Heavenly Creatures (1994)

In retrospect, you'd never know this is a Peter Jackson film. Not after becoming familiar with his recent work, anyway. "Heavenly Creatures" contains all the subtlety and nuances that his later work desperately needs - the graceful arc of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, despite its critical lauding, doesn't hold a candle to this film.

Melanie Lynskey plays Pauline, a young girl who, along with her best friend Juliet (Kate Winslet), often envisions herself in fantasy worlds and alternate realities. The two girls' parents become so worried about their fantasies that they separate the two girls - but, in a fit of rage, Melanie and Juliet plan a dreadful revenge.

Most shocking of all is that this story sounds like some lame supernatural thriller that would be on a made-for-TV special, in which the girls share some kind of psychic connection - but it's not like that at all. It's a true story, and it's handled quite delicately.

The performances are, for the most part, very good. Winslet shines in one of her earlier performances and displays raw talent.

Overall, watching this I couldn't help but be reminded of how talented Peter Jackson used to be, and how lately he has succumbed to making, for lack of a better description, Hollywood shlock. I liked "Lord of the Rings." I liked "King Kong." But this is better.

Fmovies: I am a huge fan of Kate Winslet, she is my favorite actress of all time, simply because she is possibly the most honest. It seems like she has the most natural talent and when she has a role she embraces it, recently I had a message from a IMDb user who asked me if I saw this film and if I hadn't, I should due to the fact that Kate was amazing in it. I also noticed it in my "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, so I had passed it over at Hollywood Video and figured to give it a look. I noticed also that it was directed by Peter Jackson who is now more famous due to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but I thought this film was really over looked and one of his finest. It's incredibly unique, artistic, and disturbing in some ways.

Pauline is a out cast at school and she meets the new girl, Juliet, together they find out that they have a major thing in common, a wile imagination. They want to write a story together, they go as far as to call each other by their story names and spend time with each other constantly. But the parent's concerns grow more and more as the girls become a little more... "obsessive" of each other. Juliet's parents wish to send to her Africa to live with her aunt, but Juliet and Pauline do not want to let go of each other, and Pauline sees only one obstacle keeping them from seeing each other, her mom. So they devise an evil plan to get rid of her mom, permanently.

Heavenly Creatures was incredibly unique and an amazing film. I couldn't believe my eyes watching this film, it was so interesting to watch, especially being in these girl's minds and imagination. Kate and Melanie had great chemistry and Peter Jackson made this film into his own. I would recommend it for movie buffs and definitely if you want to see how Kate got her start, she was amazing.

9/10

"The next time I write in this diary, mother will be dead. How odd, yet how pleasing."

This early writing and directorial effort by Peter Jackson and starring a young Kate Winslet is an odd one to pin down. Especially odd, since it's based on a true story (which I didn't know until the film was over). It's about the intense friendship between two girls living in New Zealand. One is sullen and withdrawn, the other, a wealthy transplant from England, is outspoken and draws attention with her very presence. Both are intelligent, imaginative, and share a similar casual darkness in their personalities. 

As their friendship blooms and grows more and more intense, their parents (this being set in the 50's) begin to suspect an unwholesome aspect to their relationship. When the threat of separation arises, the girls swiftly and resolutely settle on a grisly solution to their forced division: murder.

The movie shifts in tone often, from a sort of coming of age story, to the fanciful world of the girls' imaginations, to their rage and heartbreak at their parents. Kate Winslet was pretty good, but you could tell that she was still finding her way and confidence as an actress. I found the plot to be rather dull at the start, but it grew more interesting as it continued on to a rather abrupt ending. 

Interesting is a good word to use describe Heavenly Creatures, as a whole. It held my attention, even during the parts where I was a little less than entertained. It's unflinchingly dark in some aspects, and innocent and childlike in others. I'd recommend it to most just based on the fact that it's something different, and there's merit in that. It's well-made, also, I just found my interest fluctuating too often to give the movie a higher score. 

And how does Kate Winslet look almost exactly the same today as she did in 1994? Now that's a topic that's interesting enough to make a movie about.

