Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Star Rating- 3
Length of Film- 99 minutes
Director- Peter Jackson
Cast- Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Merrison, Simon O'Connor, Jed Brophy, Peter Elliott, Gilbert Goldie, Geoffrey Heath, Kirsti Ferry, Ben Skjellerup, Darlen Takle, Elizabeth Moody, & Liz Mullane
Oscar Nomination- Frances Walsh, Peter Jackson (screenplay)
Venice Film Festival- Peter Jackson (Silver Lion)




Kate Winslet as Juliet Hulme



Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Parker

 

 

This movie is based off the real life of two New Zealand teenagers and their friendship that ended in the murder of Parker's mother. This is a dark film that focuses on the unhealthy bond between Juliet and Pauline. "Informed by court transcripts of the period, interviews with key witnesses and the extensive diaries Parker kept, filmmaker Peter Jackson observes events solely from the girls’ fantasy-based point of view. “Heavenly Creatures” has the unsettling appearance of having been created by the girls themselves. It’s a pathologically autobiographical fairy tale."- Washington Post by Desson Howe

 

You see, the two girls made up their own dream universe making clay creatures to escape reality.

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline's parents own an inn (I think) and there was a man in his 20's and took a liking to Pauline. He came into her room one night saying he "was cold" and jumped in bed with her. Her father caught them and he was forced out. Pauline's mother, (Simon O'Connor) told her that she will not tolerate this type of behavior, which just sparked Pauline's hatred to her mother even more and rebelled by sneaking out of the house to see him. At 14 she lost her virginity, and she didn't seem interested at all during sex. She daydreamed her fantasy world where she was talking to her clay character.

 

 

 

Juliet became sick with tuberculosis and had to move to a hospital to get well. The girls wrote letters back and forth to each other and when Juliet was well enough to come home, they agreed never to part.

 

 

 

Juliets parents decided to get a divorce and wanted Juliet to move to South Africa where the weather was better for her health, and this is when the girls went off the deep end. They had such a strong bond- exploring sexually with one another that they were determined to go together. Pauline's mother was against her leaving. So Juliet and Pauline planned to kill her, which they succeeded in doing.

 

 

 

 



It took me a while to write this post because I really didn't know what the hell I just watched. The claymation threw me for a loop and I didn't comprehend why it was needed for the film. They could've just mentioned their made up world, but for the sake of seeing what the girls saw, it was needed for the film. The movie was really well done, and what a great idea for a film. To know the sentence of the 2 girls and the murder, you have to watch the film. Right before the credits, it explains the girls' punishment.