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 and Dead AliveDead Alive reviews, and before he directed The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings 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  Pauline (Melanie Lynskey ) comes from a working class family and is anti-social, brooding and withdrawn.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. If you want all the information you could ever possibly want about the film, as well as the real-life events, check out the Fourth World website. I spent a few hours there reading all of the information they have obtained.

Heavenly Creatures - 1994 - More Information

Director: Peter Jackson
Writer: Fran Walsh
Actors: Kate Winslet, Melanie Lynskey, Lou Dobson, Moreen Eason, Peter Elliott (III)
Genre: Crime - Drama
MPAA: Rated R for a chilling murder and some sexuality.; Rated R for violence and sexual content. (uncut version)
Company: Miramax Films (USA) (theatrical)

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