Reflections on a Shared History MONICA ZANETTI ON ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE’S DEAD AUNT)
Just as stories of gay men have tended to overshadow or even obscure lesbian history, until very recently the same has been true of cinematic depictions: the boys in the band hog the limelight. Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) (Monica Zanetti, 2020), which became the first Australian film to open the Mardi Gras Film Festival (MGFF) in February last year, brings lesbians to the fore for the change.
Ellie & Abbie originated in 2017 as a Zanetti-penned and -directed play that debuted at the Depot Theatre in Marrickville, in her home town of Sydney. The original production starred Sophie Hawkshaw as driven high school student Ellie and Geraldine Viswanathan as her secret crush, the more forthright Abbie. With Viswanathan leaving the country to pursue a now-flourishing career in Los Angeles, non-binary actor Zoe Terakes stepped in to play Abbie in the big-screen adaptation.
Family is central to Zanetti’s film. Things initially get complicated when Ellie’s mum, Erica (Marta Dusseldorp), inadvertently finds out that her daughter is queer, but Ellie has solid support from her honorary aunt Patty (Rachel House), an out lesbian herself. She also reluctantly leans on maternal aunt and lesbian Tara (played by out actor Julia Billington, who previously appeared in the web series Starting from ... Now) – somewhat surprisingly, given Tara died in the 1980s. A cute flourish, this ghostly appearance to Ellie (and only Ellie) harks back to Zanetti’s debut screenplay for the short film Guardian Elf (Melissa Bonne, 2013), which also featured a fantastical visitation. Eking out chuckles from Tara offering not entirely up-to-date advice on teenage love and queer politics, Ellie & Abbie leans into its kooky genre twist.
