Customer Reviews
How can these heavenly creatures be real? - By: E. A Solinas, 29 Apr 2007 
"How can these heavenly creatures be real?" asks one of the characters in of "Heavenly Creatures," the exquisite & horrifying docudrama of a shocking, real-life murder. Famed director Peter Jackson uses spectacular special effects & great actors to show us how these heavenly creatures became monsters.
In 1952, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) is a loner at her proper New Zealand school, until the day Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) arrives -- an intelligent, witty, daring girl who appeals to Pauline. Soon the two of them are nearly inseparable; even Juliet's four month stint in the hospital doesn't separate the girls through their letters & shared fantasies.
But soon their parents becomes concerned that their close friendship is "unhealthy." It is, just not in the way he thinks. The two girls' emotional attachment has turned incredibly intense: they barely think of anyone but each other, & the fantasy stories begin to seep into reality. Now Juliet is being sent to South Africa, & there is no telling when she will see Pauline again. Unless they do something about their parents so that they can stay together... such as murder.
Peter Jackson starts the movie by emphasizing what a beautiful, peaceful country (via a cheesy 1950s documentary) New Zealand is. But beauty is not everything -- fairy tales can become nightmares. Jackson doesn't just show the audience what the two girls did, but showed why they did it. Even then, he doesn't make excuses.
At first the movie seems almost whimsical, with fairy tale figures coming to life, beautiful woodlands, & hillsides transforming into blooming gardens. Nobody except Peter Jackson could have pulled off the idea of including living clay figurines or four-foot-wide butterflies. Somehow it not only works, but adds to the surreality of the story.
But as the girls go deeper into infatuated madness, Jackson warps the whimsical world around them. Settings get darker & more distorted, & the line between fantasy & reality is completely wiped out. The scripting keeps that creepiness going ("Our main idea for the day was to murder Mother"), as do Richard Taylor's handling of CGI & prosthetics. (How DID they do the zoom through a sand castle?)
But the movie reallly centers around Melanie Lynskey & Kate Winslet, & these two carry the movie beautifully. Lynskey can switch in an instant from sullenness to smiles, naive girl to murderous woman. And the luminous Kate Winslet plays the devil-may-care Juliet, whose vivacity & charm overrule any of Pauline's reservations. "It's everyone else who's bonkers!" she says gleefully when Pauline casts doubt on her own sanity.
The most terrifying horror is the real kind -- the kind that is in the human heart. With its brilliant direction & equallly good acting, "Heavenly Creatures" is destined to be a modern classic.
Not bad, but I've seen better - By: Henry Watkinson, 12 Jan 2007 
For Kate Winslet's debut film I'd had high expectations, not to say I was disappointed. I'm not a huge fan of biopics at the best of times, but since the content & climax of the story was so violent it was fascinating to see it dramatized in such a graphic way. For the most part & summing up I'd ask myself what did I expect from Peter Jackson? I'll admit I did not enjoy Lord Of The Rings, but this has restored my faith in the scruffiest director in the world. I'd recommend it, personallly for fans. This is good raw talent from Jackson before Kate Winslet was made famous for being upstaged by sinking ships. As always I'd say rent it first (if it was rentable) but you'd reallly need to be either a fan of biopics or of Kate Winslet to reallly appreciate this movie
"Come with me..." - By: E. A Solinas, 23 Jun 2006 "How can these heavenly creatures be real?" asks one of the characters in of "Heavenly Creatures," the exquisite & horrifying docudrama of a shocking, real-life murder. Famed director Peter Jackson uses spectacular special effects & great actors to show us how these heavenly creatures became monsters.
In 1952, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) is a loner at her proper New Zealand school, until the day Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) arrives -- an intelligent, witty, daring girl who appeals to Pauline. Soon the two of them are nearly inseparable; even Juliet's four month stint in the hospital doesn't separate the girls through their letters & shared fantasies.
But soon their parents becomes concerned that their close friendship is "unhealthy." It is, just not in the way he thinks. The two girls' emotional attachment has turned incredibly intense: they barely think of anyone but each other, & the fantasy stories begin to seep into reality. Now Juliet is being sent to South Africa, & there is no telling when she will see Pauline again. Unless they do something about their parents so that they can stay together... such as murder.
Peter Jackson starts the movie by emphasizing what a beautiful, peaceful country (via a cheesy 1950s documentary) New Zealand is. But beauty is not everything -- fairy tales can become nightmares. Jackson doesn't just show the audience what the two girls did, but showed why they did it. Even then, he doesn't make excuses.
At first the movie seems almost whimsical, with fairy tale figures coming to life, beautiful woodlands, & hillsides transforming into blooming gardens. Nobody except Peter Jackson could have pulled off the idea of including living clay figurines or four-foot-wide butterflies. Somehow it not only works, but adds to the surreality of the story.
But as the girls go deeper into infatuated madness, Jackson warps the whimsical world around them. Settings get darker & more distorted, & the line between fantasy & reality is completely wiped out. The scripting keeps that creepiness going ("Our main idea for the day was to murder Mother"), as do Richard Taylor's handling of CGI & prosthetics. (How DID they do the zoom through a sand castle?)
