Heavenly Creatures

“Heavenly Creatures” (1994) opens up with an overlapping segment showing two teenage girls in different temporal zones. First, we see the girls’ faces covered in blood, running through the mountainous landscape set against the nature’s beauty. The scene is a glimpse of their present state, and the ghastly event happened in the present time. As this segment plays, we also see another sequence filmed in black-and-white in which the two girls are happily dancing around on a ship, wrapped in youthful innocence and dripping with grace and glee; there is nothing but cheerfulness in this segment. One hopes this scene represents their happy moments, but as it turns out, later in the movie, this segment is an imaginary world created by the girls, and it’s their way to escape from the harsh reality soon to befall them. The scene almost feels as if it were shot to represent the characters in an afterlife. Maybe so, maybe not, but the manner in which the scenes are sewn together, they manage to capture the distortion in the characters’ lives, and we feel something is not right.

Director Peter Jackson beautifully juxtaposes the two scenes, directly placing the audience in the lives of the girls. It is a clever way of constructing a narrative that eventually is sequential as the plot progresses, but Jackson carefully utilizes the magnitude of the shock occurring later in the story as the starting point to tell the tale of the two girls. Moreover, Jackson places specific emphasis on New Zealand’s natural beauty to convey the beautiful and inescapable bond developing between the two girls. The black-and-white montage, on the other hand, excludes extrinsic factors shaping one’s personality. Instead, the happiness exhibited by the two girls signifies the beauty of the love from within. It’s a significant sequence that carries more weight after the film ends.

“Heavenly Creatures” is based on a true story of two girls, Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet (Kate Winslet), whose act shocked New Zealand in the late 50’s. Early on, we see Pauline and Juliet going to the same school, where they become close friends. Soon their friendship takes a different form, as both develop a loving bond. Juliet’s parents come to know about this, and they talk to Pauline’s parents about separating the two girls. Meanwhile, Juliet is diagnosed with tuberculosis, and doctors advise she stay in a warm place suited to her lungs. Pauline, during this phase, tries her best to stay in touch with Juliet. In the meantime, Pauline explores her sexuality with a man. While all of this is happening, Pauline starts documenting her thoughts, specifically her relationship to Juliet, in a diary. Pauline and Juliet decide to escape to another country, but there is one hindrance to the plan: Pauline’s parents.

Much of what we see in the story is scripted directly from Pauline’s diary, with segments showing Pauline’s fantasy world. In one sequence, there are human clay sculptures moving elegantly as if they were part of an opera. Pauline recognizes real-life people from her immediate social circle in the faces of these sculptures. She greets the sculptures, but she continues to search for Juliet. Pauline fears that she will lose Juliet, and the pain will be unbearable. Juliet also shares the same fears, which is conveyed by another segment in which a man dressed in an elegant suit chases both of them through the streets and into their house. The entire sequence is shot during the nighttime, giving it a noir-like appearance, and to our amazement, we question the presence of the man in this scene. But then Pauline is used to constructing a dreamy world, always imaging Juliet along with her.

At a deeper level, Pauline and Juliet tend to complement each other by nourishing their relationship both physically and emotionally. Director Jackson handles the material with outmost care and respect, considering the sensitivity of the issue and the crime committed later on. In addition, Jackson’s direction ensures that the sex between the two is never magnified, and he instead focuses on capturing the realistic, sensual moments arising through several situations and by the discovery of their own sexuality. By providing enough insight on the main protagonists, Jackson is able to make his characters more human and sympathetic to a certain extent. Structurally, Jackson and Walsh’s script unfolds more like a coming-of-the-age story, and not like a traditional crime thriller. Even though we don’t endorse the final outcome, we tend to understand why it happened. Was it parental pressure? Or was it Pauline and Juliet’s inability to find an appropriate medium to express their feelings?

Both Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey turn in truly remarkable performances in their debut roles. Winslet and Lynskey succeed in projecting their characters as an obsessively, mad-in-love couple who are willing to do anything, in spite of the repercussions involved. Indeed, the dual performances are mesmerizing, and it holds our attention throughout the entire duration. And it makes the film equally dark and suspenseful.

Video:

“Heavenly Creatures” is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and encoded using an AVC codec. The 50’s period details look gorgeous in the 1080p transfer. The colors are solid, and the lustrous landscapes of New Zealand are beautiful-looking, packing in nice natural detail. The detail is always remarkable and sharpness is never an issue, even when in a few shots the camera switches rapidly between close-ups and long shots. The blacks are often deep, but in the dark scenes, the blacks appear on the light side. The skin tones are warm and realistic, too.

Audio:

For this Blu-ray release, we only get an English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track. For a dialogue-driven movie, this track is acceptable, although the film’s soundtrack could have benefited by the inclusion of a 5.1 track, mainly to present the arena-like sounds in the fantasy sequences. The dialogue is audible and clean throughout the entire film. The soundtrack is dynamic, with moments of slow dialogue and rapid imaginary segments, and this track, nonetheless, performs quite well.

Extras:

There are no bonus features included for this release, except a few theatrical trailers.

Parting Thoughts:

Peter Jackson will always be remembered for creating the highly successful epic trilogy “Lord of the Rings.” But Jackson’s early directorial effort, “Heavenly Creatures,” is nonetheless a rewarding experience, helped by astonishing performances by its leads. It showcases Jackson’s brilliance in dealing with a human drama that is soaked in fantasy--a mix that is treasured by Jackson. Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey both shine in their first roles, and their performances are energetic and realistic. Highly recommended.