Roses Bloom Twice (1981) Online

This is an unabashedly romantic melodrama, an Australian work produced for television with locations in some of the more picturesque sites of New South Wales, the scenario depicting the struggle that newly widowed Diana (Glynis McNicoll) has in conforming to her new single station, dealings with her grown children, and of various men who court her while she is yet in mourning after the sudden death of her spouse. Action opens with Diana exiting from a matinée showing at a Sydney film theatre and walking aimlessly upon downtown streets of the metropolis, as she has no fixed fashion of spending unwanted leisure time, and it is not long before her ruthful daughter Mary Ann (Diane Craig), whose relationship with her paramour forms a major subplot, in addition to the conservative widow's friends attempt to organize a social life for Diana, with mixed results since her suitors are a widely diverse bunch. They are stereotypes to boot, in accord with most of the characters and occurrences within what is essentially a soap opera, one that provides no surprises, with its point of view fixed upon Brave Diana's developing independence, resulting in sudden shifts of deportment for all those involved that are generally without discernible rationale, although Craig manages to build an interesting characterization amid the mawkish fluff while cinematographer Gary Hansen is decidedly inventive with his compositions.