Heavenly Creatures
What a bizarre and beautiful film. I wonder how different it would look today…
Before Peter Jackson was a master of epics with “The Lord of the Rings” and “King Kong.” Before Kate Winslet was one of the best actresses of her generation (or any generation, really). And before Melanie Lynskey was a TV character actor best known for her schizophrenic neighbor Rose on “Two and a Half Men” (she was also in the Tim Minear action series “Drive”), these three made a masterpiece of imagination, energy, and unnerving tension.
Co-written, as always, with his life partner Fran Walsh, Jackson’s marvel of a movie tells the story of Juliet (Winslet) and Pauline (Lynskey), two New Zealand girls who bond in the 1950s when Juliet’s well-traveled family moves to the country, and they have classes together at an all-girls school. At first, Pauline seems frumpy and closed off, but Juliet’s imagination and passion resonates with her. They first bond over their love for opera star Mario Lanza. It’s not long, however, before their friendship manifests itself into something more, and their imagination takes them further into a self-made fantasy world, where they are devoted lovers. Eventually, their bond begins to scare their respective families, leading to an unspeakable crime.
Jackson and Walsh’s Oscar-nominated script is based on a real-life event, and the real Pauline’s own diaries about her relationship with Juliet. It’d be otherwise difficult to imagine this being a true story, as it has the makings of great fiction and fantasy, especially as we see Pauline and Juliet’s vivid fantasy world of plasticine and castles and fantastical characters come alive through the extraordinary work of WETA Workshop and Richard Taylor. I first watched this film shortly after seeing Jackson’s “The Frighteners,” and was immediately struck by what Jackson was capable of. If anyone had any doubts that Jackson could deliver the drama and spectacle of “Rings” and “King Kong,” they clearly weren’t familiar with his earlier films.
In the cinematography of Alun Bollinger, and the music of Peter Dasent, and the performances by Winslet and Lynskey (both in their first film), the film balances between old-school melodrama and exquisite fantasy effortlessly, with Jackson’s visual style still in its’ infancy, with his inspiration by Sam Raimi still going strong from his earlier gory horror flicks like “Bad Taste,” “Dead Alive,” and- my personal favorite- the twisted and hilarious “Meet the Feebles.”
But while Jackson and his peerless craftsmanship is the star of the film in retrospect, the film simply wouldn’t work without Winslet and Lynskey. They capture the unhealthy love Pauline and Juliet carry for one another, the darkly powerful allure of their fantasy world, and the fractured psyches that occur when it looks like they will be separated by their parents. This could play very easily as camp (and make no mistake, there’s a lot of devilish dark humor in Jackson’s film), but the bond between the girls is what keeps the film grounded in tragedy. For Lynskey, it would be a high point in a career known for its’ quiet diversity (she has also appeared in “Ever After: A Cinderella Story,” “The Informant!,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” and “Away We Go” in addition to her TV work). For Winslet, it would be the beginning of an extraordinary career that would build on the promise of this first exceptional performance (with performances like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Reader,” “Revolutionary Road,” and yes, “Titanic”).
But in the long run, the film arguably had the biggest impact on Jackson, who let’s face it, probably wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to realize passion projects like “The Lord of the Rings” and “King Kong” without its’ acclaim and success. That he’s revisiting this sort of domestic tragedy with his forthcoming adaptation of Alice Seibold’s devastating novel “The Lovely Bones” will be a test of whether he can still capture this film’s dark magic.
From what I’ve seen in the previews, I think he’ll be just fine.
