Review of The Dressmaker (2015) by Mahlon M — 24 Sep 2016

After steeling myself to publicly purchase a ticket to a chick-flick entitled "The Dressmaker", I slunk into the sanctuary of the darkened theater and finally removed myself from behind my sunglasses and settled in. It was well worth it. Who'd 've thunk it would be a dark comedy pitting dress designers against each other in the down under part (i.e. Victoria) of The Down Under. Into this magnificently droll setting marches Kate Winslet's Tilly with sewing machine and other psychic baggage in tow, to face the demons of her past, not the least of which is her "hag" of a Mum, played to the hilt by Judy Davis.

If you think a showdown of high Parisian couture in such a setting would grate on the nerves, wait till you see in done to the stirring Sergio Leone-like fist full of dollars music. There's a lot going on on this here, including the false ending involving the fate of the knight in dismal armor. But the crown jewel in this somber jester's cap is Hugo Weaving as the police sergeant come frustrated fop.

This is a diamond in the rough, a cautionary take about recognizing style and class whatever its setting.