The DressmakerHome isn't the place you were born; it's the place where you feel like yourself. The Dressmaker is an Australian dramedy about a couture dressmaker named Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage (Kate Winslet) who returns to her ramshackle hometown of Dungatar in the Australian outback after being exiled at the age of ten for the purported murder of a young boy--a bully named Stewart Pettyman (Rory Potter). Filled with a mix of resentment and amnesia about the specific circumstances of Stewart's death, Tilly begins a search for answers in this miserable town, while also trying to rekindle the memories of her own mother, Molly Dunnage (Judy Davis), who seems to be suffering from amnesia as well about that day and about her own relationship to her daughter.
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The Dressmaker was adapted from the novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham, and is reminiscent of the "Southern Gothic" style of storytelling, like the collection of stories by Carson McCullers, "The Ballad of the Sad Café". The town of Dungatar is a collection of misfits and oddballs, and exists as if hidden away in the remote recesses of Australia's frontier countryside. Despite some nicer dwellings--like those of the depraved town councilor, Evan Pettyman (Shane Bourne), and his heavily medicated wife, Marigold (Alison Whyte)--most of the homes in the village are covered in rusty, corrugated metal roofs, and the streets look like something out of the Wild West. This makes it all the more unusual that Tilly would bother to come back to this hovel after having sampled more elegant and refined environs as a talented dressmaker who trained under masters in Paris. Nothing of how Tilly rose to prominence as a dressmaker is truly explored in this movie, yet the shadow of her past still darkens her world, and her quest is superficially a kind of exorcism of the "curse" that she believes plagues her. It becomes clear that since the first thing she does after coming back to Dungatar is to visit her mother that she also prioritizes helping her mother remember who she is and rebuilding their fractured relationship. Although "Mad Molly" is largely a character played for comedic effect by way of socially inappropriate comments and behavior, Tilly believes that their reclamation is tied together. Tilly hopes to glean some nugget of her past from her mother, but also wishes to see Molly not suffer under madness and ostracization by the town any more than she already has. Despite her conveniently selective memory about the death of Stewart, she surmises that the rest of the town knows the truth but has concealed or kept quiet about it, which led to her exile as a kind of scapegoat. Subsequently, Tilly approaches her reunion with the townsfolk with her guard up, deliberately showing off her fancy dresses at a football match to distract the players and draw attention to her return. It is here that she meets one of the few nice people in Dungatar, a handsome man named Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth), who quickly becomes enamored with her and tries to assuage her superstitions about being cursed. But Tilly's mission comes first, and in order to discover the answers about what happened that fateful day, she begins by ingratiating herself to the townsfolk, beginning with one of her erstwhile classmates turned humble spinster, Gertrude Pratt (Sarah Snook). And this is just the beginning of Tilly's long road to find answers to a question that everyone else seems to know--or at least thinks that they know--but her.
