviews ever."

Her doco premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January last year. "It had a fantastic reaction," she says. "People said, This is so educational. We didnt know there was design in Australia. And the film is a sort of history of Australia. Through her life, you see how the country changes."

Unfolding Florence features interviews with members of FloBros family, with fashionistas including Maggie Tabberer and Akira Isogawa, and with the posh Sydney socialites who were alternately appalled by Broadhursts gall (A red dress to a black-and-white ball? How brazen!) and enthralled by her vivacity. It also features archival footage and re-enactments with a series of actresses (Judi Farr, Felicity Price, Hannah Garbo) as Broadhurst. Written by Katherine Thomson, the doco is as revealing about Broadhursts foibles as her achievements. It opens with Broadhursts murder in 1977, a mystery that remains unsolved.

"A lot of people said, Why didnt you do Florence as a fiction film? But a lot of people wouldnt believe the story," Armstrong says. "And I love documentaries, for the same reason we all do, when theyre uncovering something real and unexpected.

"This was made for two cents and a lot of passion. I became overly ambitious. People said we didnt have enough money for re-enactment, so in some instances we thought wed make it look fake, wed give it a vaudeville look. But we decided to give it a dramatic structure with a narrative arc.

"I get sent all sorts of scripts and treatments about women who lead remarkable lives, because my first film (My Brilliant Career) was about a woman who achieved. But you often ask yourself, What is it about this life that resonates? With Florence, she travelled here and there, but what is it?

"I like that she was a woman who was out there, and had this double life. And that she wasnt holier-than-thou. I like her naughtiness, and find it amazing that she had the gall to create those characters for herself and carry it off. There was another reason I agreed to do it: I come from a design background at Swinburne Art School and I really like her designs.

"The reaction Ive had from people is, Wow, what a full life she had. She had that amazing energy. She only discovered wallpaper at age 60."

That was long after she claimed to have found a fail-safe system for winning roulette, stole the client list of an ex-employer before setting up a rival business and fractured her skull in a car crash.

"In Australia, people remember Florence for the wallpaper their parents or grandparents had," Armstrong says. "And now shes so hip. Ive seen her wallpaper in London, and three weeks ago I saw some in New York, and its in all the cool bars in Sydney. We had so many venues to choose from to use as a background. Shes become an icon."

And the wallpaper is just the start of it.

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