- published: 17 May 2016
- views: 14188
Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 New Zealand drama film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his partner, Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. The film features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts with supporting roles by Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Merrison, and Simon O'Connor. The main premise deals with the obsessive relationship between two teenage girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who murder Parker's mother. The events of the film cover the period from the girls' meeting in 1952 to the murder in 1954.
The film opened to strong critical acclaim at the 51st Venice International Film Festival in 1994 and became one of the best-received films of the year. Reviewers praised most aspects of the production, with particular attention given to the performances by the previously unknown Winslet and Lynskey, as well as for Jackson's directing. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Kate Elizabeth Winslet, CBE (born 5 October 1975), is an English actress and singer. She is the recipient of an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Grammy Award and three BAFTA Awards. She is the youngest person to receive six Academy Award nominations with seven nominations in total, and is one of the few actresses to win three of the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT). In addition, she has won awards from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association among others, and an Honorary César Award in 2012.
Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood, and began her career in British television in 1991. She made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which she received praise. She garnered her first Academy Award nomination for her role as Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995) before achieving global stardom with the epic romance Titanic (1997), which was the highest-grossing film of all time at that point and earned her a second Academy Award.nomination Winslet's performances in Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), Revolutionary Road (2008), and Steve Jobs (2015) continued to draw praise from film critics and earned her another three Academy Award nominations. In 2008, the critic David Edelstein described her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".
Sir Peter Robert Jackson ONZ KNZM (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03) and The Hobbit trilogy (2012–14), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), the mockumentary Forgotten Silver (1995), the horror comedy The Frighteners (1996), the epic monster film King Kong (2005) and the supernatural drama film The Lovely Bones (2009). He also produced District 9 (2009), The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) and the documentary West of Memphis (2012).
Jackson began his career with the "splatstick" horror comedy Bad Taste (1987) and the black comedy Meet the Feebles (1989) before filming the zombie comedy Braindead (1992). He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh for Heavenly Creatures, which brought him to mainstream prominence in the film industry. Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards in his career, including the award for Best Director in 2003. He has also received a Golden Globe, four Saturn Awards and three BAFTAs amongst others.
Based on the true story of Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, two close friends who share a love of fantasy and literature, who conspire to kill Pauline's mother when she tries to end the girls' intense and obsessive relationship.
Keywords: 1950s, adultery, altar, alternate-world, ambulance, apology, apparition, arrest, art-class, aunt-niece-relationship
Juliet Hulme: [Juliet has just arrived at her new school. For French class she has taken the name Antoinette] Excuse me, Miss Waller, you've made a mistake. "Je doutais qu'il vienne" is in fact the spoken subjunctive.::Miss Waller: It is customary to stand when addressing a teacher,::[pause]::Miss Waller: Antoinette.::Juliet Hulme: [stands] You should have written "vînt".::Miss Waller: I must have copied it incorrectly from my notes.::Juliet Hulme: [stands] You don't need to apologise, Miss Waller. I found it frightfully difficult myself until I got the hang of it.
Juliet Hulme: [speaking too brightly of the murder of Honorah Parker Rieper] I think she knows what's going to happen. She doesn't appear to bear us any grudge.
Juliet Hulme: Only the best people fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness.
Juliet Hulme: All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It's all frightfully romantic.
Pauline Parker: She is most unreasonable. Why could not mother die? Dozens of people are dying all the time, thousands, so why not mother? And father too.
Pauline Parker: [voiceover, from her diary] We have decided how sad it is for others that they cannot appreciate our genius.
Pauline Parker: Oh, I wish James Mason would do a religious picture! He'd be perfect as Jesus!::Juliet Hulme: Daddy says the Bible's a load of bunkum!::Pauline Parker: But we're all going to heaven?::Juliet Hulme: I'M not! I'M going to The Fourth World... it's sort of like heaven. Only better, because there aren't any Christians!
[Of Pauline's homosexuality]::Doctor Bennett: Chances are she'll grow out of it. If not... well, medical science is progressing in leaps and bounds. There could be a breakthrough at any time!
Pauline Parker: [narrating] We realised why Deborah and I have such extraordinary telepathy and why people treat us and look at us the way they do. It is because we are MAD. We are both stark raving MAD!
Pauline Parker: [narrating] This notion is not a new one but this time it is a definite plan which we intend to carry out. We have worked it out carefully and are both thrilled by the idea. Naturally we feel a trifle nervous, but the pleasure of anticipation is great.
nite nite i'll turn off the lights
now but don't be scared
think of all the good things
and for what you wish and hope for
and remember that i love you
nite nite goodnight i love you so
under the planets mobile
laying in the soft light
who lives on milk and apples
and love the golden woman
who sing bedtime stories
songs of dreams and visions
who paints on their arms words of molding
becoming sculptures and monuments
of their thoughts tune clearly
as he leaves the world
and remembers all the love of
a young man ring truly
oh, all the heavenly creatures
walk tonight
casting their tracks
in wet cement ground
their thoughts and pictures
cast forever
oh, all the lasting treasures
grace and beauty lay in pushing myself
i open my heart
under the planets mobile
laying in the soft light
coming through my window
holing yourself up for days
making your place in the world
white winter winter wood
in the night light
your porcelain skin
your ruby red lips
and your dark blond hair
your fairytale look
oh, all the heavenly creatures
walk tonight
casting their tracks
in wet cement ground
their thoughts and pictures
cast forever
oh, all the lasting treasures
grace and beauty lay in pushing myself
i open my heart
under the planets mobile
laying in the soft light