Backbencher

The Price of Milk is a film about a young couple named Rob and Lucinda. Rob is a dairy farmer who owns one hundred and seventeen cows. The couple has a dog named Nigel who is agoraphobic and lives under a box! Although Rob works hard milking his cows, the couple live far from anything else which gives them plenty of free time. Life for this couple seems perfect until Lucinda is driving along one day and hits an elderly Maori woman. Ironically, the woman gets up and tells Lucinda to watch where she is going and to keep warm. Later on, Lucinda is talking to her friend and says, "We (Rob and her) got each other to keep warm." She thinks back to the elderly Maori woman. Rob and Lucinda always fought over covers and when her beloved quilt is gone, Lucinda is saddened. Rob doesn't seem to care, and she is concerned. Lucinda talks with her friend Drosophilia, and she suggests that maybe the spark has gone out of the relationship. Lucinda decides to test Rob; one day he finds her swimming in $1,500 worth of milk, becomes enraged, but ultimately forgives her. Next, she sells his cows to the Maori woman to get her quilt back; the cows are worth $400,000. Rob leaves his fiance and stays in his friend Bernie's warehouse. Rob marries Drosophilia and his love for Lucinda is tested. Lucinda is confronted by the old Maori woman in the forest and is asked if she loves Rob. Lucinda goes back to Rob; at the end, they get their blanket back and are together again.

This was certainly an odd movie; I had a hard time following the plot as it was all over the place! This movie is a fairy tale for adults that incorporates themes of friendship, relationships, love, and trust into it. The movie brings the native Maori into contact with white New Zealanders. At the beginning and throughout, the beautiful New Zealand green super-phosphate induced countryside is shown. Rob and Lucinda had a ute as well, and I also noticed the word "mate" was used quite often between Rob and his friend Bernie. The weakness of the film was the confusing plot.