Ned Kendall (Ben Mendelsohn) has come back to the family home with young wannabe actress Toni (Maeve Dermody) after 20 years of absence. He must come to terms with his dying father Bruce (Bryan Brown), and resolve the death of his twin sister Kate (Sophie Lowe). There he finds his sister Sally (Rachel Griffiths) dutifully taking care of their mean spirited father in their old crumbling farm that is soon to be lost to the bank. Much of this movie goes into flashback mode. It's a much more compelling story in the past due mostly to Sophie Lowe's enigmatic performance. The present story is much more depressed, and it struggles under the weight of buried anger. There is a mystery of the family's past. There are deaths not talked about. The present day needs some more energy.

Rachel Ward directs her husband, Bryan Brown, as a cantankerous man who is dying without any regrets. Bruce's(Brown) son, Ned and his finance, Toni, visit to say goodbye to him. His sister Sally also lives there. He keeps a journal detailing an incestuous relationship with a twin sister, Kate, who has died mysteriously. A flashback shows his sister seducing him when they were both drunk and the sexual encounter filling him with guilt. Kate has no regrets and demands a repeat performance which Ned turns down. She turns their other brother, Cliff against him by lying, and saying that Ned attacked her. Bruce forces Ned to take Kate to a Christmas dance. He leaves her, and later finds her dead as the result of a car accident. That same night, he finds his brother Cliff hanging in a barn; this is not the Waltons; goodnight John Boy. More family secrets are revealed and even with some fine acting from everyone involved, Beautiful Kate is a depressing downer.

After a long time away, Ned along with his new girlfriend goes to visit his sister and their ailing father. There, we discover all the things that haunt Ned to this day.For her first try as a full feature director, Rachel Ward didn't take the easy road. Beautiful Kate is a drama that tackles sensitive issues. Not only that, it was also Ward's first screenplay and a novel adaptation can be quite a challenge.The film has several elements going for it. The scenery is nice. The acting ranges from good to great. Several scenes are beautifully shot. Ward also doesn't hold anything back when it comes to capturing all this sexuality. You sense the lust that Ned feels but also that things are terribly wrong.Unfortunately, this is a character drama and I didn't feel Ward developed the characters adequately. We spend an awful lot of time at first exploring the relationship between the central character, Ned (Ben Mendelsohn), and his young girlfriend, Toni (Maeve Dermody). Dermody is quite electrifying in this role and her character is probably the most interesting. As they arrive, we quickly sense the relationship between Ned and his father (Bryan Brown) is strained. The family dynamic of father, son and sister (Rachel Griffiths) is explored but once again, it seems it is the peripheral character of Toni who grabs the attention. This may be in part due to Dermody's magnetism or the restraint needed by the other actors (their characters being more quiet) but part of the fault falls on Rachel Ward's direction and screenplay. For instance, a scene between Tori and Ned's father (when he falls from his wheelchair) lasts a full three minutes but brings very little to the actual story. What doesn't help is that after 50 minutes or so, Tori abruptly disappears from the story, leaving us with very little in the way of interesting dynamics. Another important flaw were the flashback scenes. In order to fully understand the issues and demons of our characters (particularly Ned), we are presented with several short flashback scenes from his youth along with his family. Those flashbacks introduce several new characters important to the film (including the title character of Kate) as well as the younger Ned. The only actor appearing in past and present is the father, Bryan Brown playing both versions. Unfortunately, the cast in the flashback scenes is considerably weaker. The scenes are terribly short, lack context and with young, unconvincing actors, they just do not strengthen the film. The flashbacks are supposed to act as revelation devices helping us understand the (well acted) pain, suffering and demons of the present but they fail. Since there's very few interaction between Ned, Sally and the father, we're left with a somewhat poor movie despite the good acting, somewhat interesting cinematography and haunting music score. When the movie ends, your intellect tells you there is a climax there but it is difficult to care when the characters were not given proper care and you're still missing Toni, who left half way during the film. Adapting a book can be quite a challenge. I do believe Rachel Ward shows promise as a director but perhaps she chewed a little too much here. I will gladly watch another movie directed by her and hope she learns from his one. A courageous attempt, but didn't quite work for me.

There are many good things about this film. It unsentimentally depicts the harshness and bareness of outback farm life in Australia. It has some highly creditable performances from some top Aussie actors. The cinematography does justice to the setting.The problem is the story. Instead of following through on a psychological exploration of some forbidden desires and their roots in this remote community, which is invited so longingly by the scenario, it contents itself with yet another portrayal of the struggle between a tyrannical old bastard of a father and his surviving son, whom he devalues. Both father and son conspire to turn their backs in denial of what could have been a revolutionary turn of events to match, gee, I don't know, Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf or The Homecoming.A missed opportunity.