Miles Franklin’s classic novel My Brilliant Career made global stars out of Judy Davis and the late Sam Neill with the 1979 film adaptation. Now, Philippa Northeast and Christopher Chung take up the mantel of Sybylla Melvyn and Harry Beecham in the TV adaptation on Netflix, which premiered globally with all six episodes on August 13. The Australian production has women in every creative leadership role behind the scenes, and it makes some key changes to the source material that paints a more honest picture of 1900 Australia. Northeast explains how the changes honor the defiant spirit of the novel in our video interview above, in which we discuss the entirety of My Brilliant Career Season 1. Warning: My Brilliant Career spoilers ahead!
My Brilliant Career is one of the most famous Australian novels of the 20th century. Franklin wrote the story from age 16 to 19, but it wasn’t published until she was 21. The feminist coming-of-age story is about a firecracker of a girl named Sybylla Melvyn, a “raging suffragist,” as she’s described in the Netflix series, and a passionate writer.
Sybylla grew up happy with her family and her many siblings on their farm, Possum Gully, but the family was very poor. Sybylla is sent to live with her wealthy grandmother, Mrs. Bossier (Anna Chancellor), to give her more opportunities in life, but primarily to, hopefully, marry a wealthy man who can pay off her family’s debts.
Ian Routledge/Netflix
It’s not until Sybylla has already moved to her granny’s estate, Caddagat, and experienced some growing pains that she learns that her parents arranged this marriage plot for her to save them from destitution. Marriage would be the end of her writing career ambitions, so Sybylla tries to avoid it as best she can.
She breaks every convention of 1900 Australia as she tries to write her way out of marriage and into financial independence. But then, she falls in love. Will Sybylla marry, or will she risk it all for a creative life?
Her romantic interest, Harry Beecham, is of Chinese-Australian heritage in the Netflix adaptation instead of a white English-Australian man, as written in the book. The series also creates storylines for First Nations characters, such as sisters Nell (Sherry-Lee Watson) and Betty (Miah Madden), that include career ambitions and romance.
The racism and misogyny that these characters experience make their struggles to make their dreams a reality even more difficult than Sybylla’s, and they all recognize a defiant spirit within each other that bonds them. There’s a gay romance revealed partway through the series that adds more texture to the show’s theme of trying to carve out a life of authenticity in a world that doesn’t allow it.
Ian Routledge/Netflix
Northeast says that these book changes are true to the essence of Franklin’s novel and make “Sybylla’s storyline more full.”
“It gives different perspectives on the search for agency when you have other characters that are also searching for their own agency and under different challenges and expectations,” Northeast tells TV Insider. “We know that the challenges for the First Nations storylines and the challenges for Chinese-Australian Harry Beecham would have been unique and their own and greater than in a lot of ways. And so, what does that do up against Sybylla’s own search for agency? And how does that tell the story in a different way, in a more complex way?”
“And also, the wonderful thing is that this is a story about defiance, so to be able to take this world and change it up but keep the spirit of it, keep the heart of it is exactly what should be done with a story about defiance,” Northeast adds. “I think, I would hope that Miles would want it to live on and be accessible to more people.”
Ian Routledge/Netflix
My Brilliant Career prioritizes sensuality in Sybylla’s quest for adventure as well. The show’s opening scene features a flash-forward to Sybylla defiantly reading a piece of self-written smut in front of a party full of Australian high society. The first sexual scene of the series, however, is a masturbation scene.
Northeast notes that Sybylla is inspired to try this for the first time because the taste of freedom she gets through this new life is so exhilarating. Sybylla had never even seen the ocean before arriving at Caddagat. Now, the world is her oyster (she gets to try the seafood delicacy as a treat from Kate Mulvany‘s Augusta, Harry’s aunt).
The women creating the series felt it was important to show Sybylla’s curiosity and agency in the show’s sex scenes, particularly to highlight that feeling so alive is what’s driving her actions.
“I love that the first sexual, sensual moment that we see is totally her own, with herself, for herself, by herself,” Northeast explains. “She has been aroused by not only Harry Beecham, of course, but just the new life experiences that she’s devouring for the first time. So, this holistic sense of arousal was important for this character, because she’s tasting so much, she’s experiencing so much in a sensory way for the first time.”
My Brilliant Career further highlights its modernity by using modern-day music from Australian artists, and they take it one step further by having the singers perform in-character in the episodes. The entire production, Northeast says, is meant to tell a classic story in a modern way that’s equally uniquely Australian and appealing for global audiences.
Northeast dives into the big moments of the season in the full video interview above, including an explanation for the surprising ending.
My Brilliant Career, Available now, Netflix