Heavenly Creatures
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Movie Reviews of Heavenly Creatures
Movie Review: Sometimes, Dear Children, Accept that the Answer is NO!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Although raised in another part of the British Empire, my mother has admitted to vague recollections of this sinister story that rocked New Zealand in 1954.
In the film that put Director Peter Jackson on the map, the tragic story of an obsessive teenage friendship in a more conservative time in his homeland is recounted through the diary entries of schoolgirl Pauline Yvonne Parker, a girl of a lower middle class family, whose main point of interest is her best friend, the aristocratic English girl, Juliet Hulme.
In their respective initial film roles as the two girls, native New Zealander, Melanie Lynskey, and the appropriately British Kate Winslet, are superb.
After we are led through a charming promotional film of early 1950s Christchurch, we then hear the bloodcurdling screams of two girls who, from a distance, appear to be at play, but who are hysterically running from the scene of a murder they just committed.
Following an explanatory caption of the story, we are led into a world of prissy, bobbed-haired schoolgirls in uniforms, and it is at school that Pauline and Juliet meet and become bosom friends, linked by their common experiences of serious childhood illnesses, their love of art and writing, wildly imaginative behavior, and their love of Mario Lanza's singing--traits I myself had in common with them at that age, although I never took things as far as they did.
We see the respective contrasts in the lifestyles of the two girls; Juliet's life as the daughter of Henry Hulme(Clive Merrison) the rector of Canterbury College, his marriage-counselor wife, Hilda( Diana Kent, who is prettier than the actual Hilda Hulme), and with her young brother. Dressed as a princess when Pauline first visits her at Ilam, her world appears to be an idyllic one.
Pauline lives with her father, mother, grandmother, and older sister (Simon O'Connor, Sarah Peirse, Lou Dobson, and Kirstie Ferry)in a boarding house, where her mother proves to be a justifyably strict disciplinarian, especially when Pauline has an affair with one of the boarders, and her grades in school slip.
The girls' time together gallops merrily along to the tune of Lanza's "Donkey Serenade" , and other recordings, which never fail to make them giddy. I cringe at the scenes where copies of his albums are destroyed, having had that unfortunate experience myself, and have noted the irony of the singer's death around the time of the girls' release from prison.
We see the girls' rejection of traditional religious values, although one family still celebrate Christmas. When I first viewed this film, I experienced confusion about the actual names of the girls since they use so many of them for each other.
There is a concern that the girls are having a lesbian affair--less acceptable in those days--although years later one of them denied this.
When Juliet develops tuberculosis and has to be hospitalized for four months, her parents leave on a trip for England, continuing a long-standing pattern of depositing their daughter in a place from which they are often far away. Pauline and her mother are Juliet's only visitors.
The striking thing about this tragedy is that Pauline, like many teenagers, deluded herself into thinking her friend had the perfect life despite evidence to the contrary. Granted that the Hulmes were elegant, highly educated people, who lived on a grand estate and Pauline's family weren't. But Pauline should have had more regard for her friend's chronic illness, emotional fragility, abandonment issues, and ultimately, an act of hedonism on the part of Juliet's mother that tears the Hulme Family apart--setting the stage for the coming tragedy--and counted her blessings, since her own family, such as it was, was still intact, and her own parents were much more attentive to her. Ironically, a long-hidden family secret-- barely touched upon during a feud Pauline has with her mother-- would emerge as a result of the tragedy in Victoria Park. But like many teenagers of today, Pauline could have learned to make the most of her own situation regardless of its disadvantages.
In her poem, "The Ones I Worship", Pauline describes her feelings about herself especially when in Juliet's company. They are "Heavenly Creatures", superior to the common moral code. Psychologists call this view, the "Personal Fable", common among adolescents. Among Pauline's growing number of delusions is one of Dr. Hulme as her own father.
Whether one views the edited or unedited version of this film--the latter of which shows more significant details--the portrayal of the girls' overactive fantasy life alternates between comical and surreal.
When Juliet is slated to leave for South Africa to live with an aunt, the adults make the fateful decison to let the girls stay together until Juliet's departure.
