Rent Heavenly Creatures (1994)

A seismic Winslet burns bright in a scattershot film about an infamous murder in New Zealand - Heavenly Creatures review by Timmy B

For many people, Peter Jackson will forever be associated with The Lord of the Rings (which is an incredible calling card, don't get me wrong.) But when reading various articles & stories about Jackson, Heavenly Creatures was the film which in many ways put him on the map. And it also received rave reviews, particularly for the performance of Winslet, in her first motion picture performance. So I rented it with high expectations, of which sadly only some were met.

Starting in 1952, Juliet Hulme moves with her family to Christchurch, New Zealand. She is a fiercely clever, vivacious & independent 13 year old who exudes confidence. She then meets Pauline Parker, who is in many ways a social outcast (due to her extreme mood swings and a face often set in a permanent scowl.) The 2 girls instantly click and develop a friendship which is so close & intense, everyone else fades into the background. However Juliet's poor health & her father's work, which takes him across the globe, start to threaten and ultimately split up the 2 girls, leading to devastating repercussions.

One of the most commonly associated things with this movie, and which the script/marketing did little to correct, was that it was a lesbian love story between the two women. And whilst that absolutely generated headlines as well as controversy, it has received extreme pushback from Hulme as well as others connected to the case for simply being wrong. The closeness of their relationship never became a sexual one. Me highlighting this now might seem random, but the reason that I do it is because for me this totally changes the framing of the film and how I see it. When you have a film based on a true, tragic event, the idea that the reality is not shocking enough (especially seeing as how much is available from Pauline's diaries,) and that you need to add a gay love story into the mix is just bad taste.

But in terms of performances, the combination of Winslet & Melanie Lynskey as Juliet and Pauline is perfect. Winslet in particular is sensational, especially in the luminescence she manages to project out of the screen. Every room she enters is hers, her piercing eyes & manic energy suffusing everyone, either entering into her orbit or being repulsed by it. This energy is what makes the world the two girls create so believable.

However for me, one of the things which really didn't work was the fantasy/dream world and the creatures inhabited within it. I just didn't buy into it, as well as thinking that (appreciating the film was shot in the 1990's,) it all looked a little tacky & like it had been a rejected montage for a children's TV show.

But the jealousy, as well as the deep hurt and power battle between the girls and their parents, I really felt. If there was not the threat of one of them being taken away, I honestly think that the two girls would actually just have grown up & probably moved on as they got older, the friendship and intensity burning itself out. But as with so many of these catastrophic & tragic events, it just takes one spark to set off a devastating chain reaction.

For many viewers, especially those who love fantasy, there will be much to love here and would probably for them be a 5 star film. But many of the elements just didn't work for me, despite the incredible performances.