Heavenly Creatures

 

When did it all start to go so right? Well, for Kate Winslet and director Peter Jackson it was in 1994 with this film based on a crime that shocked 1950s New Zealand. Winslet plays Juliet, a precocious English schoolgirl recently arrived in the sleepy city of Christchurch, who makes friends with plain, dumpy Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) at the local school. Initially drawn together by their common experience of childhood illness, their friendship becomes dangerously obsessive as they come to share an intense fantasy life. Where other directors might have shaped this material into a conventional period drama, Jackson – who until this film was known for schlocky horror films – uses his B-movie wiles to depict the girls' relationship from the inside with feverish camerawork and unexpected intrusions from their imaginary world. Critically acclaimed on its release, Heavenly Creatures sometimes irritates with its hysterical mood, but otherwise stands the test of time through the conviction of its performances and direction. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]