By Todd Garbarini
In the experience of moviegoers, there
are films that possess characters we come to care about, characters whom we
wish would make different choices by the film’s end. Inevitably, there are films that end badly
for those characters and even after repeated viewings we still wish that the
film would end positively in their favor. One such film is the 1994 New Zealand outing Heavenly Creatures, directed by a then-still-unknown Peter Jackson. Anyone who has seen Mr. Jackson's early work
– specifically Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989), and Braindead (1992) – cannot help but
wonder how in the world he managed to score the director’s chair for the film
versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s massive epic about hobbits and Middle Earth. Mr. Jackson’s first three films, while highly
entertaining, are exercises in excess and were not embraced by the masses but
have all since developed cult followings. The positive reception of Braindead
was instrumental in getting his next and fourth film fast-tracked and in front of
the cameras in early 1993. At this
point, Mr. Jackson had developed a certain look and feel to his films that
managed to carry over into his next and most ambitious project. In my humble opinion, and without taking
anything away from The Lord of the Rings
trilogy, Heavenly Creatures stands as
the finest film that Mr. Jackson has made to date. Beautifully scored by Peter Dasent and
peppered with operatic cues, it is a film of such complexity, such visual
wonder, such sheer cinematic style, and is so self-assured that it easily
warrants repeated viewings. There are
films that we all see and we go on with our lives without thinking twice about,
and then there are films that we experience and find ourselves changed by. Heavenly
Creatures falls into the latter camp, and this truth cannot help but be overshadowed
by the fact that Heavenly Creatures,
while being truly awe-inspiring, is loosely based upon the true story of a
heinous and unfathomable case of premeditated matricide.
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme are teen-agers
living in Christchurch, New Zealand in the mid-1950’s. Pauline comes from a working-class family and
is unhappy in school until she meets the sophisticated and erudite Juliet. Their attraction to each other is gradual yet
magnetic and they soon become inseparable, sexually awakened with one another. They share a love for Mario Lanza’s music and
create a fantasy world that they both participate in. The Fourth World, as they refer to it, is a
place that Juliet describes as better than Heaven, a paradise full of music,
art and pure enjoyment, replete with their favorite movie stars. As far-fetched as it sounds to their family,
it is completely real to them. In the
midst of writing their novel about the Fourth World, which takes place during medieval
times in a country called Borovnia concerning Charles and Deborah (pronounced
deb-OR-ah) and their son Diello, they talk of getting it published through companies
in New York. Amidst the Hulmes, Pauline feels
like an equal, accepted in the eyes of cultured people she regards with respect
as they carry themselves with poise and grace. Unfortunately for Juliet, her parents don’t seem to have much interest
in being her parents, as her needs take a backseat to her father’s duties for
the school he teaches at which requires that he travel to England. The Fourth World increasingly becomes that
Special Place that Pauline and Juliet go to in order to escape the inevitable
disappointments that plague their everyday lives, much like heroin provides a
junkie with an escape, however ephemeral. The special effects in these fantasy sequences cannot rival that of
films made in today’s cinematic arena, but they were positively enchanting at
the time of the film’s release and they still hold up relatively well.
Ms. Winslet and Ms. Lynskey, who were
seventeen and fifteen respectively when filming commenced, are so brilliant and
so compelling in their performances that we cannot help but get caught up in
their mania. Despite knowing that all is
not completely right with them, we want them to persevere because they are not
inherently bad, just slightly delusional or even misguided. They are teenagers, after all, trying to find
their place in the world.
Although the film’s narrative is
presented omnisciently, an argument can be made that much of the action is seen
through the eyes of Pauline, and at certain points the film switches gears between
an extra-diegetic view to an intra-diegetic perspective after Pauline is given
a diary for Christmas, which provides the audience with her thoughts and
feelings on the Fourth World and her relationship with Juliet (Pauline’s voice
over is taken directly from her real diary). Pauline’s sexual initiation appears to be spurred by Juliet, but her act
of sex with John, one of the boarders at her parents’ house, is more of an act
of rebellion against her mother after being falsely accused of initiating a
previous sexual episode with him. It is
obvious that sex becomes an escape for her and even during this act with John,
she is mentally transported to Borovnia, with Peppino Turco’s "Funiculì,
Funiculà " resonating through the castle. She is so taken by this world of make believe that she even renames John
as Nicholas, making him one of the many characters that populate the fictitious
country, all of whom are life-size versions of the knights and women that
Pauline and Juliet fashioned from clay (these costumes and effects helped pave
the way for The Lord of the Rings films).
Heavenly
Creatures was followed up
by The Frighteners (1996), Mr.
Jackson’s singular cinematic disappointment. Melanie Lynskey has a small role in the film which was released on home
video with a four-hour documentary chronicling the making of the film, a salute
that should have been bestowed upon its superior predecessor instead. Hopefully, with the success of The Lord of the Rings and his upcoming
adaptation of The Hobbit, Mr. Jackson
will see fit in the future to revisit this masterful film that put him on the
map and demand that a deluxe special edition be released. For now, the movie-only Blu-ray, released by
Lionsgate Home Entertainment, is the best home video incarnation of this film
thus far and, like its previous home video incarnations, contains ten
additional minutes of footage not seen in the U.S. theatrical release. Everything about Heavenly Creatures is sumptuous: the lighting, the camerawork, the
editing, and the music; all of this is captured beautifully in this 1080P high definition
transfer. The disc contains English SDH
subtitles (which includes dialogue as well as sound effects descriptions),
English and Spanish subtitles. The only
available extra is the theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray sleeve erroneously lists the release year as 2002 when in
fact it is 1994. The cover art is
interesting though it is nowhere near as effective as the film’s original movie
poster one-sheet which unfortunately has never been utilized in the promotion
of the U.S. distribution of the film on home video. The American ad campaign features a gorgeous
one-sheet of the girls bathed in blue. It is extremely effective in hiding the awful truth behind their
seemingly innocent smiles.
Even after repeated viewings, I still
get nervous near the film’s end. I want
to tell the parents to pull their heads out of their bums. I want to scream and warn Mrs. Rieper not to go
with the girls. When Pauline and Juliet
are taking that defining walk down the steep path with Mrs. Rieper and a
concealed brick, the path they have chosen is irrevocable.
At the time of the film’s release in
1994, it was discovered that Juliet Hulme went on to become a famous British
novelist under the pen name of “Anne Perry,†the surname inspired by her
mother’s paramour perhaps? Pauline
Parker is now named Hilary Nathan, and makes a living as a riding instructor at
the Abbots Court Riding School in Rochester, England.
Neither woman has expressed any desire
in seeing the film.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON