Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The film deals with the obsessive relationship between Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, two teenagers who murdered Parker's mother. The events of the film cover the period from the girls' meeting in early 1953 to the murder in 1954.

The entire film was shot on location in Christchurch city in the South Island of New Zealand. Actually, Jackson has been quoted as saying "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”.

I really liked this story and the Folie à deux that is related in it. It reminded me of the film Rope of Alfred Hitchcock where a murder is committed by 2 friends (or lovers) who are obsessed with each other.

Actually, I feel like this film was a little bit inspired in Rope and that Fish Child (the film I talked about in my previous post) was inspired in this one. In all this 3 films the subjects are homosexuals couples that are obsessed with each other, and that obsession leads them to commit a murder.

Something that got my attention in this film were the special effects:

The girls' fantasy life, and the "Borovnian" extras (the characters the girls made up) were constructed in over 70 full-sized latex costumes to represent the "Borovnian" crowds. They were plasticine figures that inhabit Pauline and Juliet's magical fantasy world. 

Also, Heavenly Creatures contains over thirty shots that were digitally manipulated ranging from the morphing garden of the "Fourth World," to castles in fields.

  

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

I recommend people to watch this film, and it is also in Netflix!