#356: CAMPION, Jane: Sweetie (1989)

CAMPION, Jane (New Zealand)
Sweetie (1989)
Spine #356
Blu-ray

Though she has gone on to create a string of brilliant films, Jane Campion will always be remembered for her stunning debut feature, Sweetie, which focuses on the hazardous relationship between the buttoned-down, superstitious Kay and her rampaging, devil-may-care sister, Sweetie — and on their family's profoundly rotten roots. A feast of colorful photography and captivating, idiosyncratic characters, the tough and tender Sweetie heralded the emergence of this gifted director, as well as a renaissance of Australian cinema, which would take the film world by storm in the nineties.

99 minutes
Color

Surround

1:85:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2011

Director/Writers

From an original idea by Jane Campion.

Screenplay by Gerard Lee and Campion.

Campion was 35 when she directed Sweetie.

Other Campion films in the Collection:

#301: An Angel At My Table (1990)
#1110: The Piano (1993)
#1158: The Power of the Dog (2021)

The Film

This is what you get when women — a bunch of Australians, fresh out out of film school — decide to make a feature film. Having laughed their way out of classes where they were drilled on the Hollywood model of three-act scenarios, over-the-shoulder shots, the 180° rule, color-combination no-nos and other rigid dogmatic nonsense —

This is what you get —

An absolutely brilliant debut film, directed by Campion and shot by an absolutely fearless and creative woman by the name of Sally Bongers, and another woman, the editor Veronica Haussler.

True, a male — Campion’s boyfriend at the time, Gerard Lee, co-wrote the screenplay (but was frequently overruled by Campion [see Commentary]) and appears in the film as an extra. (The actor who plays Louis [Tom Lycos] bears an uncanny resemblance to Lee!)

Genevieve Lemon is Sweetie; Karen Colston is Kay; Jon Darling is Gordon, the father; and Dorothy Barry (her only IMBd credit) is Flo, the mom.

This film is about love, personal freedom, tragedy, trees (healthy and sick), tree roots, treehouses with fairy lights, ceramic horses, coin tosses, a psychic, a man’s hair which forms a question mark dotted by a mole on his forehead, superstition, sex, non-sex, appointments for sex, moodiness, mental illness, parents who favor one child over another, gentle cowboys, cracks in concrete, cracks in sand, licking fingers and legs, and the beauty and terror of human feelings and reactions — not necessarily in that order.

Credit, of course, goes to Campion for the ideas and development — but the film is special because of the young, daring cinematographer, Bongers. The camera often places her characters in odd parts of the frame, the better to see what surrounds them. A little boy who lives next door — Clayton (Andre Pataczek) — is a curious interloper, who mirrors the childlike existence of Sweetie.

In one scene, the boy is washing his toy cars down with a hose, as the camera pans to the right to reveal Gordon washing his turquoise station wagon for real.

The film is gorgeous and is non-stop cinematic beauty. Martin Armiger’s music and a tremendous gospel choir add much to the feel of the film.

The final scene introduces us to a (presumably) young Sweetie — a cute redhead — who beautifully sings With Every Beat of My Heart. This might be an image of a young Jane Campion, as she appears portrayed by Alexia Keogh in her next — and only other Criterion release — An Angel At My Table (1990) {Spine #301}.

Hopefully, Criterion will release more of her work in the future.

Film Rating (0-60):

55

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixteen-page booklet featuring an essay (Jane Campion’s Experiment) by film scholar Dana Polan.

Polan says something very interesting which expresses an important three-word motto about cinema — Composition Forward Meaning:

“(Campion’s) compositional motif both expresses the conflictual interpersonal dynamics of the film’s characters, and the moment-to-moment overwhelming of one by another, and suggests the fragility of any such ‘victory,’ since the relationship between those in the frame can always be reversed, the positions of power and submission mutated.”

Commentary

Featuring Campion, Sally Bongers and Lee.

The women laugh a lot — but occasionally get down to the details of how they came to make this unusual film; Lee joins the commentary midway, and seems to relish talking about his and Jane’s old relationship and how the Louis character so resembles Lee. He seems to have made major contributions to the screenplay, though he was apparently frequently overruled by the daring young Campion. Delightful stuff.

Making “Sweetie”

A video conversation between stars Genevieve Lemon and Karen Colton.

From around 2007, the women reminisce. One of the main takeaways from this short is how much Campion and Bongers were truly in charge. The actresses speak of the very specific blocking, the ugly clothes they had to wear, etc.

They also discuss the premiere at Cannes, where they saw the film for the first time. Apparently, the audience began to boo at the end, but then the applause overwhelmed the initial negative response.

Short films

An Exercise in Discipline: Peel (1983/Color; 9 min.)

1. Several motifs turn up in Sweetie; a woman urinating outdoors, pulling a plant out by its roots; cars rushing by ...
1. Bongers, in particular, has a unique style. The story is told narratively — but she pauses to film ECUs of eyes and faces.
2. The film won the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. Campion was the first woman to win that award.
3. Lee is given a credit for keeping the boy amused!
2. Passionless Moments (1985/B&W; 13 min.)
1. Ten short chapters which narrate peoples’ inner feelings.
3. A Girl’s Own Story (1984/B&W, 27 min.)
1. Girls in the 60’s — singing a Beatles song (I Should Have Known Better) with tennis racquets as guitars; kissing small pictures of the Beatles; practicing kissing; acting like cats; incest ... the whole thing has a very avant-garde feeling to it.
2. Campion and Bongers work so well together; one can see their style developing.

Conversation

Jane Campion: The Film School Years, a l989 conversation between Campion and critic Peter Thompson.

It sounds like Campion used film school as a production facility.

Photos and production stills

Original theatrical trailer

A truly beautiful trailer — no dialogue, only the best images from the film.

Extras Rating (0-40):

35

55 + 35 =

90

By Director
By Spine #