THE DRESSMAKER

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3.5 stars
It’s been a while since we saw an Australian film that pushed the boundaries in much the same way as Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and Muriel’s Wedding did, in other words, a film which is… camp!
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The Dressmaker has broken the drought and this fine version of Rosalie Ham’s critically acclaimed debut novel has been cleverly adapted for the screen by the co-writers, husband and wife team P. J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) and Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof). Set in 1951 in ‘back of beyond’ Victoria, the film opens with an aerial shot of a bus travelling along a dusty road flanked by dry, empty fields. When it makes a brief stop at the (fictional) town of Dungatar, a one-horse dump in the middle of nowhere, a stunning woman dressed from head to toe in haute couture alights. Taking a drag on a cigarette, she looks around disdainfully at the empty street and announces, “I’m back, you bastards!” From that moment on, you know you are in for a fun ride.

The mystery woman is Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage (Kate Winslet – A Little Chaos), a local lass who left town years ago and who has been working in Europe as a fashion designer. Tilly has returned in the hope of unravelling something that is haunting her from the past; she wants to undo the ‘curse’ she feels is upon her. Dungatar’s inhabitants are an assortment of weirdos, including a hunch-backed chemist, Percival Almanac (Barry Otto - The Great Gatsby), an overbearing teacher, Beulah Harridiene (Kerry Fox - Holding The Man), the town’s ‘ugly duckling,’ Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Pratt (Sarah Snook - Predestination), a cross-dressing policeman, Sergeant Farrat (Hugo Weaving - Strangerland), and a couple who have never got over the death of their son years earlier, Evan and Marigold Pettyman (Shane Bourne - Tricky Business, and Alison Whyte - The Doctor Blake Mysteries). The only thing this disparate group has in common is their belief that Tilly Dunnage is a murderer.

Tilly returns to the house of her mother, Molly (Judy Davis – The Eye Of The Storm), who lives in a ramshackle cottage on the top of a hill overlooking town. The two women have a love/hate relationship which has been exacerbated by their separation and now neither quite knows how to handle the other. Davis is at her best in her role as a self-described “hag” and she and Winslet spar almost constantly. Tilly eventually manages to get Molly and some of the residents on-side when she makes new dresses for them and transforms these plain country women into fashion mavens… well, sort of. She is also beginning to glean small bits of information about the cause of her rapid departure from town when still a child. The arrival of Una Pleasance (Sacha Horler - Catching Milat), a seamstress hired to make costumes for the local drama competition, causes deep division in the ranks and makes for some fabulous bitchy rivalry and slapstick humour. Tilly has been busy in another direction, too, and has been swept off her feet by Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth - The Hunger Games series), an impoverished farm worker. In a scene that has him baring his chest to be fitted for a new suit, you could hear an audible sigh go through the preview screening. That Hemsworth gene pool is something else!

This is Moorhouse’s first directorial effort since 1997’s A Thousand Acres and it’s been worth waiting for. It’s one of the most original Aussie films released this year and is likely to be well represented in the AACTA and Film Critics’ Circle Awards. With good reason: viewers will be drawn in by the smorgasbord of well-known Australian acting talent; by Don McAlpine’s cinematography, which perfectly captures the bleached look of the outback; by Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson’s colourful fabrics and lavish costumes; and by David Hirschfelder’s score. Lisa Thompson’s set direction is suitably over the top - the sets are stuffed full of kitsch ‘50s objects that must have been snapped up at garage sales - but somehow it all works. The script never quite goes where you think it will and, indeed, takes a couple of very dark turns at times. If you’re game for some well-executed, quirky and well… camp, mayhem then The Dressmaker will suit you (boom boom)!

// SALT

Previewed at Universal Pictures Theatre, Sydney on 15 October 2015
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STARRING
Kate Winslet
Liam Hemsworth
Hugo Weaving
Judy Davis
Sarah Snook

DIRECTOR
Jocelyn Moorehouse

WRITER
Jocelyn Moorehouse
P.J. Hogan

COUNTRY
Australia

CLASSIFICATION
M

RUNTIME
118 minutes

AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
October 29, 2015
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The Dressmaker (2015) on IMDb
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