On H List of Movie Reviews
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Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
11/16
11/16:
Heavenly Creatures is a story about one of the most infamous murder cases in New Zealand history.
It happened on June 22, 1954, when two female teenagers named Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme conspired together to murder
Parker's mother because she wouldn't allow Pauline to move to South Africa to be with Juliet. They were found guilty of murder
and only served five years. Pauline changed her name to Hilary Nathan and became a recluse while living in Burray, one of the
Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland. Juliet changed her name to Anne Perry and is now a best-selling murder mystery author.
Of course, the most logical reaction to all of this is: they should be rotting in prison. There are many similarities between them
and Leopold and Loeb. Instead of males, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were females likely in love with each other and
thought they were super(wo)men by feeling superior to everybody else due to their intelligence. They also had a classic
dominant/submissive relationship.
Anyway, what a great film Heavenly Creatures is. It was entirely shot at actual locations. Not much was altered in
terms of details. The characters almost looked like their real-life counterparts. Making their screen debuts, Kate Winslet and
Melanie Lynskey are perfectly cast. They're almost like Farley Granger and John Dall in
Rope. Orson Welles capitalized
on the success by using the model of Leopold and Loeb for
Compulsion with Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman.
Of the three aforementioned films, Heavenly Creatures is the best. What's perfect, which is the point of Peter Jackson
showing everybody that he got it, is Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme being so wrapped up in their fantasy
world that they've become delusional, hence the exaggerated expressions and feelings of romanticism.
All in all, Heavenly Creatures is a can't-miss film from the 90's.