Backbencher

Heavenly Creatures is a strange film directed by Peter Jackson. It is set in 1950's Christchurch, New Zealand with two girls, Pauline and Juliet, who develop what their parents consider an "unhealthy" friendship. The girls friendship is based around a fantasy world where the girls are the stars. The girls become so engrossed in their fantasy lives that they become increasingly estranged from their families, other children, and their teachers. This separation from the real world worries both girls families who believe their friendship is based on sexual feelings between the girls and the families decide to attempt to separate the girls from eachother with the hopes the girls would grow out of their fantasies. After learning of their parents plot to separate them the girls plot to flee to America and begin trying to raise the money to get there, but when they realize they will not be able to run away they plot to murder Pauline's mother Honora, whom they feel is their main obstacle. The girls commit the vicious murder with a brick inside a sock and manage to get away with it. They are, however, still forced to separate when Juliet's father forces her to move away.

This movie was, at best, disturbing. The fantasy world the girls create was so elaborate with the characters being made out of clay and their lineages traced back for centuries that I found it hard to believe a 15 and 16 year old girl would be able to stay interested in anything for such a long period of time. Besides the plot though this film gives a very good view into the school New Zealand girls would have been exposed to, and the landscapes for most of their romps through the woods seems almost like a forest of the American Northeast. New Zealand is often depicted as being a beautiful place but one that trapped the girls nontheless and the monotony of the entirely green landscape becomes apparent at times. I had a hard time enjoying this film but did learn quite abit about Christchurch and the landscape around it.