Questions with which I was left include,"What made Pauline assume Juliet's aunt would be as willing to take her in as she was her own niece?", and, "Did they really think murder would solve their problems?"
As devastating as their impending separation was, Pauline should have accepted her parent's refusal to let her go with Juliet. Were it not for the murder of the flawed and complex mother who loved her, not only might the two girls have been reunited over time, but perhaps Pauline may have had a different perspective about the Hulmes, whose ineptitude in looking after their own children may have resulted in Pauline's neglect as well.
Juliet, who is now, ironically, the Victorian-era murder mystery novelist, Anne Perry, has lamented certain inaccuracies in the film. But as she and Pauline, who was identified as Hilary Nathan three years after the film's release, were unavailable for consultation during production, which may have resulted in the illegal correspondance of the two women, Peter Jackson did his best with available rescources, and the stunning and haunting results speak well enough for themselves.
Movie Review: A chilling and disturbing true-crime film
Summary: 5 Stars
Long before he found international success with THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and a fabulous remake of KING KONG, Peter Jackson made the brilliant and unforgettable HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994, New Zealand). The source is the shocking and scary Parker-Hulme murder case in 1954 Christchurch that galvanized New Zealand. The case is less well known in the United States, and a gorgeous new letterboxed DVD has no bonus material [....]
I don't know how much plot to give away here, except to say that the film ends with a violent crime that is hinted at in the opening scene when teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme (an auspicious film debut for both Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey) come running out of a forest covered in blood and saying someone is dead. We then flash back to 1952 and work our way forward to a 1954 finale. The movie was filmed in Panavision (by Alun Bollinger) in rich yellows and oranges as the two girls develop a deep friendship that includes kisses and baths together. The two are very different. Pauline is shy and inward, while Juliet is open and sophisticated. The daughter of a university professor, Juliet has been all over the world at age 15 and suffers from tuberculosis. Pauline is a quiet wallflower who has never left New Zealand.
The more their parents and teachers worry about their friendship, the more Juliet and Pauline retreat inside a fantasy world of claymation figures, gorgeous gardens, and Mario Lanza records. In that fantasy world, Juliet is nicknamed "Devora" and Pauline is called "Yvonne" or "Gina". I adore a musical number in the fantasy world, with the girls dancing to Mario singing "The Loveliest Night of the Year." (It is the real Lanza on real records throughout the film.) Yellows and oranges blend with scary blues on nighttime interiors. Writers Jackson and Frances Walsh got an Oscar nomination for their Original Screenplay. I like the way teen sex in the real world is juxtaposed against religion and murder in the fantasy world.
And I like the way colors contrast and the way the real world of early 1950's Christchurch contrasts with the fantasy world of WETA design clay figures. The technical credits will be very familiar to anyone who has seen a LORD OF THE RINGS movie--editor Jamie Selkirk, costumer Ngila Dickson, writers Jackson and Walsh (husband and wife), production designer Grant Major, and others. It's a beautifully made movie.
The ending packs a shocking jolt, even when you can guess what will happen. It will haunt you for days afterwards and give you many sleepless nighs. HEAVENLY CREATURES deserves its "R" rating (for violence and sexual content). Juliet has to go to South Africa with Dad for her health (lung tuberculosis), which gets Pauline distraught and even suicidal. She has a frighteningly amoral solution. "It can be an accident," she rationalizes. "People die every day." So a crime will take place. End crawls with a haunting Lanza rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" say the girls were too young for the death penalty, so they were imprisoned until adulthood, then ordered never to see or write to one another again. That's a rough punishment for these two.
Fascinatingly, it was divulged that Juliet and Pauline were taking anti-depressant drugs that have long since been banned from the market. (I have mental illness myself and would love to know what the drugs were. I'm sure my doctors would like to know also.) And Juliet's story at least has a happy ending: she surfaced several decades later in Scotland, where she currently writes murder mysteries under the name "Anne Perry". I've read a couple of the novels, and they are outstanding. So I am glad she was not executed in 1954. I may be wrong, I'd have to check the web site. But I think Pauline moved to England and found religion as an adult; that is not confirmed.
