Review: Heavenly Creatures – Crime That Shocked A Nation!
March 24, 2009 by Morbid
I had many films to choose from to kick off this new column, but in the end I decided to jump-start Crime Screen with one of my all-time favorite true crime films, Peter Jackson’s Heavenly CreaturesHeavenly Creatures reviews
. After making his mark on the horror community with two splatter classics, Bad TasteBad Taste reviews
, Peter Jackson chose a real-life murder case as his first mainstream film. The movie is based on the 1954 New Zealand murder of Honora Rieper, committed by her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and her best friend, Juliet Hulme. The two girls lured the woman to a remote trail where they bludgeoned her to death with a brick. The motive behind the crime was an act of desperation to keep the girls from being separated. Juliet was being sent to South Africa, and the girls thought that by killing Pauline’s mother, Pauline would then be allowed to with Juliet and they would remain together. Things did not go as planned.
Heavenly Creatures picks up when the two girls first meet after Juliet (In Kate Winslet’s big-screen debut) arrives as a new student, recently arriving with her parents from England. Pauline (Melanie Lynskey ) comes from a working class family and is anti-social, brooding and withdrawn. Juliet is the other end of the spectrum, coming from a wealthy family, her mother is a pillar of the community and her father is Rector of Canterbury University College. She is loud, boastful and overly animated. When she talks, it is borderline hysteria. But despite an opposite background and disposition, the duo finds common ground in their irreverent sense of humor and from both having suffered long, life-threatening illnesses in their youth.
As the relationship intensifies, the girls begin creating elaborate fantasies together. They create a fantasy kingdom they call Borovnia. They each write pages and pages of stories detailing this kingdom and its rulers in hopes of selling the short stories to an American publisher. They flesh out all the characters of this world, including sculpting plasticine miniatures of the denizens. They reject Christianity and instead create their own religion with its own rituals and rules, complete with its own HeavenHeaven reviews that they call The Fourth World. This Heaven will be populated by their favorite singers and actors, all of which will be regarded as saints, and at certain times they are able to enter this world while living because of their friendship. These fantasy worlds begin to bleed through into the real one at times, Pauline and Juliet both imagining members of Borovnia’s royal family showing up to help them in times of stress. As their relationship continues to get stronger, and unbeknownst to the two girls, their parents have begun to worry about the implications.
The ’50s were a time when homosexuality was deemed a mental illness. An affliction that could be cured with time, or possible medical treatment. The parents have noticed that this once-encouraged friendship had surpassed the usual silly type of bond between two best friends. The whispers and inside jokes that only they laughed at were now accompanied by shared gazes, light touches and an uncomfortable closeness that was almost unmistakably sexual. But the parents do not have to come up with a solution to this issue, as one is presented to them in the form of divorce. Juliet’s parents are separating, and Juliet’s father is returning to England while Juliet will be sent to South Africa to live with her Aunt. When Pauline’s mother refuses to let her accompany Juliet, the girls begin to plan her death.
There are a lot of things that make ‘Heavenly Creatures’ such a fascinating film to watch to this day, even given the subject matter. The fact that Jackson stays pretty faithful to the actual events is one of them. He and his partner, Fran Walsh, did this by interviewing all of the classmates and teachers from Christchurch Girls’ High School that knew the girls, as well as any neighbors and family friends. They also had access to the materials presented at the trial and interviewed policemen, lawyers and psychologists that were involved with the arrest and sentencing. Jackson also filmed on actual locations when possible, stating “‘‘Heavenly Creatures’ is based on a true story, and as such I felt it important to shoot the movie on locations where the actual events took place.” This even includes the actual trail in which the murder took place. Adding to all of this, are Pauline’s actual words. Her diary was made available and all of Pauline’s voice overs in the film are the actual diary entries she made.
Jackson’s dizzying, frantic camera work is used to great effect–particularly when showing the beginnings of the girl’s friendship. A montage of scenes shows the girls coming together while Mario Lanza’s The Donkey Serenade blares. It effectively creates the feeling of two small tornadoes swirling around each other, feeding off of one another. But what makes this film truly stand out is how Peter Jackson handles the Fourth World. Not content with just letting the characters tell us about it, Jackson shows it to us. As evident in most of his films, Jackson seems to like stories that contain contrasting worlds. The orc-infested Mordor compared to The Shire, the after-life compared to the real one, Skull Island and New York City. And in Heavenly Creatures, the Fourth World and Borovnia are both shown to the viewer as beautiful places with giant butterflies and Unicorns and loyal subjects who love and accept the girls entirely. This is achieved by using practical make-up effects Jackson was familiar with as well as demonstrating some early uses of CGI he would use later on in his films.
