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Heavenly Creatures (1994,
NZ/Germ.)
In director Peter Jackson's R-rated, coming-of-age
crime story, a true-life tale and psychological thriller about a
friendship that became a homicidal partnership, set in 1950s Christchurch
in NZ:
- the film's opening sequence: a narrator was calmly
describing the city of Christchurch ("New Zealand's city of
the plains"), when interrupted by the sight of two girls -
unidentified - disturbingly running through a wooded area, and
emerging covered in blood, screaming for help as they ran toward
a house, calling out: ("It's Mummy, she's terribly hurt, please
help us!") - before a caption card told about the film's story
- the friendship of two girls, Pauline and Juliet, in 1953-54 -
it made a statement about Pauline's diary account - ("All
diary entries are in Pauline's own words") before a flashback
- in flashback, the film's development of the close
and increasingly dark friendship of two emotionally unstable, giddy,
obsessed, lesbian and murderous schoolgirls: quiet and brooding 14-year-old
working class Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey in her screen debut)
(aka 'Yvonne') and wealthy class, histrionic 15-year-old Juliet Hulme
(Kate Winslet in her screen debut)
The Schoolgirls' Imaginary World of Borovnia
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- the scenes of the deluded and "unwholesome"
and inseparable girls retreating - with stunning visual-digital effects
- to their imaginary, fantastical, make-believe world named Borovnia
(with unicorns, dream castles, and life-size versions of green
Plasticene clay models they sculpted, as well as favorite stars,
such as Mario Lanza and James Mason but without Orson Welles
(regarded as "the most hideous man alive"))
- also, the girls' belief in another beautiful, magical
fantasy realm known as the "Fourth World" - a heavenly
place (without Christians) in the after-life of art and music
- their frenzied dancing together to the tune of their
favorite, idolized tenor Mario Lanza's "Be My Love" who
they imagined was singing to them
- the scenes of the two often bathing together in a
large bath tub, sitting at the opposite ends
- the striking scene in Dr. Bennett's (Gilbert Goldie)
office, who believed that Pauline was exhibiting an "unwholesome
attachment" to her female friend; when he suggested to Pauline
that she might spend more time with boys, Pauline scowled at him
and imagined him being impaled by one of her life-sized fantasy Plasticene
figures; the doctor then spoke privately to ('Yvonne's' or Pauline's)
mother Honora Parker Reiper (Sarah Peirse), who was told a shocking
diagnosis for the 1950s, in extreme close-up of his mouth - and with
great emphasis about her problem: ("Ho-mo-sex-uality...I agree,
Mrs. Rieper. It's not a pleasant word. But let us not panic unduly.
This condition is often a passing phase with girls of Yvonne's age....Oh,
it can strike at any time, and adolescents are particularly vulnerable...Physically,
I can find nothing wrong. I've checked for TB, and she's clear. I-
I can only attribute her weight loss to her mental disorder. Look,
Mrs. Rieper, try not to worry too much. Yvonne's young and strong,
and she's got a loving family behind her. Chances are she'll grow
out of it. If not, well, medical science is progressing in leaps
and bounds. There, there could be a breakthrough at any time")
- the horrible final pre-meditated murder scene of the
two girls scheming against Honora who threatened to separate them;
the setting was a walking path in Victoria Park, where they smashed
in her skull (from behind) with a brick in a stocking, after planting
a round clear pinkish colored stone on the ground so that she would
stoop down to pick it up, intercut with black/white-toned images
of the two of them screaming and reaching out to each other after
being found guilty of murder at their trial and separated for life
("It was a condition of their release that they never meet again")
The Flashback to the Pre-Meditated Murder of Pauline's
Mother Honora
And The Girls' Separation After Being Found Guilty of Murder
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Bloody Opening Sequence Before Flashback
The Girls' Love of Mario Lanza
Lesbian Relationship
"Unwholesome" Relationship Between Two Girls
Close-Up of Dr. Bennett's Mouth As He Discussed Diagnosis
of Pauline's Homosexuality to Her Mother
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