THE DRESSMAKER
Australia, 2015, 118 minutes, Colour.
Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Sarah Snook, Kerry Fox, Rebecca Gibney, Gyton Grantley, Shane Jacobson, Caroline Goodall, Barry Otto, Julia Blake, Sasha Horler, Terry Norris, Shane Bourne, Mark Leonard Winter, Alison Whyte, Genevieve Lemon.
Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse.
in many ways, this is a curious film, the characters and the plotline moving in ways that the audience might not have anticipated, sometimes very serious, sometimes with humour, sometimes with touches of a nasty vengeance. But, it is particularly well made and acted, adapted from a novel by Rosalie Ham, co-written by the director Jocelyn Moorhouse, who made such an impact in 1991 with Proof, to films in the US, but no film for almost 20 years. Her husband, P.J.Hogan, also acted as second unit director and co-writer.
The Dressmaker sounds a very quiet kind of title, rather sedate, but that also is deceiving.
The setting is 1951, a rather remote country town between Sydney and Melbourne, a small place, some homes, some shops, a local council, a local policeman, and some rivalry in football and theatrics with the next town along the line. The film offers a look back at Australia in the middle of the 20th century.
Into the town comes a very stylish looking woman, fashionable clothes, someone who obviously does not belong to the town, Tilly, played by Kate Winslet. But, in fact, she does belong to the town or, at least, she did. Throughout the film there are quite a number of flashbacks to Tilly and the other now-adults and their schooldays, their play together, friendships in the yard, bullying in the yard, and death of one of the children and the blame being put on Tilly who was sent away to boarding school and has stayed away for decades, going overseas and becoming a skilful international dress designer and dressmaker.
Why has Tilly returned at this stage? Is to understand herself better, to reacquaint herself with her mother, to find out the truth about whether she had killed the young boy or not? Or, some revenge?
The town is absolutely full of eccentric characters, played by a great number of veteran Australian screen and stage actors in cameo roles. This has to be one of the best casts of any Australian film.
First of all there is Tilly’s mother, called Mad Molly by all the people in the town, living as a recluse in a rather dirty old house, dressed raggedly, not quite all there, and not too sure about her daughter when she arrives back, cleaning up the house, getting her mother back on her feet, trying to probe what happened to her as a little girl. Judy Davis gives yet another extraordinary performance as Molly, referring to herself at one time as a tag, and looking and acting like it, but not without the wicked sense of humour and a beginning of appreciating her daughter.
Then there is the policeman, played by Hugo Weaving who welcomes Tilly back because he is something of a secret cross-dresser, secret in 1951, but exuberantly caught up in Tilly’s materials and creations – and who played a part, as the policeman, into her being sent away.
Tilly makes quite an impression on some of the young people in the town, a number of whom she went to school with, especially Teddy, a good, strong role for Liam Hemsworth, captain of the local football team – who, during a match, like the audience itself, cannot take their eyes from Tilly in her striking red dress, then in her striking black dress!
The locals are against Tilly, especially the prim school teacher, Kerry Fox, who was instrumental in blaming Tilly in the past. There are the parents of the dead boy, Shane Bourne, local councillor, philanderer, bringing in Una (Sasha Horler) as a rival dressmaker, and Alison Whyte, the withdrawn and still grieving mother. At the local store, there are Shane Jacobson and Rebecca Gibney, pillars of the community, and their plain daughter, Sarah Snook – with memories of the schoolyard of the past, and agreeing to get a fashion makeover from Tilly, especially to entice the young son, Mark Leonard Winter, of a rather snobbish citizen, played by Caroline Goodall.
Tilly mellows somewhat, though not against teeing off with golf balls from her mother’s house and swinging them towards the school and other town buildings, making her presence felt. She is also comfortable with Teddy – though this is one of the difficulties in the casting that both Sarah Snook and Liam Hemsworth are both in their mid 20s while Kate Winslet is nearing 40, the characters meant to be 35.
The film often veers into quirky Australian comedy, ironic and satiric in its way, especially with the rivalry between the two dressmakers, a drenched wedding sequence, and the competitiveness between the two towns for the award for best costumes at the Theatre Festival (Una with elaborate costumes for Macbeth and Tilly for the rival town with costumes for The Mikado).