Peter Jackson deliberately chose not to cover the proceeding trial and the events that surrounded it, deciding to create a film that focuses purely on the friendship between the Pauline and Juliet in an attempt to explain how a friendship that was so beneficial to each of the girls, morphed into something that would lead them to commit such a horrific act. The film helps to dispel some of the false notions of these two girls being nothing but evil incarnate, or lesbian pagans overcome by unnatural desires and blood lust. Instead it helps show how complicated things can be when it comes to our relationships with others, and how these relationships shape you into who you are, and who you may become.
I cannot recommend this film highly enough. If you have not watched it, I urge you to do so and let me know what you think about it. If you have seen this already, do the same as I am curious as to your thoughts. If you choose to watch this, be sure to pick up the Miramax DVD release I have listed below. It is the fully uncut version that contains important scenes not seen in previous releases.
Rating: 
As my own little footnote for those of you who are not aware, Juliet Hume went on to change her name and become a pretty successful writer of crime novels. She now goes by the name Anne Perry
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3:12 am on March 24th, 2009
Fascinating. Will check it out.
(My all time fave true crime book and “mini-series” tv movie is Fatal Vision. Karl Malden as Freddie Kassab is spot on perfect. The tv movie is faithful to the book as well.)
7:05 am on March 24th, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I’m a fan as well. I rented it after LOTR came out, since the only other thing of his I’d seen was Dead Alive. I was pleasantly surprised by how sincere to the story and relationship it seemed, while also giving viewers a glimpse of this magical world that the girls completely withdrew into and depended on. Plus claymation, always love claymation.
Lynskey played the perfect gloomy loner, but it was Winslet’s performance that amazed me. She was so excitable, beaming, a little breathless and almost exhausting to watch. I’ve always liked her (although I absolutely and rather stubbornly refuse to actually watch Titanic), and I have to say it was a fantastic start to her career.
I usually don’t bother reading reviews of things I’ve already seen, but I remember really liking this, and maybe wanted an air of pseudo-cool by being the first one to comment that’s seen it. Also, I had no idea that Juliet Hume writes crime novels now, I’m going to have to check out some of her stuff as well as that website.
7:36 am on March 24th, 2009
Yeah I think I saw this, it sounds really familiar. I will rent again just to be sure.
7:58 am on March 24th, 2009
I read this crime story about a year ago! Fascinating! I was going to get some of Perry’s books. Glad you reminded me. Will check out the DVD also!
8:03 am on March 24th, 2009
She has spoken openly about the incident and the film, after she was “discovered”. At first she blasted the film, even though she had not seen it, but later calmed down a bit. She is adamant that her and Pauline were not lesbians (which even had they done anything sexual, could still be true) and that her participation was not out of fear of them being separated, but more out of loyalty because of Pauline being the only person to remain in constant contact with her when she was hospitalized.
But if you read some of the transcripts from the trial, it paints a picture more like the one Peter Jackson created. For example (the following from the Fourth World website):
Dr Bennett testified to this exchange with Juliet Hulme:
FO Bennett: “I asked Juliet about hell and she said:”
JMH: “No. There is no hell The whole idea is too primitive and too inartistic.”
FOB: “Do you believe that in heaven or paradise you’ll meet all the people you knew on earth?”
JMH: “Of course.”
FOB: “Then you probably will meet Pauline’s mother.”
JMH: “I suppose so.”
FOB: “With blood on her face.”
JMH: “Well, she wouldn’t arrive in that state. Anyway, she’ll be in heaven and we’ll be in paradise. Even if we didn’t meet her, it wouldn’t matter. She wasn’t a happy woman. The day we killed her she seemed to know and she didn’t seem to bear any grudge.”
FOB: “Do you have any regrets?”
JMH: “None whatever. Of course, I did not want my people to get involved in this, but we have been so terribly happy since. It was well worth it.”
FOB: “Who then are the best people?”
JMH: “The best people are those who fight against all obstacles in the pursuit of happiness.”
