There’s something quietly poetic about watching Addition under the open sky. Premiering in Australia at Sydney’s Westpac OpenAir Cinema ahead of its national release on January 29th – following its successful run at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival – the film’s gentle intimacy feels amplified by its setting. Numbers may govern Grace Lisa Vandenburg’s inner world, but Addition itself is less about calculation than connection.
Grace (Teresa Palmer) counts everything: the letters in her name, the poppy seeds on her orange cake, the patterns that keep her anxiety at bay. Numbers hold the world together – until a chance encounter with Seamus (Joe Dempsie) begins to loosen her meticulously ordered life. What unfolds is not a story about “fixing” someone, but about accepting who you are, celebrating difference, and recognising what truly counts.
That philosophy was embedded early in the film’s development. For producer Cristina Pozzan, there were clear non-negotiables from the outset.
“For me, Grace always had to retain a sense of self-empowerment,” she explained to our Peter Gray, who was there on the ground for the evening. “Across many drafts, there were moments where the story could drift toward more clichéd portrayals of female behaviour or decision-making. But Grace is messy and she makes mistakes – and she also comes into her own, very strongly, particularly by the end. That journey toward self-acceptance had to remain intact.”
IIt’s a vision that director Marcelle Lunam carries into every frame. Despite Grace’s reliance on repetition, order, and control, the film itself never feels rigid – a contrast Thurman says was entirely intentional.
“My guiding principle was to make a film with love at its heart,” she says. “When that’s your intent, it comes through in the work and in the people you collaborate with. I wanted the film to be visually surprising and beautifully designed, but never at the expense of emotional truth. It’s about approaching the material with compassion – even if that sounds corny.”
That compassion extends to the film’s striking visual language, where numbers frequently appear onscreen – floating over ducks on a pond, etched into the everyday textures of Grace’s world. While the effect feels whimsical, the execution was anything but arbitrary.
“They were very specific,” Lunam reveals. “We researched mallards in detail – how many feathers female ducks have versus males – and added those numbers together to create an average feather count. As the sequence progresses, the numbers resolve into whole ducks. It becomes a kind of quiet visual logic. It was important to get that right, especially for neurodivergent audience members who might notice inconsistencies.”
That attention to detail is echoed behind the scenes. Producers Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky describe a set environment carefully designed to support vulnerability, particularly given the emotional openness required of Palmer’s performance.
“We’ve worked together for a long time, and that foundation of trust was already there,” Papandrea says. “We also had a relatively small crew, which helped create a safe, intimate environment. From casting Joe to surrounding Teresa with people who genuinely supported her, it was about protecting that vulnerability.”
Hutensky adds that Lyman’s approach as a director was key. “Marcelle has such a big heart. She’s not just focused on performance, but on where the actor is in their life and what they need to do their best work. That gives performers the freedom to go somewhere raw. Teresa has done incredible work throughout her career, but this allowed her to access something especially exposed.”
For Palmer, that trust was foundational. “It comes from deep familiarity,” she says. “There’s camaraderie, mateship. I knew Bruna had my back, and she knew I had hers. When that trust is there, it makes it easier to be vulnerable.”
That sense of connection – of finding yourself reflected in others – is one of the film’s quiet through-lines. Palmer notes how Addition humanises figures we often keep at a distance, referencing the revelation that Nikola Tesla was himself a compulsive counter. For her, those discoveries resonate most strongly in real life.
“When you discover shared history with someone, there’s an instant kinship,” she says. “Bruna and I both grew up in Housing Trust homes in Adelaide – government housing in suburbs that were often looked down upon. When we realised that, it was like, “me too”. That shared understanding makes things feel more intimate. You can really get closer.”
It’s perhaps why Addition has struck such a chord with audiences. Palmer notes that many viewers have told her they feel “seen” by the film, a response she believes highlights a broader need.
“It tells us how necessary this kind of representation is,” she says. “It’s wonderful to portray anxiety in this way, but we need more stories like this, and more stories about healing. When people share those journeys, it reminds others that they’re not alone.”
The film’s origins trace back to author Toni Jordan, whose debut novel inspired the adaptation. Like many elements of Addition, its journey was anything but calculated.
“I never imagined it would become a film,” Jordan admits. “I was a molecular biologist (and) this was the first thing I’d ever written. When it became a bestseller and was published internationally, I was astonished. Seeing it adapted for the screen was beyond anything I could have dreamed.”
Rather than wanting a faithful replication of her book, Jordan embraced transformation. “That’s the point,” she says. “You start with one piece of art, and then other people bring their creativity to it. It becomes something else. I love the idea of evolving artwork. I didn’t want it to be the same.”
Standing beneath the stars at Westpac OpenAir Cinema, that evolution feels complete. Addition is a film that counts, not in numbers, but in moments of recognition, compassion, and quiet joy. It doesn’t promise perfection, only hope: that connection, however fragile, is worth the risk – and that sometimes, letting go of the count is the bravest act of all.
Addition is screening in Australian theatres from January 29th, 2026.
