Heavenly Creatures

(source: tmdb.org)

Peter Jackson is best known for his fantasy and science fiction films. However, film that paved the way for The Lord of the Rings, the greatest and most successful piece of his career, belonged to the different genre. It was 1994 period drama Heavenly Creatures.

Script, co-written by Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh, is based on real events that shocked Jackson’s native New Zealand in 1950s. The plot begins in 1952 Christchurch, where 13-year old schoolgirl Juliet Hulme (played by Kate Winslet) meets 14-year old classmate Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey). Two girls have different background – Julie’s upper middle class intellectual family has arrived from England, while Pauline’s family belongs to working class. Julie and Pauline, however, quickly discover that they have a lot in common – both were afflicted by chronic diseases in childhood, both love popular American singer Mario Lanza and both find escape from everyday life in increasingly elaborate fantasy world of fictional land of Borovnia. As their friendship grows and they spend months together, they also realise that they are different from ordinary people. Their parents gradually begin to notice Julie’s and Pauline’s eccentric ways and begin to wonder whether their relationship is something more than friendship. When they decide to separate them, two girls are so emotionally attached to each other that they will take extreme measures to stay together.

Before making Heavenly Creatures, Jackson was known for films like Bad Taste,Meet the Feebles and Braindead which were, despite later earning cult status, very far from the mainstream and usually considered to be in the realm of exploitation cinema. This film, however, was different, mainly because it was, in an essence, conventional drama based on true events. Jackson had worked very hard to recreate 1950s New Zealand and invested a lot of effort to be as authentic as possible. That included meticulous research which included interviews with witnesses, use of actual locations in which certain events had taken place, voice-over based on actual diary of Pauline Parker. And Jackson also strove for authenticity by casting teen actresses who physically resembled Hulme and Parker. This resulted in young British actress Kate Winslet and young New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey getting their feature film debuts. They were very good in their roles, displayed great skill and got attention that would allow both of them to become international stars in years to come.

Jackson also displayed great skill as a director, using a plenty of dolly shots and making a film with very specific, dynamic style which is somewhat unusual for period dramas based on true events. But, most importantly, Jackson decided to reconstruct Hulme and Parker’s fantasy world and he did it by combining clay animation with CGI effects. For the latter he created Weta Digital, company specialised for visual effects. Techniques first tested in this film would be perfected in The Lord of the Rings and later used in many prominent Hollywood films. This remarkable combination of good acting and innovative visual techniques was recognised by critics, just as Jackson was recognised as “serious” film maker by winning Silver Lion at 1994 Venice Film Festival.

Heavenly Creatures is very good film, but far from perfect. The main issue is the screenplay, which is much better in the first than in the second part of the film. When we are introduced to Julie and Pauline, film is much more dynamic and interesting. In the second part Jackson decides too much to stick to the facts, leading to overlong and predictable melodrama that would be resolved in very unpleasant and abrupt way, with end titles to inform audience about main characters’ fates. Some of the more “woke” audience today might have an issue with Jackson’s treatment of Julie’s and Pauline’s alleged homosexuality and his decision that the true nature of their relationship make ambiguous. Despite those shortcomings, Heavenly Creatures deserves recommendation as original, unusual and very interesting work by a very talented and passionate film maker.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7

*Based on a famous murder case in New Zealand, **Heavenly Creatures** made international superstars out of director Peter Jackson and leading co-star Kate Winslet.*

Heavenly Creatures (1994), directed by Peter Jackson, from an original script written by Jackson and Frances Walsh; starring Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, and Clive Merrison.

Now seemingly forgotten, Heavenly Creatures is the film that launched the careers of both Kate Winslet and Peter Jackson (amusingly, Winslet is listed in the opening credits as “Introducing Kate Winslet.”) The script, which was co-written by Jackson and which later received an Oscar nomination, is based on a famous murder case that shocked staid 1950s, New Zealand society. Two teenage girls bludgeoned one of their mothers to death with a brick, while the trio were out on a walk in a woodland area. The girls claimed she tripped and hit her head on a rock, but the story fell apart when police discovered an incriminating diary kept by one of the girls.

The movie starts with a BBC-style documentary depicting New Zealand’s capital, Christchurch, in the 1950s. It’s an idyllic, orderly town of rosy-cheeked, bicycle-riding citizens. Then it cuts to frantic footage of two teenage girls running through the woods, spattered with blood and screaming hysterically. The girls are Lynskey as Pauline Rieper (later known as Pauline Parker) and Winslet as Juliet Hulme.

The story line then loops back to a prim, private girls’ high school, where Juliet and Pauline meet. Pauline (Lynskey) is a chubby misfit from a lower-middle-class Kiwi family. Juliet (Winslet) is an upper-middle-class British girl with a taste for drama and fabrications. Both girls have suffered serious illnesses which kept them from having normal early childhoods. They become fast friends, and soon create a fantasy world, instigated by Juliet, that revolves around movie stars and a magical land called Borovnia.

They sculpt the land and people of Borovnia out of modeling clay and collaborate on writing stories, letters, and plays about them. Eventually, they start losing touch with the real world, which Jackson drives home effectively by making the clay figures come to life in several memorable fantasy sequences. As Pauline fills out her diary, she refers to herself and Juliet as "heavenly creatures" who are too smart and creative for the mundane world of reality.

The girls’ parents are alarmed at their close relationship and signs of lesbianism. When Juliet’s parents announce they are getting divorced, with the father (Clive Merrison) planning to return to Britain, they announce that they will send Juliet to live with an aunt in South Africa. The girls fall into hysteria at the prospect of being separated. Pauline believes that her mother will block her plans to escape with Juliet to Hollywood, and that’s when the girls concoct their tragic murder plot.

It’s easy to see why Winslet and Jackson became international superstars after this film. Winslet, just 19 when Heavenly Creatures debuted, is spectacular in her portrayal of flashy, drama-loving Juliet. We see the seeds of lunacy under her glittery exterior when she begs Pauline for a chance to touch a long, ugly surgical scar on her leg.

Lynskey turns in a more understated performance as the frumpy Pauline, but she’s very good at conveying her character's growing dissatisfaction with her humble parents and her concurrent attachment to the more affluent and glamorous Hulmes.

Jackson ably mixes in fantasy sequences with brutal violence; he makes viewers pay rapt attention to the slow descent of the two girls into madness. It’s an engrossing, compelling tale, expertly paced and framed. In one memorable shot, the camera catches Winslet in twilight while she sings an opera aria from the upper verandah of her family’s lavish house. In another, Jackson aims his camera down from a steep perch above the tragic trio as they make their way into the woods, with Pauline’s mother Honora (Peirse), tromping away happily, completely unaware of her impending fate. Creepy.

The film ends with Honora's murder, but it includes a postcript which explains that the girls were tried and convicted of murder. They served five years in prison before being released because of their youth at the time of the murder. Both eventually made their way to the UK, although they didn’t maintain contact. After Heavenly Creatures debuted, the media revealed that Juliet had changed her name to Anne Perry and had become a successful mystery writer. Both now at the age of 80, they are still alive as of this writing. On disc and streaming; currently, there’s a good hi-def version on YouTube, although it inexplicably has English subtitles (the film is in English.)

Reviews

Comments

1 more review