This film marks the first starring role for Helen Mirren and she appears in quite a few tasteful nude scenes. Because of this, it's certainly not a film for the prudish!James Mason plays Bradley, an aging artist who feels that his work has stagnated. So, on a whim, he decides to relocate from Sydney to the wilds of Queensland in Northeast Australia. There, he lives in a hut and has a simple but lovely life along the beach. There he meets a gorgeous young lady, Cora (Mirren) and she stimulates his creative drive...and he begins making art that he is once again proud of and wants to make more. The problem is that she is very young and he is an older man...and her disgusting grandmother thinks that there's some hanky panky going on...which there isn't...at least for now!This is a slow but enjoyable film. What I appreciated is that while this is by no means a comedy, little comedic touches were used here and there. I also appreciate how different the film is. Although Mason ALSO starred in "Lolita", the tone and style of the two films are like night and day...and I prefer "Age of Consent".

Aging and burnt-out artist Bradley Morahan (a splendid performance by James Mason) goes to an off-shore island in order to escape from stressful everyday society. Bradley finds a new muse in the enticing and energetic form of carefree young lass Cora (a winningly luminous portrayal by a very youthful and sumptuous Helen Mirren).Director Michael Powell, working from a thoughtful and perceptive script by Peter Yeldham, astutely captures the anguish and weariness of Bradley's plight, makes the most out of the breathtaking Australian seaside locations, and explores the substantial themes concerning the necessity for passion in any kind of creative endeavor and the potential peril inherent in an older man befriending a much younger woman in a tasteful, but still frank and provocative manner. Mason and Mirren play off each other exceptionally well; they receive sturdy support from Jack MacGowran as raucous deadbeat Nat Kelly, Neva Carr-Glynn as persnickety old bat Ma Ryan, Andonia Katsaros as friendly neighbor Isabel Marley, Harold Hopkins as the horny Ted Farrell, and Frank Thring as pompous gallery owner Godfrey. Hannes Staudinger's vibrant color cinematography provides a beautifully sunny look. Peter Sculthorpe's lush score does the soothing trick. A solid and satisfying movie.

I remember there was a lot of media hype in Australia about this movie when it was first released. I thought it was a bit of an oddity then, and it definitely is today.Bradley Morahan (James Mason), a successful Australian artist based in New York is dissatisfied with his art and his life. He heads for North Queensland and a remote island on the Great Barrier Reef. Here he meets some of the locals including a young girl, Cora (Helen Mirren), whose grandmother is an eccentric old beachcomber.Despite constant reminders from her grandmother that she is underage, Cora becomes Bradley's model and muse, restoring his belief in his art and himself. "You've given me back my eyes; you've taught me to love things again ", he exclaims at the end of the movie as their relationship blossoms, despite the 30-year age gap.Based on a novel by Norman Lindsay, the film was made about the time he died. Decades earlier, Norman Lindsay had outraged prudish Australian society with his art, which often featured well-rounded, naked nymphs cavorting with leering satyrs.But as this movie showed, society had caught up with his ideas and even surpassed them in what was termed permissible - he seemed a bit out of touch by this time, and had outlived his particular crusade against Puritanism.Unfortunately, the art on show in "Age of Consent" doesn't show much of Lindsay's influence - he was a brilliant artist. Bradley's paintings and sketches in the movie are a combination of the work of two Australian artists: John Coburn produced the strongly patterned New York paintings, and Paul Delprat did the scenes on the island in what could only be called a naïve style.The biggest connection to Lindsay's art is actually Helen Mirren, who had 'the equipment', as Michael Parkinson once described her voluptuous figure, that would have had kept Norman Lindsay happily working away at his easel for hours.The restored version of the film also features Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe's lyrical score, which was replaced with one by the more experienced British film composer, Stanley Myers. Interestingly, Myers' score seemed a more revved up version of Sculthorpe's work.It was pretty much Helen Mirren's first film, but it was a considerable way into James Mason's career. What a presence he had. The mellifluous, honey-toned voice was as hypnotic as ever, despite a half-hearted attempt at an Australian accent. The rest of the cast were mainly Australian, playing characters of varying levels of eccentricity and annoyance. Irish actor Jack MacGowran as Nat Kelly is particularly strident. The comedy in the film is definitely of the broad variety and was no funnier back in 1969 than it is now.With a particularly messy script, the film is more of a novelty than anything else, but does feature two magnetic actors at opposite ends of their careers - it's worth a look for that alone.

Helen Mirren's fine acting as the feral yet alluring Cora, poor country girl-turned-artist's model, and the natural beauty of the Great Barrier Reef (above and below water) are the chief assets in this rather hamfisted comedy/romance/art film directed by Michael Powell in 1969 (his last feature length film) and co-produced by and starring James Mason as a world famous (and world weary) artist looking to recharge his batteries. Mason's effete manner is believable enough, but his dodgy 'Oz' accent is not. The film's weakest aspect is its strained attempt at (sex) comedy. There is little to propel the film forward to its largely unsatisfying conclusion. All of the plot points seem to be forced. Frank Thring, a decade after his magnificent portrayal of Pilate in "Ben Hur", is wasted in a cameo role as an art dealer.Michael Powell's short featurette from 1978, "Return to the Edge of the World", was, in contrast, much more satisfying, and hearkened back to his earlier days when he directed "The Edge of the World" in 1937, a much more artistically (and morally) satisfying film, made prior to his teaming with Emeric Pressburger for a string of successful motion pictures in the 1940s."Age of Consent" is really only for Powell completists, or those who want to see a young Helen Mirren au naturel.