What a movie HEAVENLY CREATURES is for mature adults who feel up to its bloodbath finale. It is flawlessly made, with gorgeous color and wide-screen, fascinating blendings of reality and fantasy that eventually become one for Juliet and Pauline. It is chilling stuff, a true-life crime case. It is fascinating to see the enormously talented Kate Winslet as a teenager at the start of a magnificent career; she was born an actress. And it is interesting to see what Peter Jackson was up to before LORD OF THE RINGS.
The new DVD of CREATURES is the uncut 109 minute Director's Cut, never before seen in the United States. The original American version ran 99 minutes. I had also never seen the movie in Panavision since 1994 in a theater. It really needs to be experienced in wide-screen format. Seen uncut and in wide-screen in a night bedroom, I love CREATURES more than the cold LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, if not more than the wondrous KING KONG. It is a must for the mature members of the Winslet and Jackson fan clubs.
Movie Review: Peter Jackson's captivating murder story with no villains
Summary: 5 Stars
For those who wondered how the director of "Bad Taste" and "Brain Dead" got to direct "The Lord of the Rings," this 1994 film from director Peter Jackson supplies the answer. In 1954 two teenage girls brutally murdered one of the their mothers in what must be the most sensational murder in New Zealand history. "Heavenly Creatures" tells the strange story of these two girls and their unique relationship. If you think this is just a reality based splatter flick, then you are going to be much more than surprised and impressed by what Jackson has accomplished.Pauline Rieper (Melanie Lynskey) is a simple and rather dull young girl who is totally dazzled when Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) enters her life. Juliet is impressed as well, because Pauline has a scar on her leg from an operation. Juliet declares that: "All the best people have had chest and bone disease! It's all frightfully romantic!" Eventually both the romance and the frightfullness of it all reaches a tragic conclusion. In their all consuming friendship Juliet and Pauline create a "Fourth World," better than heaven (because it has no Christians), inhabited by the clay figures they have fashioned to represents their friends and where the music of Mario Lanza, the greatest tenor on earth, is always in the air.
Jackson brings this fantasy world alive, which allows him to explore the pivotal theme of juxtaposition throughout the film. This comes into play most notably at the beginning and ending of "Heavenly Clouds." Jackson begins with a 1950s newsreel about Christchurch, New Zealand, which is interrupted by the appearance of the two screaming and bloodied girls, thereby symbolizing the way this sensational case shocked the nation. Even more effective is the film's conclusion, where the murder is inter-cut with what the girls think will happen if they do not find this way of saving themselves.
With any film based on historical events there are omissions, alterations, substitutions, and the like, and "Heavenly Creatures" is no different. On the plus side of the ledger Jackson attempted an almost morbid verisimilitude. Almost all of the locations used for filming were the real locations where events occurred, including the tea shop where Honora Parker ate her last meal, which was torn down a few days after the shooting ended. However, the cast and crew found the actual murder scene uncomfortable and moved further down the path. All of the journal voice-overs come directly from Pauline's diary, as are the characters in the girls' make-believe world. However, since the two filled up fifteen notebooks and hundreds of letters devoted to their fantasies, the movie actually underplays these elements.
However, having familiarized myself somewhat with the actual "facts" of the case, and the recollections of the woman one of the girls grew up to be, the key point of dispute is the motive. But if Jackson is guilty of becoming fixated on the idea that these two young girl committed a murder because they could not bear to be separated and have their fantasy world unravel, then he can be hardly faulted for finding that a fascinating interpretation of the evidence (the girls never testified or were examined in court, but Pauline's diary was seen as providing all the answers). More importantly, Jackson does not seem guilty of taking liberties, merely with offering a valid interpretation of the evidence. For example, the murder sequence greatly reduces the number of blows, but the effect is still horrific, so it seems trivial to complain about any inaccuracy.
From an artistic standpoint his interpretation is more than justified, especially at the end. In addition to the information we receive between the final scene and the closing credits that tells what happened to Pauline and Juliet, Marzio Lanza sings "You'll Never Walk Alone," which is as perfect a choice of a song to play at the end of a film as you will ever hear, forcefully underscoring the film's thesis. Jackson says this is "a murder story about love, a murder story with no villains," and it is hard to argue with this idea after watching his film.
