Anguish

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 15

Anguish

j “Do I Have To Kill My ■ Child” (TVI, tonight) is an ! Australian dramatic film written and produced by Anne Deveson. Ms Deveson [is a broadcaster, writer and a commissioner of the Royal Commission into Human Relationships. She says: “Child abuse is ■something that can happen

in any family. It is something the community must I talk about otherwise parents will be frightened to ask for help because they will be' too ashamed to do so.” The story is of Dianne (played by Jacki Weaver, above) and Ross Mitchel, who move from a country town when Ross, a teacher, gets a promotion to a city, high school. They have two children and Dianne is pregnant again — she does not want this third child. The stresses and pressures; mount and Dianne sinks! deeper and deeper into despair until the story’s inevi-' table end. “The whole film is purposely ‘low-key’ — you; won’t see battered bodies; the couple you will see are teachers, middleclass people.” The aim is to start off a talking point. “There is no end to the film — except to go for help,” says Anne Deveson.