In a nutshell, Sweetie is the loose cannon in every family closet, and as played by newcomer Geneviève Lemon she's one of the more obscene and compelling characters ever to crash a movie scenario. Her younger sister calls her "a dark force" her father treats her (affectionately) as the child she'll always be to him and her mother, out of exasperation, simply walks away from all the subsequent turmoil. And then, mid-way through the story, along comes Sweetie herself to upset all the symmetry. Campion challenges the viewer's perception of what is or isn't real, using a portentous, artfully composed visual scheme, emphasizing in every shot her eye for geometry and deadpan comic detail. Describing it in any detail would only spoil the joy of discovery, for both the story and the idiosyncratic style of the film itself, which turns an already cockeyed domestic melodrama (introducing the oddball in-laws of an estranged young couple) into a sometimes grotesque but strangely compassionate portrait of sad, eccentric people living on the fringes of Down Under society. Amazing.Īustralian filmmaker Jane Campion's unorthodox daydream of family ties will likely infuriate more people than it pleases, defeating expectations as easily as it defies casual analysis. I had been immersed, albeit temporarily in an extraordinary place, complete and tactile. For a week after watching this film I still felt as though I had returned home from a strange, alien world. I thought that the acting, editing, dialogue and general sense of timing were totally bewitching. I must get a copy and watch it again, to see if it's like I remember it. That is what gives it it's fractured, purposeless other-worldly quality. That's what I found most striking about this film. The super-ego is fraught with a sense of place in the world, and trying to make the best of the values it finds directly around it, and the id is a tangle of senses and memories, caught up in the deepest recesses of childhood. ![]() Upon many years of reflection I suspect that the two female leads are two opposed elements of the writer's psyche. ![]() This film left a lasting impression on me from when I saw it aged about 15.
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