The Dressmaker can often seem tonally inconsistent as Tilly alternates between appearing to ally herself with the same townsfolk who ostracize her, or convey an all-consuming sense of loathing for the (mostly) self-centered denizens of Dungatar. However, much of this comes from the very process of Tilly's search for answers which constantly forces her to reevaluate her relationship with these people. Some of them--like the cruel and perverse chemist, Percival Almanac (Barry Otto)--are uniformly monsters, while others--like his wife, Irma (Julia Blake)--are more like Tilly, having suffered under the hateful dominion of many of those in power in this town. And still others, like the effete Sergeant Horatio Farrat (Hugo Weaving), fall somewhere in-between. Sergeant Farrat assists Tilly in her mission to uncover the truth of Stewart's death, but at the same time withholds key information from her (until she bribes him with a feather boa, for example) that might have simplified her mission in the first place. In some ways, Tilly's intervention to transform the townsfolk and find her true self in the process recalls movies like Amelie or moreover, Chocolat. Even though Tilly is an outsider, there are those that prosper from her return...and others that find that the debit for their wrongdoings toward her have come due. Especially in the last half of The Dressmaker, Tilly's adventure to find the truth is in a state of nigh constant chaos and revision, and director Jocelyn Moorhouse exploits cinematic conventions to underscore this. Take when Tilly sews a couture dress for Gertrude so that she can catch the eye of a local well-off young man named William Beaumont (James Mackay). The scene where Gertrude debuts her stunning dress and the events leading up to it suggest that Gertrude is essentially a sympathetic Cinderella figure; but Tilly only makes this dress for her after she confesses that the reason that Stewart was able to corner her on that fateful day was because she told him where to find her. After the dance, Gertrude becomes a supporter of Tilly's craft and outfits, but what might appear to be an altruistic turn toward redemption is ultimately subverted when push comes to shove about the circumstances of Stewart's death, not to mention how she has become spoiled by her now affluent lifestyle, which only came to be courtesy of Tilly. So despite Tilly's efforts to reach out to the hearts and minds of many of the residents of Dungatar, she is constantly forced to conclude that some people are just inherently rotten, and no amount of pretty dresses can cover up the ugliness in their souls.
Recommended for: Fans of a comedy/drama that changes tone about as frequently as the characters change their costumes. The Dressmaker should especially find an audience with sewists, fashion enthusiasts, or other fans of the craft, and with its oft unpredictable plot should at least offer up a fair share of surprises until the finale.
The Dressmaker can often seem tonally inconsistent as Tilly alternates between appearing to ally herself with the same townsfolk who ostracize her, or convey an all-consuming sense of loathing for the (mostly) self-centered denizens of Dungatar. However, much of this comes from the very process of Tilly's search for answers which constantly forces her to reevaluate her relationship with these people. Some of them--like the cruel and perverse chemist, Percival Almanac (Barry Otto)--are uniformly monsters, while others--like his wife, Irma (Julia Blake)--are more like Tilly, having suffered under the hateful dominion of many of those in power in this town. And still others, like the effete Sergeant Horatio Farrat (Hugo Weaving), fall somewhere in-between. Sergeant Farrat assists Tilly in her mission to uncover the truth of Stewart's death, but at the same time withholds key information from her (until she bribes him with a feather boa, for example) that might have simplified her mission in the first place. In some ways, Tilly's intervention to transform the townsfolk and find her true self in the process recalls movies like Amelie or moreover, Chocolat. Even though Tilly is an outsider, there are those that prosper from her return...and others that find that the debit for their wrongdoings toward her have come due. Especially in the last half of The Dressmaker, Tilly's adventure to find the truth is in a state of nigh constant chaos and revision, and director Jocelyn Moorhouse exploits cinematic conventions to underscore this. Take when Tilly sews a couture dress for Gertrude so that she can catch the eye of a local well-off young man named William Beaumont (James Mackay). The scene where Gertrude debuts her stunning dress and the events leading up to it suggest that Gertrude is essentially a sympathetic Cinderella figure; but Tilly only makes this dress for her after she confesses that the reason that Stewart was able to corner her on that fateful day was because she told him where to find her. After the dance, Gertrude becomes a supporter of Tilly's craft and outfits, but what might appear to be an altruistic turn toward redemption is ultimately subverted when push comes to shove about the circumstances of Stewart's death, not to mention how she has become spoiled by her now affluent lifestyle, which only came to be courtesy of Tilly. So despite Tilly's efforts to reach out to the hearts and minds of many of the residents of Dungatar, she is constantly forced to conclude that some people are just inherently rotten, and no amount of pretty dresses can cover up the ugliness in their souls.
Recommended for: Fans of a comedy/drama that changes tone about as frequently as the characters change their costumes. The Dressmaker should especially find an audience with sewists, fashion enthusiasts, or other fans of the craft, and with its oft unpredictable plot should at least offer up a fair share of surprises until the finale.