Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures, a film from 1994, is today notable for being the debut of Kate Winslet and the movie that put Peter Jackson on the map. It's easy to forget that before he went mega with The Lord of the Rings, he made small, creepy films like this one.

But what runs through all of Jackson's films is a fascination with other worlds, whether it be Middle Earth, Skull Island, or the heaven of The Lovely Bones. In Heavenly Creatures is the world created by the unusually strong bond between two teenage girls.

Based on an actual murder case in New Zealand in the early '50s, Winslet and Melanie Lynskey (who would later turn up on Two and a Half Men) play schoolmates. Both are outcasts because of chronic illnesses. Lynskey has chosen to withdraw inward, while Winslet, who has grown up much of her life away from her parents, has chosen to be an extrovert. They first associate when they are exempted from phys ed, find they share a passion for Mario Lanza and James Mason, and soon have created a fantasy world, which is populated by kings and knights.

Where Jackson pushes this, and makes it a film of his own peculiar stamp, is by forgetting about filming the trial of the two girls, who killed Lynskey's mother in a fruitless attempt to keep the girls together. Instead he focuses on the shared world, and even brings it to life by animating their clay figures, brought to full size. One of them does their fantasy killing for them, whether it's the child psychologist or a proselytizing pastor. The figures wear elaborate makeup and costumes that make them look like they are made out of clay, and the avenging one bears a not coincidental resemblance to Orson Welles.

The performances by the two girls are outstanding, and it's easy to see Winslet's great talent this early on. It would be only the next year she would co-star in Sense and Sensibility and start her career as a big star, but it was in this film that the spark was lit.