Storyline
Based on Rosalie Ham's best selling novel, The Dressmaker is the story of femme fatale Tilly Dunnage who returns to her small home town in the country to right the wrongs of the past. A stylish drama with comic undertones about love, revenge and haute couture.
Writers: Rosalie Ham, P.J. Hogan, Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Sarah Snook, Judy Davis, Caroline Goodall, Kerry Fox, Rebecca Gibney, James Mackay, Hayley Magnus, Julia Blake, Gyton Grantley, Sacha Horler, Shane Jacobson, Barry Otto, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Cast: Kate Winslet -
Myrtle 'Tilly' Dunnage
Liam Hemsworth -
Teddy McSwiney
Hugo Weaving -
Sergeant Farrat
Sarah Snook -
Gertrude 'Trudy' Pratt
Judy Davis -
Molly Dunnage
Caroline Goodall -
Elsbeth
Kerry Fox -
Beulah Harridiene
Rebecca Gibney -
Muriel Pratt
James Mackay -
William Beaumont
Hayley Magnus -
Prudence
Julia Blake -
Irma Almanac
Gyton Grantley -
Barney McSwiney
Sacha Horler -
Una Pleasance
Shane Jacobson -
Alvin Pratt
Barry Otto -
Percival Almanac
Taglines:
A film about love, revenge and haute couture.
Filming Locations: Docklands Studios, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Box Office Details
Budget: AUD 17,000,000
(estimated)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Shooting of the film was interrupted several times as wild emus interrupted the scenes. See more »
Goofs:
When Tilly bribes Sgt. Farrat with the feather boa in front of the petrol bowser, it can be clearly seen to read "cents per gallon". In 1951 dollars and cents were still 15 years in the future. It should have read shillings and pence per gallon. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 9/10
This film will divide audiences and critics (as it already has;
especially American and British ones), so it will be interesting to see
whether it finds a market here in Australia. 'The Dressmaker' is the
long awaited directorial return of Jocelyn Moorhouse. After 'Proof' was
a major critical success in 1991, American features followed, but this
is the first for Ms Moorhouse in nearly 2 decades. There is an
audacious feel to this movie from start to finish and for me, an
unexpected one. From the movie poster, this would seem like a period
costume drama; well it is certainly set in a bygone era, and there is a
panoply of amazing costumes, but this film is impossible to squeeze
into a genre; making it a challenge to describe nor summarize.
As I write this review, the film has not yet opened nationwide in
Australia; but if the preview audience I attended was any indication,
this film will be enjoyed by local filmgoers, but will it find a
mainstream audience? I somehow doubt it. It is anarchic; indulgent,
broad, implausible and loads of fun!! I enjoyed most of its 2 hour
running time; but the final quarter did feel clumsy with a little too
much plot shoehorned in; giving it a chaotic and lurching quality.
Early on I sat wondering how this movie will fit into the already
idiosyncratic reputation that Aussie films have; both at home and on
the world screens. 'The Dressmaker' is ultimately going to be its own
genre. As an adaptation from the novel of the same name; there are so
many characters to depict and follow; and part of the chaos was the
litany of quirkily filmed sequences with a who's who of local talent.
This is easily the best cast ever assembled for an Australian feature;
from stand up comedians to TV icons, to stage and screen legends; and
new talent.
Perhaps it will be the star lineup that will lure filmgoers into the
cinema for this movie. Judy Davis, one of our most celebrated actors,
virtually steals the movie from the British import, the amazing Kate
Winslet. Davis is in top form here, showing a screwball comedic side;
rarely seen in her stellar career thus far; perhaps only glimpsed in
the Woody Allen films she has appeared in. With the blackened teeth;
the haggard make up and hobo costuming, Judy is a riot as the mother to
the story's protagonist. If Ms Davis doesn't get the AACTA for
Supporting Actress, I'll be very surprised. And if the movie gets the
right marketing, perhaps that elusive Oscar for one of the great
unrewarded screen stars. The teaming of Judy with Kate Winslet works
well; there are some riotous moments and tender ones too; which give
the film not only respite from the breakneck speed but some gravitas.
Liam Hemsworth is suitably the movie matinée idol; with his piercing
blue eyes, his tall, muscular frame and that true blue Aussie drawl.
Sarah Snook shows once again why she is the lady in waiting for the big
time, and is racking up an impressive list of screen credits. There are
so many great actors here: Sacha Horler, Barry Otto, Julia Blake,
Genevieve Lemon, Rebecca Gibney, literally just naming a few, and
perhaps best of all, a cross dressing Hugo Weaving, showing that there
is nothing this great actor cannot play, and play admirably.
The film is beautifully filmed and designed, and the strange world of
this quaint little town in the middle of nowhere is perfectly captured
and lovingly presented. So what are the criticisms? I was fine with the
morphing of black comedy, western, revenge, love story motifs and
styles; but I struggled a little with the matching of Kate Winslet, who
at nearly 40 is way too old to have been a contemporary of the
characters played here by Snook, Hemsworth et al. Winslet is nearer the
age of the actors playing the parents of her and her contemporaries -
Alison Whyte and Rebecca Gibney. As gorgeous and brilliant in the role
as she is, it does seem as if the film, which was possibly funded and
built around Winslet, has forgotten about this age difference. At 25,
Liam Hemsworth, and Sarah Snook at 27 simply don't look right in the
context of the main characters return after 20 years. That said, i
mostly ignored this, and just enjoyed this caper movie for what it is.
In reading reviews of the movie from overseas, and seeing the vitriol
targeting the movie's 'mish mash' and 'mess', I reflected on which
other films or filmmakers 'The Dressmaker' was reminiscent of. Wes
Anderson's 'Grand Budapest Hotel' sprung to mind as well as the work of
Joel and Ethan Coen and Quentin Tarantino. All of these storytellers
dabble in an array of genres, rendering them difficult to categorize,
whilst still engendering praise and an audience. Anderson's recent
multi Oscar win, had a glorious cast, a beautiful design, and a
similarly caper like quality: at times just silly, but handsome to
watch and enjoyable in the moment, and arty for sure, but hardly earth
shattering or deep and meaningful. I hope that Australian critics and
audiences alike get behind 'The Dressmaker' as it is a caper movie; I
don't think it believes it is making a weighty, earnest Oscar bait
movie, but a roller-coaster of a cinematic kind; funny, biting, gauche,
heightened,tense and raucuous; and at the end of the day, very very
entertaining.
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