FOB: “Even to murder?”
JMH: “Oh yes, if necessary.”
9:49 am on March 24th, 2009
I saw the movie, but didn’t realize that anyone had interviewed them after all those years. Only those without a conscience would say there is no Hell; a narcissist like Juliet Hulme believes reality MUST be as only she can believe it to be: No conscience = No Hell. She has no regrets… how pathetic.
9:59 am on March 24th, 2009
To clarify, she was 14 when she made the comments I quoted. Also, let’s try not to get this into a religious debate as some of us feel that believing in hell is pathetic. I’d like to keep the comments on the film itself, which was not about religion in the slightest.
And to clarify, she HAD no regrets. That comment was made over 50 years ago.
10:56 am on March 24th, 2009
I love this movie, it’s one of my all time favorites. the portrayal of the psychological inadequacy and enmeshment of the two girls is so realistic, and the acting is wonderful.
11:20 am on March 24th, 2009
If you are a fan of this film, then you will probably like his next one. He is directing the film adaptation of the best selling book, The Lovely Bones
. The plots between the two movies are not the same, but some of the subject matter is. Like Heavenly Creatures, it deals with teens, murder and two different worlds (the living and the dead) that are constantly merged together, even if one world’s inhabitants are not aware of it. It’s an interesting read, even though I think the religious will enjoy it 1000 times more than I did.
2:36 pm on March 24th, 2009
Oh now I’m excited! I have read “The Lovely Bones” and greatly enjoyed it! I will check out this movie and watch, with pleasure! I am totally obsessed with True Crime movies, books, magazines, TV Series…… And ummmm, I Am Not Crazy!
9:09 pm on March 24th, 2009
The Lovely Bones was a fantastic book, I can’t wait to see the movie adaptation.
This movie sounds fascinating. The whole case sounds fascinating, actually.
10:51 pm on March 24th, 2009
For those of you who have not seen this, and plan on checking it out…don’t forget to come back and let us know what you thought no matter if you thought it sucked or not. Would like to see how some of you felt about the two girls and their motivations…at least as far as how the film portrayed them.
6:25 pm on March 25th, 2009
What happened to Pauline Parker?
7:14 pm on March 25th, 2009
Early in her incarceration Pauline converted to Roman Catholicism and apparently became a devout Catholic. Pauline enrolled in courses in English, French, Latin, Mathematics, Drawing and Design and, later, Maori. She completed University Entrance and made considerable progress towards her Bachelor of Arts degree, eventually completing it soon after her release from prison.
Her new identity was found out and revealed in 1997. Read this article to find out about her and what she has been up to.
8:40 am on March 27th, 2009
Thank you so much for posting this! I hadn’t seen the film and was only vaguely aware of the case. Watched it last night, and it was excellent.
I liked Jackson’s method of showing how their actions separated them, forever, at the end. Very well done. Very effective.
9:07 am on March 27th, 2009
Well I am glad you enjoyed it. If I could get just one person to watch this who has not, then my mission is complete.
12:17 pm on March 27th, 2009
I’m looking forward to future reviews.
12:24 pm on March 27th, 2009
Got one almost done. Another one of my favorites that a lot of people may have overlooked.
12:47 pm on March 27th, 2009
I watched Let The Right One In last night and, you were right – it was pretty fantastic. Heavenly Creatures is next on my list. I’m actually pretty surprised I haven’t seen it, already.
6:03 pm on March 27th, 2009
Let me know what you think. Glad you enjoyed Let the Right One In as well. Great film.
6:57 pm on March 27th, 2009
I agree, Morbid. Pathetic is actually a good word to describe how I feel about it. The reason I consider it pathetic is that so many that believe in Hell don’t seem to realize what a wonderful tool it is for religions to manipulate their followers.
That’s all I’ll say about that.
Heavenly Creatures is GREAT, one of my all-time faves.
10:05 pm on March 28th, 2009
I just finished watching it and I think Peter Jackson did a beautiful job with the entire film. Although it’s about a very disturbing crime, the details and background on the two girl’s relationship and their actions leading up to the murder, I found very fascinating.
I loved the clay people in the 4′th world. Very cool. Thanks for recommending it and doing the review. Now I’m anxious to see more great movies like this one!
1:27 am on April 1st, 2009
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