By Emilio Frenk
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Cast: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Carolina Goodall, Ferry Fox, Rebecca Gibney and Hugo Weaving.
Rating: Average.
Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse (“A Thousand Acres” and “How to Make an American Quilt”) brings another drama with Academy Award Winner Kate Winslet with “The Dressmaker” and I have to say that had an interesting premise but the execution was to weak.
The movie tells the story of Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage (Kate Winslet) aglamorous australian dressmaker who returns to her hometown to take care of her estranged mother Molly (Judy Davis).
While she´sin town the people begin to find out about her skillsand becomes the sensation of the whole town. Although she has a secret that was one of the reasons that made her leaveand Tilly will try to find out about it andseekrevenge against the people who slanderedand accused her wrongly.
One of the things that I do acknoledge of “The Dressmaker” were the performances of both Kate Winslet and Judy Davis who play the characters with great realism but unfortunately two cast members cannot save a movie and here this was the case.
The weakest spot of the film was the script, which was written by P.J. Hogan who directed “Muriel’s Wedding” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding” was very weak and too predictable and the introduction of characters that weren’t necessary didn’t help the story to move forward.
The first act had an interesting startbut after the midpoint of the second movie is when it becomes a huge mess and leads to a downward spiral. This again was the excessive use of flashbacks which is a tool that most of the time doesn’t work and here it proves my point.
The third act of the film was one of the most ridiculous I have seen in a while and I was not moved and I just wanted the movie to be over.
I cannot recommend “The Dressmaker” for the previous reasons I mentioned before and for it’s screenplay and direction.