New Zealand 1994
Directed by
Peter Jackson
99 minutes
Rated MA

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
3 stars

Heavenly Creatures

Synopsis: The true story of Pauline Rieper (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet), two teenagers (Pauline was 15 in 1954; Juliet was 17) living in Christchurch, New Zealand who formed a fantasy-fuelled friendship that ended tragically when they murdered Pauline’s mother (Diana Kent).

Opening with a quaint archival promotional film for contemporary Christchurch that cuts to a scene of the panicked, blood-covered girls crying for help, Heavenly Creatures leans towards the blackly comical but the tendency is hijacked by Jackson’s proclivity for SFX-driven fantasy, something which we now know would pay off with his Lord Of The Rings trilogy (2001-3).

Well-scripted by Jackson with his wife, Fran Walsh, and benefitting from two very effective performances by Kate Winslet as the more dominant, self-confident one of the pair and Melanie Lynskey as her dependent “ugly ducking” friend, Heavenly Creatures has a intriguing story nicely packaged with convincing period production design that takes an impressively creative approach to depicting the intensity of a teen girl friendship but also tends to dilute the dramatic potential of same with rubbery figures and over-long fantasy sequences.

FYI: Both lead actresses were making their screen debuts. Since then Winslet has gone on to A-list status whilst Lynskey, despite a long career in film and television, has never achieved “star” status).

The success of the film revived interest in the case and efforts were made to find out what happened to the girls, who served only short prison sentences. Juliet was discovered to be living in Scotland as a bestselling murder mystery author using the pen name of Anne Perry. Pauline was not able to be found.

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