Film No. 2. (2016) The Dressmaker January 9th.

Film No. 2 (2016) January 9th.  4.30 PM  FENWICK 3 Cimenas  Esperance.

 

"You can transform people, so use it!". (Molly Dunnage (Judy Davis) gives yet another piece of advice to her daughter Tilly (Kate Winslet)).

I have to admit to taking my time getting to the cinema to catch The Dressmaker. My excuse being that there were other films I had prioritised in front of this pot-boiling handsome fable of a film. Well, luckily I caught the very last showing in my favourite small rural Western Australian (Esperance) cinema and I must say, I'm so glad I did. 


So let the legend of Tilly Dunnage begin. Well, you see, Tilly was run out of her native town of Dungatar at a young age. It was easy to do to a young girl, from the wrong side of the tracks and more importantly who had no recollection of her involvement in (due to shock) the tragic incident which saw a boy killed. But now she is back to seek revenge but not revenge of a conventional kind. Her weapon of choice in this life affecting assignment would be a sewing machine.


The recreation of Dungatar on the sweeping crop plains of outback Australia is stunning. The meticulously built high street becomes the backdrop to this dark, comic tale where those (and of course no one has left town) who sinned will pay a price for leaving an innocent child to fend for herself at such a young age. The characters of Dungatar are woven into the fabric of Tilly's plan one at a time, each of them dysfunctional in their own unique way. Tilly is now worldly and talented so they all must pay, except her mother Molly (Judy Davis) who has been ignored by the town and left for dead.


It is all very silly really but that's the point. The film is big, bold, colourful and entertaining. The plot has gaps as wide as the wheat paddocks in which the film is shot but it has a cast of charismatic characters which meld brilliantly. Judy Davis gets most of the well timed laughs but the combination of writer / director Morehouse (Proof) and writer Hogan (Muriel's Wedding) brings the film an ambivalent but serious chord. I'm often critical of outsiders playing Australians, but Winslet is perfect, even if she is 15 years older than Liam Hemsworth in the real world. 8GUMS.