Content warning: This episode contains references to sexual violence as discussed in THE PLUMBER.

Peter Weir’s 1979 made-for-TV 16mm creeper is a short parable about two people from the same part of the world but two different parts of society (a lower-middle-class plumber and a member of the liberal intellectual elite) becoming the worst versions of themselves to survive the other.

Max is the itinerant tradesman making frequent uninvited appearances at the home of Jill, an anthropologist without a job. A combative, highly suggestive relationship forms between the two: Jill dreads Max’s very presence, especially while her husband Brian is away pursuing his career; Max, entitled and bullish, leaves a trail of shattered tiles and bent pipes in his wake; and with the lines so clearly drawn, chances of reconciliation between the two sit comfortably at zero while the pressure builds in the small flat.

Watch THE PLUMBER on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/the-plumber-1978

Get tickets to the Peter Weir series at the Trylon: https://www.trylon.org/films/category/peter-weir/

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Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “I’m Me, Babe” from THE PLUMBER (1979).

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 243: THE PLUMBER (1979)

3:23 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.)

4:18 - Harry saw this movie because of his job!

12:03 - The Cowpers and threats to the liberal intellectual class

25:29 - The movie monster vs. the modern woman

37:10 - Predatory dynamics

44:51 - Class

50:04 - The ending and a wry turning of the tables

1:09:39 - The Junk Drawer

1:17:52 - Good Grief, Give Me a GIF!

1:24:28 - Cody’s Noteys: Maybe the Trylove Ate Your Baby