The Dressmaker (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 118 minutes
Directed by: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Starring: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Sarah Snook, Sacha Horler, Caroline Goodall, James Mackay, Rebecca Gibney, Shane Bourne, Alison Whyte, Barry Otto, Julia Blake, Kerry Fox, Gyton Grantley
KRS Releasing Ltd
Jocelyn Moorhouse’s adaptation of Rosalie Ham’s 2000 novel is a playful, quasi-drama comedy that elicits thrills on various levels. Moorhouse has been absent from directing duties since 1997’s A Thousand Acres but The Dressmaker shows off her strength and flair.
Moorhouse directs the film with a meticulous sense of detail as she dissects the small town, its inhabitants and patiently twists the knife to make the audience see the ugliness and deceit of men who tend to lie a little too much. She knows when she has to overplay her hand, when to let her cast run wild and when to pull back.
Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet), who had been known as Myrtle Dunnage, has returned to the town of Dungatar in the Australian outback as a dressmaker. Her departure had been quite a rough one as at the age of 10 she was accused of killing a classmate, Stewart Pettyman. No one had believed she could be innocent, not even her mother, Molly (Judy Davis), who is known by the locals as Mad Molly. Tilly now goes to live with her parent in the house that overlooks the town.
This town is made up of some really unique characters such as the school teacher (Kerry Fox), who says she had seen what Tilly had done; Evan Pettyman (Shane Bourne), the dead boy’s father and who is the town councillor and holds both town and wife (Alison Whyte) under his control; and the town chemist (Barry Otto), a deeply religious man with a grudge.
There are also those who feel differently about Tilly. There’s Teddy (Liam Hemsworth), a debonair soccer player and rising star who is attracted to her, and Farrat (Hugo Weaving), the police sergeant who secretly loves dresses and likes the materials Tilly has brought back with her. Gertrude (Sarah Snook) is another one who wants to savour Tilly’s dressmaking expertise and wants to be transformed into a kind of Cinderella.
The film has a sense of unpredictability
Soon Tilly sets up shop and slowly starts to investigate what had really happened when Stewart was killed.
Moorehouse consciously strips the town and its inhabitants of any vestige of respectability and innocence. Everyone has something to hide, everyone seems to be guilty of something – there is no one that is above and beyond any sort of reproach.
The Dressmaker has several layers and moods that make it a very different cinematic proposition.
The film has a sense of unpredictability in the way it sets out the plot and in the story material itself. The danger and damage from the past is felt but the present is not safe at all and characters are written off without warning.
At the centre of the film is the combination of Davis and Winslet. Winslet is a femme fatale both in look, style and action, while Davis is the much-needed fire to darken the proceedings. These are two towering performances and the actresses balance each other out perfectly.
To top all this, as befitting the title, the film comes packed with a good fashion sense and manages to feed off the 1950s era in a very succinct manner.