Backbencher

The film explores the 1950s murder case that shocked New Zealand. The film is based on the actual diary entries of Pauline Rieper. Two teenage girls, Juliet and Pauline, become fast friends at school. A common bond they share is of childhood illness. The girls soon develop a rich fantasy life, and when life becomes difficult their fantasy world, the forth dimension, seems to overtake the real world. Both sets of parents eventually begin to question how healthy this intense friendship is for their daughters, and they try and separate them. Eventually Juliets parents decide to get divorced, and they want Juliet to go to South Africa and live with her aunt. The girls get the idea that they will be together in Souht Africa, and that the only thing preventing it is Pauline's mother. To be together the girls make a plan to murder Pauline's mother. The film ends with Pauline and Juliet beating Pauline's mother to death with a brick inside a stocking. Both girls went to jail, but were released on the condition that they never see each other again.

This film is disturbing but it draws the viewer in. There is a lot of fantasy incorporated and sometimes it's hard to tell what's real. In my opinion Juliet and Pauline are most definently insane. The background for the fantasy and outdoor scenes in this movie are fantastic. The New Zealand landscape looks gorgeous. This is an interesting movie, but very disturbing.