The Dressmaker
Go! A patchwork comedy hemmed with darkness.
Aussie seamstress's sensational homecoming.
Bouncing kangaroos & bellowing didgeridoos; Home and Away, an opera house on Harbour Bay; coffees taken flat and white & Prime Ministers who talk complete and utter...nonsense. Of course mate! It's bloody Australia, ya flamin' galah! Giver-to-cinema of Crowe, Kidman, Jackman, Blanchett, Watts and (more contentiously) Gibson; Mad Max, Strictly Ballroom, Crocodile Dundee and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Like an aristocratic Koala Bear, the place has pedigree. Attempting to add to this illustrious heritage comes The Dressmaker, based on a novel of the same name by Aussie author Roslaie Ham and directed by Muriel's Wedding producer, Jocelyn Moorhouse.
Led by the distinctly non-Australian, but pleasantly-accented Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs), we follow seamstress Tilly Dunnage in 1951, as she returns to her (fictional) two-horse home town of Dungatar in the Australian outback. Exiled to boarding school as a young girl after the death of a local schoolboy, she reunites with her estranged, barmy mother Molly (Judy Davis, Marie Antoinette) and attempts to sew together the pieces of her torn past; ragged and flung from her memory as the result of a youthful trauma. Her reappearance is greeted by the local population mostly with shock, disgust and dismay, but with her Parisian training as a couturist behind her, she sets off on a mission of revelation and retribution. Using tailoring as her most elaborate and inventive weapon, she transforms the fashion of the town before yanking on the threads and watching everything gradually unravel. Needless to say there is also a handsome, rugged young man - Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth, The Hunger Games- Mockingjay, Part 2) - who is swiftly hooked on her Francophilial sophistication and well-covered curves; adding a dose of potential romance to a genre cross-dressing, darkly-comic, pseudo-western redemption tale.
Protagonist Tilly Dunnage is a bona fide badass. From her first menacing line, "I'm back, you bastards"; it is clear that she will not be a typical heroine, and nor is the film likely to be the schmaltzy rom-com that is suggested by the trailer. Even saying that, it is not until the second half of its 2 hours when this many-limbed arachnid of a movie really starts scuttle around, nibble with its fangs and inject the tale with doses of potent dark-comedic venom. Like a Huntsman spider dropping into your lap while driving, the murky twists come as quite a surprise, which makes the movie, at times, both awkward and inconsistent. Overall, however, they are more or less in keeping with the soapy, operatic, and melodramatic story, so are manageable, but only because of the hugely entertaining acting of Winslet and Davis. Together, their performances darn the holey script, which has more ostentatious gaps than a Liz Hurley red-carpet dress.
Their mother and daughter combo puts some real weight behind The Dressmaker. The statuesque Winslet's embodies Tilly's exciting and volatile character; a rare, on-screen woman whose femininity is her most powerful and uncompromising asset, rather than a weakness. Winslet couples the strength with a bubbling vulnerability, but allows it to fuel rather than flood her performance. Davis is similarly impressive, and since the majority of the laugh-out-loud lines (of which there are several) are lashed from her cutting and characterful tongue, she also adds an essential and entertaining tune of dastardly comedy amongst the film's more morose and tragic verses.
Their mother and daughter combo puts some real weight behind The Dressmaker. The statuesque Winslet's embodies Tilly's exciting and volatile character; a rare, on-screen woman whose femininity is her most powerful and uncompromising asset, rather than a weakness. Winslet couples the strength with a bubbling vulnerability, but allows it to fuel rather than flood her performance. Davis is similarly impressive, and since the majority of the laugh-out-loud lines (of which there are several) are lashed from her cutting and characterful tongue, she also adds an essential and entertaining tune of dastardly comedy amongst the film's more morose and tragic verses.
Hugo Weaving (Captain America: The First Avenger) is also humorous (if somewhat out of place) as a flamboyant, fabric-addicted policeman and fans of the male physique will not be disappointed (and the image of Australian men has been done no harm) by Hemsworth's turn as a straight-talking, blue-eyed knight in white-vested armour. Although the remainder of the ensemble cast tend to over-act to the point of pantomime, everything still works more often than it fails. For all of its incongruous flourishes, poor stitching and loose threads, The Dressmaker is still somehow capable of providing plenty of heart-rending and hilarious moments.
So go. Like Lady Gaga's wardrobe, it doesn't entirely make sense, but it doesn't need to. Lift your arms and pull The Dressmaker's elaborate, sequinned drama over your head. Trust me. It'll suit you.
So go. Like Lady Gaga's wardrobe, it doesn't entirely make sense, but it doesn't need to. Lift your arms and pull The Dressmaker's elaborate, sequinned drama over your head. Trust me. It'll suit you.