Dressmaking
This film has an incredible wardrobe, as Tilly is an accomplished and talented dressmaker. The outfits symbolize Tilly's amazing skills in dressmaking and also symbolize the fact that she no longer belongs to the small Australian town, but is a couturier with fine French sensibilities.
One particularly beautiful dress is the red gown she wears to the football game, which distracts the players. Tilly also uses her dressmaking skills to help the local residents, including Gertrude, who asks for a dress to attract William Beaumont. Tilly transforms Gertrude and dramatically improves her confidence, which shows that her dressmaking skills can be used for good. The dresses in the film are consistently striking and visually stunning, a visual centerpiece of Jocelyn Moorhouse's film.
The Australian Outback
This film is set in a small town in the Australian outback. The dusty and dry landscape is a key part of the film's imagery, and aspects of the setting such as the silo are used as part of the plot. The place is described as a "hole," which represents the fact it is provincial, and there aren't many opportunities there, and it is in the middle of nowhere. Still, Moorhouse shoots the dusty village with attention and care that turns it into a fascinating and beautiful locale, in spite of its harsh qualities.
"I'm Back, You Bastards"
The first time we see Tilly, she is getting off a train in Dungatar, dressed in full couture and smoking a cigarette. She stands in the town of her youth, takes a big drag of her cigarette, and says defiantly, "I'm back, you bastards." It's a moment out of an old movie, like Sunset Boulevard (which Tilly and Teddy see in theaters for their first date), and it foreshadows Tilly's emotional journey of reconciliation and revenge, as well as cheekily showing that the film has a tragicomic tone: sometimes over-the-top and sometimes very dramatic.
The Fire
Tilly's ultimate revenge is an undeniable feast for the eyes. After sabotaging Dungatar for the theater competition, she lights the entire town on fire, including her mother's old house. It is a flamboyant cleansing ritual, particularly when she unrolls a giant sheet of red fabric onto the sand in front of her house and lights that on fire. She arrived on a bus, and now she leaves on a train, having lit the town on fire, literally and figuratively.
