Review © by Jane Freebury
Once upon a
time in the Wimmera, a stranger comes to town. The twang of guitar and low-angle
framing suggest that this someone means business. The main street is empty,
more a case of it being the dead of night than townsfolk getting out of harm’s
way. It's welcome to Dungatar, one lonely corner of the wheatbelt, a land of spectral
trees and granite outcrops.
More
spaghetti western than the classic western—more Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West than Clint Eastwood’s
Unforgiven—this is a triumphant return
to the screen by director Jocelyn Moorhouse who started out with promise 20 or
so years ago with films like Proof here
and How to Make an American Quilt over
there in Hollywood. One senses, in this extravagant
and improbable blend of revenge western, romance and biting social comedy, a filmmaker’s
declaration of purpose. She is back too and in business.
The
glamorous stranger, Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet), a
vision in 1950s haute couture, has been away quite a while, most of her life
actually. Off to boarding school from where she made her way to the fashion
houses of Europe. She can't recall the exact details of the terrible event that
forced her to leave town when she was little, and she has returned to find out
how she came to be blamed for the death of Evan Pettyman's son, Stewart.
She soon finds
that little in Dungatar has changed and what has, only for the worse, like the
dilapidated cottage that was once home. Her mad mother Molly (Judy Davis)
pretends she doesn’t know her at first, and the town women shun her cruelly. Until
they see what Tilly can do for them with a Singer sewing machine and a roll of
fabric, and Trudy (Sarah Snook) is made over into a proposition for the town's
most eligible bachelor.
With few
exceptions, the small-minded townsfolk of Dungatar are a particularly gruesome
lot, from the schoolmistress (Kerry Fox) to the wife-beater pharmacist (Barry
Otto) to the town heavyweight Pettyman (Shane Bourne). As the town policeman
who also has his secrets but is a good guy, the wonderful Hugo Weaving is as a
cross-dresser who goes weak at the knees at the sight and scent of gorgeous
fabrics. Was it really two decades ago that the outback last saw him in a Priscilla
frock?
Although
Tilly herself snares Teddy (Liam Hemsworth) and things go off on a romantic
tangent for a while, it is the relationship with Molly where sparks really fly
and where the fun is. Davis is terrific form as the irascible hag with
lascivious tongue who pushes Tilly Teddy's way - to the strains of Bali Ha'i
from South Pacific - and she stands up for her when it matters.
I have to
admit that the trailer did make me nervous. Could be clunky. Haute couture in
the 1950s outback, another tale of high culture to the plebs? Risky.
It works
just fine, a tribute to the director and the great team who put it together,
including cinematographer Don McAlpine who has a knack for balancing style and
sophistication with the beauty of the
Wimmera's arid, vast emptiness. A
western with a sewing machine? Yes, it is.
4 Stars
