Heart of the Stag

Name: New Zealand Film Commission
Price range: $

New Zealand Production

Feature 1984 Drama 90.00 minutes

Robert Jackson, a wealthy sheep farmer, uses power and domination to rule both his farm and his family. He covets three things in his possession; his stags, his guns and his daughter, Cathy. Itinerant shepherd, Peter Daley, accepting employment on the farm, finds himself drawn into a sinister, domestic dilemma. What Daley doesn't know is that Cathy is being sexually abused by her father and is powerless to escape. Torn with the confusion of guilt and fear, she remains in this destructive situation to nurse her paralysed mother, the victim of a stroke. Daley's sensitivity and tenderness towards Cathy poses an alternative to her father's brutish behaviour. However, Jackson does not appreciate Daley's interest in his daughter and sends the shepherd to a distant hut to muster sheep. The tension builds when Cathy visits Daley's hut against her father's wishes. Jackson, feeling threatened, orders the shepherd off his farm. Cathy reveals her grim secret to Daley and when they attempt to escape, the ensuing hunt ends in a violent climax.