Highlights
- Netflix’s six-part series adapts Miles Franklin’s 1901 feminist novel
- Phillipa Northeast stars as Sybylla Melvyn, a young writer determined to avoid the life chosen for her
- The adaptation combines period drama with modern music, frank sexuality and stories of racism and social inequality
An erotic poem, a scandalised grandmother and a young woman with little interest in marriage make for an unexpectedly lively opening to My Brilliant Career. Netflix’s six-part adaptation of Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel wastes little time establishing that this will not be a restrained period drama.
Adapted by Liz Doran, the series follows Sybylla Melvyn, a fiercely independent young woman who dreams of becoming a writer. It follows Gillian Armstrong’s acclaimed 1979 film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill, but brings a distinctly contemporary energy to Franklin’s story.
A heroine who refuses to play by the rules
Sybylla lives with her family on their struggling farm in Possum Gully, helping with the work while holding on to her ambition to write. Her life changes when her grandmother, Mrs Bossier, invites her to stay at the grand Caddagat estate and introduces her to a world of wealth and social expectations.
The plan is partly to prepare Sybylla for a respectable future. Marriage, however, is hardly what she has in mind.
Her blunt manner, unruly hair and refusal to conform quickly unsettle the household. At a birthday gathering, she goes even further by reciting an erotic poem, leaving those around her scandalised.
Phillipa Northeast gives Sybylla an energetic performance, making her rebellion feel natural rather than forcing a modern sensibility onto a historical character. Even when romance enters the story through Frank Hawdon, an Englishman working as Caddagat’s temporary foreman, and Harry, a wealthy landowner drawn to Sybylla, her ambition remains at the centre.
The story looks beyond Sybylla’s struggle
What gives this adaptation greater depth is its decision to look beyond the restrictions placed on its central character.
Harry faces racial hostility because of his Chinese Australian heritage, while Sybylla forms friendships with Indigenous sisters Nell and Betty, who work at Caddagat. Nell hopes to become the estate’s foreman but faces barriers because she is both Indigenous and a woman.
Betty is also involved in a secret relationship with a local police officer, while another storyline introduces a secret gay romance. These characters do not receive as much space as Sybylla, but their experiences broaden the picture of the society she is trying to escape.
The series therefore moves beyond a straightforward story about sexism and marriage. Racism, homophobia and the restrictions faced by Indigenous Australians all become part of its portrait of the period.
Why a 1901 story feels surprisingly current
Doran and directors Alyssa McClelland and Anne Renton give the series a noticeably modern feel. A contemporary soundtrack sits against the period setting, while the show takes a more open approach to Sybylla’s sexuality, including a masturbation scene.
It is not a complete reinvention of Franklin’s novel, nor does it attempt to replace Armstrong’s 1979 adaptation. Instead, it looks at the same rebellious young woman through a wider, more contemporary lens.
That is what makes My Brilliant Career work. Sybylla’s desire to decide her own future may have been written down 125 years ago, but her refusal to accept the life mapped out for her still feels remarkably relevant.
