Review of Heavenly Creatures (1994) by Alice . — 11 Jan 2010

Juliet Hulme: Only the best people fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness.

A well made, well scripted drama, combined with fantasy elements, from director Peter Jackson. A strong departure from Jackson, who up until this point had been making horror-splatter-comedies, and would only go on to large scale epics with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here, he has made a film focused on more thematic elements about characters, which combined with his visual style, makes for a very interesting film.

Pauline Parker, played by Melanie Lynskey, and Juliet Hulme, played by Kate Winslet (both girls in their debut roles), met in school during the 1950s in New Zealand. Instant best friends, they proceeded to spend every minute possible together, often writing about a fantasy land of their own invention. More and more estranged from their respective families, the two girls realize that they are extremely different from most other people, and agree to take any steps necessary to ensure that they are not separated. The two families grow increasingly concerned about the girls' friendship, questioning how close they actually may be, resulting in the direct plans to separate them. The result is where the true story actually ends, with the girls planning to murder Pauline's mother.

Of course this is a dramatic retelling of the actual elements, but beyond being based off the true story, a lot of elements from the real life happenings have been incorporated into this film. Many scenes were filmed in the exact locations, the narrated segments are all actual passages from Pauline's diary, and even the fantasy elements are portrayed as the two girls had written them. These elements combined with the strong scripting by Jackson and his partner/producer Fran Walsh work very well to convey the story.

As far as Jackson's visual sense goes, this has the kind of signature camera style that can easily be attributed to a specific director. I always had Jackson pegged as the Southern Hemisphere version of Sam Raimi. Both had similar career paths and a specific visual style that can be instantly recognized. Here, Jackson's very cinematic camera usage is mixed with his first use of WETA, which he basically founded. The effects work in this film is quite neat to portray some of the fantasy aspects.

Performances by the two actresses are quite strong, and while Winslet rose to quite obvious fame, I'm glad to see Lyskey popping up in roles quite often as well.

Well made, dark tale.

Pauline Parker: The next time I write in this diary, Mother will be dead. How odd... yet how pleasing.