Heavenly creatures was the first of Peter Jacksons films to show an actual depth and artistic nature to the director. His previous films, Braindead, Dead Again and The Feebles, were labelled by critics as vulgar, gory and a splatstick trilogy that didn’t show any particular stylistic or thematically redeeming qualities.
No one expected much from Peter Jackson, but, in 1994 he released the intimate, sympathetic and historically accurate film Heavenly Creatures, a film that would go on to win multiple screenplay awards and would secure Peter Jackson funding for his little trilogy of films you may of heard of.
(5 points to anyone who knows what these are, wink, wink).
Heavenly creatures is an examination of the relationship between real life Christchurch girls high school students Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, and how their obsessive codependence and fantastical fourth world ended in their tragic murder of Pauline's mother Honora who attempted to separate them.
The film starts off with an almost propaganda like film advertising 1952 Christchurch, essentially Britain’s farmyard, who seemed to thriving in a golden age of economy due to the end of World War II. Images of tranquil gardens and colonial lifestyles are narrated by a monotonous british voice proudly exclaiming how Christchurch is “a city of bikes, second only to Copenhagen”, this tranquility does not last long. Feminine screams begin to permeate the nostalgic images, before there is a dramatic cut to two young girls frantically running uphill, covered in blood and screaming “somethings happened to Mummy!”
This juxtaposition between the previously calm and colonial scenes and the horror of the young girls emphasises one of Jacksons few themes in the film, trouble in paradise, as well as his criticism of colonial society and the presence of the British.
The rest of the film takes its time to gain momentum, we see the girls initial first meeting, their isolation from their peers and the class structures of each family is established in an effort to again criticise the empty facade and seedy sinister underbelly of colonialism in 1950’s New Zealand.
The third man sequence, for instance, is in clear contrast to brighter utopia the girls had previously created together, with sinister blue toning and sharp angles that are symbolic of the darkness of the relationship between the girls and how their fantasy world is becoming disturbingly darker and more possessive.
The song from La Boheme that Juliet sings on her balcony, translated to illusions about love and reinforcing the obsessive relationship the girls share, is also intelligent, a brilliant precursor to how love and insanity can be considered one in the same.
The casting I thought was quite brilliant, both breakout roles for Kate Winslet, although perhaps less so for Melanie Lywensky, the casting was mainly due to wanting to capture the physical likeness of the girls in order to create a sense of historical accuracy. Winslet seems a tad more genuine than Melanie, who I get the sense is all too aware of the camera, as opposed to the relaxed Winslet, understandable since Melanie had never acted on screen before and was selected from Fran Walsh, the writer, scouring schools across New Zealand for look a like Pauline's.
Labels: film review, heavenly creatures, peter jackson
