09 07 26 Sanders' League of Unpaid Film Critics (SLUFC) The Dressmaker (2015)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Dressmaker is a 2015 comedy drama film co-written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, based on the 2000 novel of the same title by Rosalie Ham.[4][5][6][7][8] It stars Kate Winslet as femme fatale dressmaker, Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage, who returns to a small Australian town to take care of her ailing, mentally unstable mother.[9] The film explores the themes of revenge and creativity and was described by Moorhouse as "Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven with a sewing machine".[10][11] The film was internationally co-financed between Australia and the United States. The project was first conceived in 2000, and Ham wrote a treatment herself which was not developed. Sue Maslin bought the rights to the novel and hired Moorhouse to direct and write the screenplay. Production took place in Melbourne and across Victoria, Australia in late 2014. The film had its world premiere at 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on 14 September 2015[12][13] and had a theatrical release on 29 October 2015 in Australia and New Zealand.[14] It opened at the number 1 spot at the Australian and New Zealand box offices and became the second highest-grossing Australian film of 2015 and sixteenth highest-grossing film of all time at Australian box office.[15][16] Despite receiving mixed critical reviews, with praise going towards Winslet's performance and criticism focusing on its uneven tone,[17] The Dressmaker led the 5th AACTA Awards with thirteen nominations. These included Best Film, Best Direction, Best Production Design, Best Original Music Score, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Cinematography[18][19] and won Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design and People's Choice Award for Favourite Australian Film.[20] Plot In 1926, in the fictitious outback town of Dungatar, State of Victoria, 10-year-old schoolgirl Myrtle Dunnage is blamed for the death of classmate Stewart Pettyman. A sympathetic policeman, Sergeant Horatio Farrat, sends her away. Twenty-five years later, Myrtle, now a couturier-trained dressmaker using the name "Tilly", returns to Dungatar. She remembers nothing of Stewart's death, and her mentally ill mother Molly, living in squalor, does not even remember her. At the local football final game, the Dungatar players are distracted by Tilly's red couture dress. Teddy McSwiney points this out, and she changes into an equally alluring black outfit before the last quarter. When the teams swap ends of the field, the men from Winyerp are the distracted ones, and Dungatar wins.