An Australian/South African co-production based on J.M. Coetzee's Nobel Prize-winning novel, the relationships between these characters could be seen as a metaphor for South Africa's racial tensions. But like the best stories, there's much more to read into this very human and often harrowing tale.

John Malkovich is David Lurie. An arrogant white college professor living in post-apartheid Cape Town, he's forced out of his job after he seduces a black student, Melanie (Antoinette Engel), and fakes her exam results. After his dismissal, the film travels to the rugged horizons of Eastern Cape, where David goes to stay with his lesbian daughter, Lucy (Jessica Haines), on her dangerously isolated farm. Soon, an undercurrent of low-level tension charges the film until these characters' lives violently intersect with the politics of a country in transition. Even after the tension erupts, it never really goes away.

Disgrace is disquieting, confronting viewing, and it's also quite brilliant. Malkovich is absorbed in his character, and he's well matched by his screen daughter, South African actress Haines (who's a real find), in her international debut. Eriq Ebouaney is natural as the black South African Petrus, who lives on Lucy's land, and Australian Fiona Press (Waiting) is also excellent as Bev, who, with the help of the animals at her shelter, plays a part in David's redemption.

The conclusion, though, is underwhelming - especially considering the power of what preceded it - and a life-changing decision made by Lucy may be difficult to fathom, but is probably related to the running political metaphor.

Filmed on location in Australia and South Africa, La Spagnola director Steve Jacobs succeeds in capturing the atmospheric quality of light of another land. Some of this film may be shot in Sydney, but Disgrace takes you somewhere else.