Heavenly Creatures

 

 

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Please, save yourself some aggravation and wait for Miramax to release an official Region One DVD! Peter Jackson's luscious cinematography, originally screened in 2.35:1, when cropped to 1.33:1 is enough to make you cry. Audio is poor two-channel stereo, and there are no extra features. I purchased this Canadian import over a year ago because I love the film, but I've watched it only once because of its inferior quality. Have patience!

"How can these heavenly creatures be real?" asks one of the characters in of "Heavenly Creatures," the exquisite and horrifying docudrama of a shocking, real-life murder. Famed director Peter Jackson uses spectacular special effects and great actors to show us how these heavenly creatures became monsters.

In 1952, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) is a loner at her proper New Zealand school, until the day Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) arrives -- an intelligent, witty, daring girl who appeals to Pauline. Soon the two of them are nearly inseparable; even Juliet's four month stint in the hospital doesn't separate the girls through their letters and shared fantasies.

But soon their parents becomes concerned that their close friendship is "unhealthy." It is, just not in the way he thinks. The two girls' emotional attachment has turned incredibly intense: they barely think of anyone but each other, and the fantasy stories begin to seep into reality. Now Juliet is 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.

Peter Jackson starts the movie by emphasizing what a beautiful, peaceful country (via a cheesy 1950s documentary) New Zealand is. But beauty is not everything -- fairy tales can become nightmares. Jackson doesn't just show the audience what the two girls did, but showed why they did it. Even then, he doesn't make excuses.

At first the movie seems almost whimsical, with fairy tale figures coming to life, beautiful woodlands, and hillsides transforming into blooming gardens. Nobody except Peter Jackson could have pulled off the idea of including living clay figurines or four-foot-wide butterflies. Somehow it not only works, but adds to the surreality of the story.

But as the girls go deeper into infatuated madness, Jackson warps the whimsical world around them. Settings get darker and more distorted, and the line between fantasy and reality is completely wiped out. The scripting keeps that creepiness going ("Our main idea for the day was to murder Mother"), as do Richard Taylor's handling of CGI and prosthetics. (How DID they do the zoom through a sand castle?)

But the movie really centers around Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet, and these two carry the movie beautifully. Lynskey can switch in an instant from sullenness to smiles, naive girl to murderous woman. And the luminous Kate Winslet plays the devil-may-care Juliet, whose vivacity and charm overrule any of Pauline's reservations. "It's everyone else who's bonkers!" she says gleefully when Pauline casts doubt on her own sanity.

The most terrifying horror is the real kind -- the kind that is in the human heart. With its brilliant direction and equally good acting, "Heavenly Creatures" is destined to be a modern classic.

This movie, based on a true story, and set in New Zealand, during the 1950's; features the introductory performances of Kate Winslet (of numerous movies) and Melanie Lynskey (currently seen as Rose in Two And A Half Men). It's a disturbing movie, about an "unnatural" friendship that develops and the "fatal" consequences for the mother of Lynskey's character. As the two young women plot their murder, they develop a fantasy world; populated with older movie and music stars; including Orson Welles and Mario Lanza. The man portraying a young Orson Welles was particularly, and unncanny was his resemblance, well cast. It was fairly sensual in places, which surprised me; given that there was little, if any nudity, although according to Craig Hosada, of the book "The Bare Facts Guide" there is, but it's brief, and may have been "lost" to "modification" for the smaller screen. This doesn't detract too much from very emotional performances, by Winslet and Lynskey, [which made there characters very sad, at times, as they yelled and cried a lot] but also made them strangely sympathetic. Winslet was clearly the more "sophisticated" one, but Ms. Lynskey held her own, as the plain[er] looking, but equally strange, highly emotional, young woman. I'm not sure if a sequel would be in order, given that each is doing many different things now, but it would be an interesting idea to see them "several years on". Overall, not a bad film, not a great film, and certainly a place to start for both of them.

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4.0 out of 5 stars heavenly creatures
Heavenly Creatures is a rather strange movie that incorporates lesbian love with the fantasies with strange fantasies - wow, what a trip. To bad they were murdering psychos.

Published 24 months ago by zilla q

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Jackson's captivating murder story with no villains
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... Read more

Published on Dec 13 2003 by Lawrance M. Bernabo

5.0 out of 5 stars A film of startling beauty and power
I'm really at a loss for words as to how to start this review. I saw it for the first time a few months and it has come up in my thoughts probably once a day. Read more

Published on July 11 2002 by Rob & Anders

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Warned...
I bought this DVD assuming it featured the letterbox version of the film. Unfortunately, it is pan and scan--so be forewarned before you buy this DVD. Read more

Published on July 8 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, Beautiful, Impossible to Forget
HEAVENLY CREATURES, directed by Peter Jackson of the new LORD OF THE RINGS movies, it is the true story of two mentally unstable young girls who eventually commit murder in their... Read more

Published on July 1 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Good movie, edgy and visual
I really enjoyed this movie and I plan to get the DVD when it releases.

It's been a while since I've seen it, but I do remember hallucinogenic dreamlike sequences that meshed... Read more

Published on Jun 21 2002 by jimpetrie

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