"Heavenly Creatures" received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Jackson and Frances Walsh. The film won every award for which it was nominated in the New Zealand Film and TV Awards, including Best Actress for Lynskey and Best Foreign Performer for Winslet (both of whom were perfectly suited for those roles), and earned film festival awards in Venice and Toronto. This is a striking and unforgettable film, both creative and thoughtful. Those who are drawn to it because it was directed by Peter Jackson might be shocked by the subject matter, but they will not be disappointed with the results.
Movie Review: A chilling and disturbing true-crime film
Summary: 5 Stars
Long before he found international success with THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and a fabulous remake of KING KONG, Peter Jackson made the brilliant and unforgettable HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994, New Zealand). The source is the shocking and scary Parker-Hulme murder case in 1954 Christchurch that galvanized New Zealand. The case is less well known in the United States, and a gorgeous new letterboxed DVD has no bonus material (...)
I don't know how much plot to give away here, except to say that the film ends with a violent crime that is hinted at in the opening scene when teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme (an auspicious film debut for both Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey) come running out of a forest covered in blood and saying someone is dead. We then flash back to 1952 and work our way forward to a 1954 finale. The movie was filmed in Panavision (by Alun Bollinger) in rich yellows and oranges as the two girls develop a deep friendship that includes kisses and baths together. The two are very different. Pauline is shy and inward, while Juliet is open and sophisticated. The daughter of a university professor, Juliet has been all over the world at age 15 and suffers from tuberculosis. Pauline is a quiet wallflower who has never left New Zealand.
The more their parents and teachers worry about their friendship, the more Juliet and Pauline retreat inside a fantasy world of claymation figures, gorgeous gardens, and Mario Lanza records. In that fantasy world, Juliet is nicknamed "Devora" and Pauline is called "Yvonne" or "Gina". I adore a musical number in the fantasy world, with the girls dancing to Mario singing "The Loveliest Night of the Year." (It is the real Lanza on real records throughout the film.) Yellows and oranges blend with scary blues on nighttime interiors. Writers Jackson and Frances Walsh got an Oscar nomination for their Original Screenplay. I like the way teen sex in the real world is juxtaposed against religion and murder in the fantasy world.
And I like the way colors contrast in wide screen (the pan/scan videocassette is a visual mess) and the way the real world of early 1950's Christchurch contrasts with the fantasy world of WETA design clay figures. The technical credits will be very familiar to anyone who has seen a LORD OF THE RINGS movie--editor Jamie Selkirk, costumer Ngila Dickson, writers Jackson and Walsh (husband and wife), production designer Grant Major, and others. It's a beautifully made movie.
The ending packs a shocking jolt, even when you can guess what will happen. HEAVENLY CREATURES deserves its "R" rating (for violence and sexual content). Juliet has to go to South Africa with Dad for her health (lung tuberculosis), which gets Pauline distraught and even suicidal. She has a frighteningly amoral solution--kill Mom. "It can be an accident," she rationalizes. "People die every day." So a crime will take place. End crawls say the girls were too young for the death penalty, so they were imprisoned until adulthood, then ordered never to see or write to one another again. That's a rough punishment for these two.
Fascinatingly, it was divulged that Juliet and Pauline were taking anti-depressant drugs that have long since been banned from the market. (I have mental illness myself and would love to know what the drugs were. I'm sure my doctors would like to know also.) And Juliet's story at least has a happy ending: she surfaced several decades later in Scotland, where she currently writes murder mysteries under the name "Anne Perry". I've read a couple of the novels, and they are outstanding. So I am glad she was not executed in 1954. I may be wrong, I'd have to check the web site. But I think Pauline moved to England and found religion as an adult.
What a movie HEAVENLY CREATURES is for mature adults who feel up to its bloodbath finale. It is flawlessly made, with gorgeous color and wide-screen, fascinating blendings of reality and fantasy that eventually become one for Juliet and Pauline. It is chilling stuff, a true-life crime case. It is fascinating to see the enormously talented Kate Winslet as a teenager at the start of a magnificent career; she was born an actress. And it is interesting to see what Peter Jackson was up to before LORD OF THE RINGS. The new DVD of CREATURES is the uncut 109 minute Director's Cut, never before seen in the United States. The original American version ran 99 minutes. I had also never seen the movie in Panavision since 1994 in a theater. It really needs to be experienced in wide-screen format. Seen uncut and in wide-screen in a night bedroom, I love CREATURES more than the cold LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, if not more than the wondrous KING KONG. It is a must for the mature members of the Winslet and Jackson fan clubs.