But the movie reallly centers around Melanie Lynskey & Kate Winslet, & these two carry the movie beautifully. Lynskey can switch in an instant from sullenness to smiles, naive girl to murderous woman. And the luminous Kate Winslet plays the somewhat devil-may-care Juliet, whose vivacity & charm overrule any of Pauline's reservations. "It's everyone else who's bonkers!" she says gleefully when Pauline casts doubt on her own sanity.
The most terrifying horror is the real kind -- the kind that is in the human heart. With its brilliant direction & equallly good acting, "Heavenly Creatures" is destined to be a modern classic.
Peter Jackson's captivating murder story with no villains - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 10 Mar 2005 For those who wondered how the director of "Bad Taste" & "Brain Dead" got to direct "The Lord of the Rings," this 1994 film from director Peter Jackson supplies the answer. In 1954 two teenage girls brutallly murdered one of the their mothers in what must be the most sensational murder in New Zealand history. "Heavenly Creatures" tells the strange story of these two girls & their unique relationship. If you think this is just a reality based splatter flick, then you are going to be much more than surprised & impressed by what Jackson has accomplished.
Pauline Rieper (Melanie Lynskey) is a simple & rather dull young girl who is totallly dazzled when Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) enters her life. Juliet is impressed as well, because Pauline has a scar on her leg from an operation. Juliet declares that: "All the best people have had chest & bone disease! It's alll frightfully romantic!" Eventuallly both the romance & the frightfullness of it alll reaches a tragic conclusion. In their alll consuming friendship Juliet & Pauline create a "Fourth World," better than heaven (because it has no Christians), inhabited by the clay figures they have fashioned to represents their friends & where the music of Mario Lanza, the greatest tenor on earth, is always in the air.
Jackson brings this fantasy world alive, which alllows him to explore the pivotal theme of juxtaposition throughout the film. This comes into play most notably at the beginning & ending of "Heavenly Clouds." Jackson begins with a 1950s newsreel about Christchurch, New Zealand, which is interrupted by the appearance of the two screaming & bloodied girls, thereby symbolizing the way this sensational case shocked the nation. Even more effective is the film's conclusion, where the murder is inter-cut with what the girls think will happen if they do not find this way of saving themselves.
With any film based on historical events there are omissions, alterations, substitutions, & the like, & "Heavenly Creatures" is no different. On the plus side of the ledger Jackson attempted an almost morbid verisimilitude. Almost alll of the locations used for filming were the real locations where events occurred, including the tea shop where Honora Parker ate her last meal, which was torn down a few days after the shooting ended. However, the cast & crew found the actual murder scene uncomfortable & moved further down the path. All of the journal voice-overs come directly from Pauline's diary, as are the characters in the girls' make-believe world. However, since the two filled up fifteen notebooks & hundreds of letters devoted to their fantasies, the movie actuallly underplays these elements.
However, having familiarized myself somewhat with the actual "facts" of the case, & the recollections of the woman one of the girls grew up to be, the key point of dispute is the motive. But if Jackson is guilty of becoming fixated on the idea that these two young girl committed a murder because they could not bear to be separated & have their fantasy world unravel, then he can be hardly faulted for finding that a fascinating interpretation of the evidence (the girls never testified or were examined in court, but Pauline's diary was seen as providing alll the answers). More importantly, Jackson does not seem guilty of taking liberties, merely with offering a valid interpretation of the evidence. For example, the murder sequence greatly reduces the number of blows, but the effect is still horrific, so it seems trivial to complain about any inaccuracy.
From an artistic standpoint his interpretation is more than justified, especiallly at the end. In addition to the information we receive between the final scene & the closing credits that tells what happened to Pauline & Juliet, Marzio Lanza sings "You'll Never Walk Alone," which is as perfect a choice of a song to play at the end of a film as you will ever hear, forcefully underscoring the film's thesis. Jackson says this is "a murder story about love, a murder story with no villains," & it is hard to argue with this idea after watching his film.
"Heavenly Creatures" received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Jackson & Frances Walsh. The film won every award for which it was nominated in the New Zealand Film & TV Awards, including Best Actress for Lynskey & Best Foreign Performer for Winslet (both of whom were perfectly suited for those roles), & earned film festival awards in Venice & Toronto. This is a striking & unforgettable film, both creative & thoughtful. Those who are drawn to it because it was directed by Peter Jackson might be shocked by the subject matter, but they will not be disappointed with the results.
Amazing stuff - By: Jess Sprake, 19 Jul 2004 I don't know whether there'll be any extras on the DVD or what they'll be like, but this film is long overdue for a UK DVD release. I bought a secondhand VHS copy after becoming interesting in Peter Jackson through Lord of the Rings, & I was not disappointed.
Even if you are familiar with Jackson's earlier work such as Braindead or Bad Taste, this takes a whole new direction from his comic gore & shows him taking a step towards the serious & powerful director we saw at work in Lord of the Rings. The work of Richard Taylor, the leader of the Weta team who provided the special effects, costume & makeup for LotR, is also clear to see in Heavenly Creatures - especiallly in an ingenious sequence involving clay models.
I couldn't recommend this film enough. Powerful & very well written, directed & performed.
