The Dressmaker (2016)

One false note and the whole thing collapses. Typically, scripts are edited and re-edited until your eyes fall out, and then re-edited some more. To draw you in, everything should be plausible and believable: Believable characters, believable storylines, believable situations. This film managed to keep its balls in the air until 1/3 of the way through, when our zaftig, middle-aged heroine waddles into the middle of a rugby game and distracts the players with a cocktail dress. More than likely these men would have been puzzled by the incongruity, not smitten with desire for a woman old enough to be their aunt. Okay, one sour note in the storyline, I guess I can keep watching. Then along comes the playground scene. Tilly begs her schoolmate not to tell where she's hiding. Come on, man. This is a town of not more than thirty people in the middle of nowhere, how in the world can she expect to keep hiding indefinitely? It makes zero sense. You people who automatically rated this film ten stars just because it stars Kate Winslet should have your head examined.

A great script perfectly acted on all cylinders. Wonderfully drawn characters and a story perfectly told through the sometimes very comedic caricatures of the residents of a dusty middle of nowhere outback Australian town. Kate Winslet gives the kind of performance that made us fall in love with her years ago and Liam Hemsworth is every bit as dreamy as you imagine he would be but Hugo Weaving steals the show and Judy Davis is spectacular with her nuanced mad mum scenes. I happened upon this movie one afternoon and almost passed it by because I'm not a big fan of dirty dusty outback films but boy am I glad I watched this. Don't miss this wonderful film!

An excellent movie based on a novel which perfectly highlights one of the evils of our society that is, someone can be cursed and cause harm to others. Such a mindset in a society is itself a curse as amply highlighted in the movie. overall an excellent movie with Kate Winslet at her best acting.

...but in the case of Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet) a few things need to be straightened out.Thus, the stunning Tilly returns to her home in Dungatar, Australia, back to her alcoholic mother (Judy Davis) who acts like she doesn't remember her and is thought of as the town slut, and back to a town that considers Tilly herself a murderer. Tilly cleans her mother's house and throws the woman in a tub, and then tries to find out what happened fifteen years ago that caused her to be sent away. It is believed by the town that she killed Stewart Pettyman when they were both children. Why can't she remember it?Now a designer in Paris, Tilly soon attracts a clientele of local women who love her chic designs. She also attracts Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth), the town hunk.Slowly, Tilly finds out the town's secrets, which include a cross- dressing sheriff (Hugo Weaving). He's the least of it.This is a story of redemption and revenge, deliciously told by director Jocelyn Moorhouse and her dynamite cast. Everyone, including the town's old biddies, are wonderful. Sarah Snook, as the impossibly homely Trudy, gets one of the all-time makeovers and is a sight to behold.A few cultural references that weren't quite right: The film appears to take place in 1950 - Tilly, Teddy, and her mother Molly go to see Sunset Boulevard. However, they listen to the soundtrack of South Pacific from 1958 and OKlahoma from 1955. So when the film takes place is anybody's guess - I didn't read the book.All in all, a mixture of dark comedy and drama that is ultimately satisfying. Tilly proves that revenge is a dish best served cold, even in Australia's hot climate.