Sweetie (film)
Encyclopedia
Sweetie is an 1989 Australian
drama film
co-written and directed
by Jane Campion
. It was Jane Campion's first feature film. Genevieve Lemon
plays Dawn, nicknamed Sweetie. Karen Colston plays her sister, Kay. It was entered into the 1989 Cannes Film Festival
.
Throughout, Sweetie's physically destructive nature (ruining Kay's clothes, breaking furniture) reflects the inner disruption she has caused her family. After a series of circular fights (variable rage and delusions, her family's forgiveness, proceeded by her sweetness and fun persona), she finally overextends the limit, stripping off her clothes, painting her body black and bouncing in her childhood tree house. Though her family begs her to come down, she refuses, continuing teasing, tormenting and shaking the fort until it falls from the tree, injuring her mother and ending her life.
The family appears resolved, no longer scattered. They no longer feel manipulated and agitated by her presence. However, the best of Sweetie's personality persists, as Kay and her parents maintain an image of her in her most accurate form, that of a little girl.
The DVD version, released by the Criterion Collection includes three of Campion's earlier short films.
Cinema of Australia
Cinema of Australia, more commonly referred to as the Australian film industry, refers to the system of production, distribution, and exhibition of films in Australia. Film production commenced in Australia in 1906 with the production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, the earliest feature film made...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
co-written and directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Jane Campion
Jane Campion
Jane Campion is a filmmaker and screenwriter. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia – where she now lives – and the United States...
. It was Jane Campion's first feature film. Genevieve Lemon
Genevieve Lemon
Genevieve Lemon is an Australian actress who has appeared in a number of soap operas – as Zelda Baker in The Young Doctors, Marlene "Rabbit" Warren in Prisoner and Brenda Riley in Neighbours...
plays Dawn, nicknamed Sweetie. Karen Colston plays her sister, Kay. It was entered into the 1989 Cannes Film Festival
1989 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Wim Wenders *Christine Gouze-Renal*Claude Beylie*Georges Delerue*Hector Babenco*Krzysztof Kieślowski*Peter Handke*Renée Blanchar*Sally Field*Silvio Clementelli-Feature film competition:* Chimère by Claire Devers...
.
Plot
The film focuses on Kay's relationships with her boyfriend Louis, her parents and her emotionally unhealthy sister, Sweetie. Kay is quiet and superstitious, loving Louis because of the words of a fortune teller and experiencing deep foreboding towards a tree he attempted to plant in their yard. Sweetie, from Kay's perspective, is selfish in her severe mental illness. Kay's father chooses to ignore most of the erratic, childish behavior (though she has been hospitalized before) because he loves her as a little girl. Throughout, there are flashbacks of Sweetie dancing, singing and performing small, circus-like tricks with his assistance; he wants the family to remain close and dislikes when Kay acts enraged with Sweetie. The mother admits he indulges her. Louis, however, has found some freedom from his increasingly disconnected relationship with Kay because Sweetie lives uninhibited, with vigor and emotion (though extreme).Throughout, Sweetie's physically destructive nature (ruining Kay's clothes, breaking furniture) reflects the inner disruption she has caused her family. After a series of circular fights (variable rage and delusions, her family's forgiveness, proceeded by her sweetness and fun persona), she finally overextends the limit, stripping off her clothes, painting her body black and bouncing in her childhood tree house. Though her family begs her to come down, she refuses, continuing teasing, tormenting and shaking the fort until it falls from the tree, injuring her mother and ending her life.
The family appears resolved, no longer scattered. They no longer feel manipulated and agitated by her presence. However, the best of Sweetie's personality persists, as Kay and her parents maintain an image of her in her most accurate form, that of a little girl.
Cast
- Geneviève LemonGenevieve LemonGenevieve Lemon is an Australian actress who has appeared in a number of soap operas – as Zelda Baker in The Young Doctors, Marlene "Rabbit" Warren in Prisoner and Brenda Riley in Neighbours...
- Dawn aka Sweetie - Karen Colston - Kay
- Tom Lycos - Louis
- Jon Darling - Gordon
- Dorothy Barry - Flo
- Michael Lake - Bob
- Andre Pataczek - Clayton
- Jean Hadgraft - Mrs. Schneller
- Paul LivingstonPaul LivingstonPaul Livingston, popularly known as his alter ego Flacco, is an Australian comedian who has regularly appeared on many television shows, predominantly on ABC TV and Network Ten, including Good News Week, The Sandman and Flacco Special, The Big Gig, DAAS Kapital, The Money or the Gun, The Fat and...
- Teddy Schneller - Louise Fox - Cheryl
- Ann Merchant - Paula
- Robyn Frank - Ruth (as Robin Frank)
- Bronwyn Morgan - Sue
- Sean Fennell - Boy clerk
- Sean Callinan - Simboo
Release and reception
In Australian Film, 1978-1994 it is described as 'a ghastly parody of the tyranny of family life'.The DVD version, released by the Criterion Collection includes three of Campion's earlier short films.