Towards the end of the film, it seems that it is about to end several times, but it does go on with some surprising developments, not all of them happy, and, in apocalyptic fire ending with Tilly, of course, vindicated.
For those who are intrigued as they watch it, a second viewing could be recommended.
1. The title, expectations – the film going beyond them?
2. The blend of serious, comic, ironic?
3. A small Australian country town, the surrounding bush, isolated, homes, shops, school, football matches, theatre competitions, police? The feel of this kind of country town? The musical score?
4. 1951, the details of the atmosphere, the shops and contents, outside in the street, shops, awnings, advertisements? Clothes? Cars, petrol station?
5. Tilly’s arrival, the bus travelling through the countryside? Kate Winslet’s screen presence? The initial impression, her poise, clothes, meeting Sergeant Ferrat? In herself, the gradual revelation of her character and her past?
6. Building the story, her mother, Mad Molly, her father (later revelations of who he was and his actions)?, The young girl, gawky, playing with the children, her being ousted, the boy bullying, his death, her being blamed, the schoolteacher’s evidence, Sergeant Ferrat’s action, her being sent away?
7. The buildup to her being sent away, going into exile, away from her mother, boarding school, her experiences, going overseas, London, Paris, Milan, the international experience, her skills, her return? Expectations of what would happen to her? The motivations for her return?
8. Meeting her mother, her ambivalence, the golf balls hit at the targets including the school, the shop? Her animosity and the return animosity from the townspeople? Wanting to bring her mother back to consciousness, to find out about her identity, the truth of what happened? Her inability to remember the death of the boy?
9. Settling in, cleaning the mess in her mother’s house, her mother’s reaction? The football match, the red dress and her provocative poses, changing to the black dress? Offering to make dresses for the people in the town, Gertrude and her plainness, coming to see Tilly, the promise of the makeover? The mother’s reaction? Her achievement? Sergeant Ferrat, his cross dressing, his luxuriating in the materials?
10. The councillor, superior, the memories of his dead son, his wife, being sedated? Her grief, memories? Bringing in Una, as a rival for Tilly dressmaking, his affair with her? Tilly, the visit to the councillor, to his wife, the explanations, the change?
11. The shop, the Pratt family, the liveliness of the mother, the role of the father, in the town? Gertrude, plain, at work in the shop, her eye of the young man, his mother’s disapproval? The makeover, the new dress, at the dance? Yet a harsh girl in the past with Tilly, unwilling to help her? The wedding? The townswomen the poses with the dresses? Ganging up against Tilly, the theatre competition, going to Una, the dresses for Macbeth?
12. The young man’s mother, snobbish, her place in the town, attitudes towards the Pratt family, her comments, the change of heart, the wedding?
13. Teddy, from the trailer park, the glimpses of his mother and her being ostracised? Barney, mentally disabled, Teddy looking after him? The football match and captain? The past memories at school, of Tilly? The attraction? Her mellowing? Going to see Sunset Boulevard? Possibilities? The affair, going to the silo, his jumping in, death by suffocation, Barney, his help, cutting the hole in the silo? The funeral? The sad scene of his mother and family leaving the town?
14. Dr Almanac, his past, narrow attitudes, his hunch, his sick wife, sitting on the veranda, the marijuana brownies, the effect on Mrs Almanac, Molly coming to visit her, Tilly, telling the truth?
15. The teacher, prim, in love with the Councillor, the past, picking on Tilly, the children playing in the yard, blaming Tilly for the boy’s death, not having seen it, the testimony to Sergeant Farrett, the document, his lending into Tilly and her bribing him with materials, Tilly finally confronting her and her defensiveness? The truth, flashbacks, the boy running at Tilly, hitting his head of the wall, and dying? Barney in the tree seeing it? The theatre competition, the other town, the rivalry, the committee coming to see Tilly, Tilly agreeing to make the costumes, getting her vengeance, the success of The Mikado, Una and her failure, the other women upset in their costumes?
16. Molly, coming to life and regaining her memory, her sardonic comments, supporting her daughter, assertive, her sudden death? The funeral? Tilly, preparing to leave, burning her mother’s house, the petrol path down to the town, setting it alight, the town going up in flames? Tilly, in the train, leaving – and her comment on the nature of the rubbish that was being cleansed in the town?
