Hugo Weaving, Frauds, Window

n.  Hugo Weaving ~ Frauds 

AU Movie 1993:     Hugo content: approx  68%   (90 mins )
Character: Jonathan ~ model-painting man-child, vicim, game player
Cast: Phil Collins   Roland Copping, Hugo Weaving   Jonathan Wheats, Josephine Byrnes   Beth Wheats,  Mitchell McMahon   Young Roland Copping, Andrew McMahon   Young Matthew,  Rebel Russell  Mother 
Dir/Wri: Stephan Elliott 
Availablity: VHS: deleted, available second hand (PAL & NTSC versions at Ebay, Amazon Z-shops). 

Hugo Weaving: Frauds Plot/Comments:

Frauds was much-maligned on release: it confused many with its bright (but warped) Miami-Vice-meets-Disney look; the packaging telling them that it should be light and fun, when actually it hid the twisted heart of an exceedingly black comedy looking at greed and revenge.

    In many ways, Jonathan is a permanent child, content to hole up in the garage/den for months, painting miniatures for tabletop re-enactment of Napoleonic battles. He and wife Beth live the ideal suburban life...until she returns home to the sound of a car leaving at speed, the house wrecked and a masked intruder stalking her in the darkened house. Fortunately one of Jonathan's more adult toys (a heavy crossbow) is at hand...
    Self defence against interrupted burglars, open and shut case, insurance company to clear up the mess and reimburse for the missing family heirloom. But what seems simple is made into a living hell when peculiar insurance investigator Roland Copping (Phil Collins) smells a rat. 
Hugo Weaving, Frauds, gamble

    Cross and double-cross follow, Roland  (who makes his life's decisions based on the roll of his treasured dice) becomes their new stalker, out to blackmail them and take them for everything they've got in return for the well-meaning 'everybody does it' white lie which trapped them in the first place.
   The only innocent character in the entire film is Beth. Jonanthan is revealed to be as muc as a 'game' player as Roland, becoming obsessed with defeating him (or, more accurately, with winning) to the point that he is willing to risk his wife's life, certain that he can't be beaten.

Frauds Gallery
Back: Exile
Next: That Eye, The Sky
Web Weaving

    This black film is shot in bright, sunny colours; its suburbia is a very Edward Scissorhands one, with Elliot showing a style more akin to a hybrid of Tim Burton and Hitchcock than his work on Priscilla. He makes excellent use of both the claustrophobia of the 'perfect' suburban home and the demented free fall of the last act. However, as he also showed in that film, his visual flair does not come at the expense of the actors. 
   Frauds also has inspired (and truly demented) set design, especially for Phil Collins' psycho-fun-fair-on-acid lair (directors of costumed hero hot air balloons should have taken note).
Hugo Weaving, Frauds, game over

Typical Hugo Weaving Quotes:

  • Proudly displaying his Naploleonic figures:"Down here we have the bad guys, the French. And when the sun goes down, the bad guys are going to sneak up to the good guys and kick the living daylights out of them"
  • "It's so simple: you spend half your life drowning in interest rates, mortgage, and then one day you come home...your home has been stripped and whammo! you can buy the new car. Everyone does it. It's simple, nothing could go wrong...except you coming home"


Comments and Queries:

  • Producer Andrena ** is married to Al Clark, producer of Priscilla. She showed Weaving the script of Priscilla during post-production on Frauds: Weaving wanted the role of Tick from the start but Elliot and Clark were looking at Michael Hutchence and Rupert Everett-sized packages for a while.
  • Shot after Exilebut released before.
  • Stephan Elliot was 2nd assistant director on The Right Hand Man back in '87. He also wrote and directed Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Rebel Russell (also exec producer) pops up all over the place in Weaving's career as actress and producer. See The Usual Suspects for a huge list of recurring Weaving co-workers

  It's easy to expect the worst from any film with Phil Collins in. However, he equips himself well as the demented Roland, if occasionally lacking depth. That said, his inherent uncoolness did little to endear the film to critics or audiences; it would have been interesting to see how this highly original, sharply-written film would have been received with another actor in his place.
   Weaving and Byrnes are superb, with both carrying the weight of the plot and effectively showing the spiralling loss of control in their characters' lives. Weaving is particularly effective, contrasting the hopelessness of his situation with a childlike naivete and determination.
    Frauds is a surprisingly refreshing look at greed which would have found a wider audience if it had been released later (the early-mid 90s was far too touchy-feely for a film like this). 
  It's Hitchcock squeezed through a very bitter and demented juicer.
Hugo Weaving, Frauds, outraged

Hugo Weaving content: 

If Weaving is an actor of contrasts, Jonathan provides him with the opportunity to show his character's duality in a more obvious way than normal: he is all sunny boyishness on one hand and dark determination on the other.

Key scenes:

  • Desperately, frantically searching his den, destroying his 'toys' as the realisation that he has been discovered dawns on him.
  • Numbly confessing his involvement in the 'robbery' to his wife, trying to explain why the innocent scam should have worked, to her double horror 
  • His subtly shocked and disbelieving face as he discovers how he is just another addition to Roland's 'collection' and the magnitude of his madness and cruelty sink in.
From Penthouse's interview with Phil Collins:
Considerable subtleties are involved so it was fortuitous that an almost instant bond developed on the set between Collins and Weaving, to the delight of director Elliott.
'We're both very physical people,' explains Phil. 'Every time we meet in the morning or when we say goodbye we give each other a big hug, which a lot of people can't do."
Weaving describes the rocker as "absolutely lovely and charming. I was impressed by what he brought to the first rehearsal, how much work he'd done and how funny he made the character. That was something I hadn't expected. I think he's probably very aware that people think of him as just a musician, so this is important to him."