Heavenly Creatures fmovies. Based on a true story that took place in New Zealand in the mid-1950s, "Heavenly Creatures" is one of those films that seems tame at first glance, but is full of explosive devices. Co-writer/director Peter Jackson (of "The Lord of the Rings" fame) crafts a highly-disturbing motion picture about two teenaged girls (Melanie Lynsky and Kate Winslet, in the role that put her on the cinematic map) who have a highly potent relationship that is based on their love for literature and their love for a conjured-up fantasy world. Their intense friendship borders the line on a deep obsession as the two become inseparable. Their parents believe that lesbianism may be part of the partnership. Even though there are dream sequences and undertones aplenty to point to that, the girls' friendship does not go that way in real life. As others try to separate them for good, the girls come up with a devious plan to destroy who they feel is the major culprit (Lynskey's mother, played by Kirsti Ferry). The movie goes into a dark place and its somewhat sweet candy-coating tries to hide the fact that this was a truly major incident in a time and place where things like this just did not occur. Jackson was going for something like Peter Weir's equally disturbing "Picnic at Hanging Rock", but ends up creating a film that runs rings around that disappointing work. Jackson's smart direction just enhances a really intelligent Oscar-nominated screenplay. Kate Winslet does truly steal the show from Lynskey who was meant to be the real focal point of the production. A good film that would lead to even better works for the major players involved. 4 stars out of 5.

Heavenly Creatures is a stunning film, surprisingly coming from the gore-maestro Peter Jackson. It follows two girls, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Rieper, who start talking to each other in a P.E. lesson. Over the days their friendship progresses, until they become good friends, and spend time with each other discussing actors, listening to records, and playing dress-up. The acting from Winslet and Lynesky is absolutely terrific from the beginning, Lynesky playing a moody young girl, and Winslet playing the happy, inventive young lady, who is a dab hand a clay modelling and painting. As the film continues, Juliet and Pauline's friendship becomes more and more stronger, as they begin to spend practically every minute of every day with each other. Sarah Peirse give a fine performance as Hilda Hulme, Pauline's mother, who by this time in the movie has become more than a little concerned about the bonding of the two girls. The ending is unforgettable. It is brutal and shocking, however the minutes leading up to the end are beautiful, complete with a spine-tingling, haunting choir music soundtrack. This movie is a beautiful, moving experience, which should leave you tearful by the end.

Lesbian murderers ? I'm sort of guessing that I might not like this movie very much . No doubt we'll be seeing some polemical do gooder film maker with zero talent making a movie where anyone who gets murdered by the gay girls probably asked for it because they were a rabid homophobe

That was my abstract opinion of HEAVENLY CREATURES when it was released to some critical acclaim ten years ago , with much of the acclaim going to writer/director Peter Jackson whose previous gory horror comedies I'd enjoyed . Yeah the guy was talented I remember thinking , but in a liberal climate we'd no doubt be hearing a myriad of excuses via the film for the girls crime and it was this attitude that stopped me from watching the movie until it was broadcast on BBC 2 tonight

I was fooling myself if I thought Jackson was going to make a bad movie . This is another piece of heart melting , intelligent movie making from the Kiwi genius and I'm sorry for doubting Jackson for a moment . What Jackson has done has made a movie where it's difficult to think of the two protagonists as " lesbian lovers " , Pauline Reiper and Juliet Hulme are two teenagers who love each other full stop and the screenplay doesn't once make any excuses for anything that happens , we're not supposed to feel disgusted by their relationship , we're not supposed to feel that they are victims in any way and we're not supposed to feel that a conservative , homophobic society is to blame for what happened . Jackson deserves much credit for making an amoral movie without an agenda , it's up to the free thinking audience to make up their own minds on the case. Take for example the murder of Mrs Rieper who kindly takes the girls to a tea house then for a walk in the countryside . It's difficult not to notice that if she'd been an uncaring cruel dragon with absolutely no conscience the girls wouldn't have had an opportunity to murder the woman .

It's also a movie that captures the spirit of being a teenager in love . When for whatever reason you have to say goodbye to your first love it's the end of the world . You'll do anything to stop it happening - ANYTHING - and you won't forgive anyone who caused it to happen . Fantasy sequences similar to the ones shown here are also a staple diet of the teenage mind and if you disagree with me you're either being dishonest or you're under twelve years of age . Believe me this movie reminded me , perhaps a little too much , of my own teenage angst

Jackson also deserves credit for his casting Melanie Lynskey and ( A then totally unknown ) Kate Winslet as Pauline and Juliet . Neither of them can be described as strikingly attractive and you do have to worry who we would have got instead if this was a Hollywood production , but they play the star crossed lovers with absolute conviction , as indeed do the rest of the cast

HEAVENLY CREATURES is beautiful , haunting , thoughtful and incisive . With the exception of Martin Scorsese I rate Peter Jackson as the world's greatest living film maker and HEAVENLY CREATURES is the first movie that showed the true greatness Jackson is capable of