Movie Review: A Chilling And Suspenseful True-Story Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
It still amazes me how Peter Jackson went on to direct three of the greatest epics in the form of "The Lord Of The Rings" that grossed a combined total of $3 billion worldwide when some six years previously directed low-budget films such as "Heavenly Creatures." They say the best things happen by accident (or is that just me?) and just two and a half hours ago I was flicking through the channels, looking for something to watch when I stumbled amongst Heavenly Creatures. Dubbed by my TV guide as an 'intense and atmospheric treat,' I decided to sit and watch it, if not only for the adorable Kate Winslet. By the end I was convinced I had just watched one of the best films I have seen in years!In 1954 two girls brutally murdered one of their mothers in what still remains, to this day, perhaps the most documented and sensational murders in New Zealand's history. "Heavenly Creatures" tells the true story of this crime drama and highlights their strange friendship. If you think before you watch this that you're just in for another stereotypical blood-splatter flick then you are very much mistaken.
Pauline Rieper (Melanie Lynskey) is a typical student in a strict all-girls' school who is completely bowled over when Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) joins her school and tears up her pathetic existence into something radical and fresh. They have similar interests such as the arts, sculpture, English and the tenor Mario Lanza. Eventually both the romance and the frightfulness of it all reaches a tragic conclusion. In their all consuming friendship Juliet and Pauline create a "Fourth World," better than heaven (because it has no Christians), inhabited by the clay figures they have fashioned to represents their friends and where the music of Mario Lanza, the greatest tenor on earth, is always in the air.
The two girls' emotional attachment has turned incredibly intense, so that they barely think of anyone but each other, and the fantasy stories begin to seep into reality for them. Not even a four-month stint in hospital for Juliet can keep Pauline away. Pauline drops out of school and stops talking to her parents; Juliet learns that her mother is sleeping with one of her clients, and that her parents are divorcing. Now she's being sent to South Africa, and there is no telling when she will see Pauline again. Unless they do something about their parents so that they can stay together...such as murder.
Watching the film I felt a continual underbelly of lesbianism playing a major role. These suggestions are continually squashed, however, due to the times the movie is set in where homosexuality is an 'unnatural' subject. Kate Winslet is superb as the bright and luminous Juliet and with her posh accent, she brings a certain level of humor to the film that would have been impossible without her. Melanie Lynskey portrays Pauline superbly too, contrasting from the mature attitude of a fully grown woman to the sly grin of an evil teenage girl who knows too much. The films comedy moment can be cheesy at times, but are intentional in their positions in that they counterbalance the horrifying scenes. Many moments pre-horror build up the suspense brilliantly, then perform a sort of anticlimax. However, the peaceful and tranquil music that plays just before the brutal and obscene ending is obviously intentful.
The ending is what stays with the viewer most when looking back on the film The way Jackson directed the scene to be something truly spectacular was superbly pulled off. The screams of the mother and the cuts to the alternative-world made me want to cover my eyes in fear, but I persisted and watched through the horror. The dialogue of the film is brilliant, and only Peter Jackson could come up with the idea of life-size clay models that walk and talk. Six years later he'd be making something a lot grander. Richard Taylor supplies the CGI effect and is superb in doing so making for surprisingly life-like, realistic characters - remember, this was 1994!
In the end what you have here is a fantastic and timeless film that is perfect for college/University studies both in direction and content. What is most fascinating, apart from the real-life chilling theme that features prominently throughout, is the fact that Peter Jackson went on to become one of the world's most celebrated directors in history, whilst Kate Winslet went on to star in the most successful motion picture of all time! This is a film that will appeal to all generations (obviously not youngsters) of people with a thirst for crime, horror, blood, gore and fantasy. Don't try and ignore it - this film will make your head spin!