In a film about the gulf between responsible adulthood and the obligation of love and compassion for family, Jane Campion creates a world out of symbolism and unconventional dialogue which lingers in the mind long after the story’s endpoint. Sweetie, the New Zealand director’s debut feature, is a wonderfully inventive story of two sisters who each struggle to achieve contentment in the real world. With cinematography by Sally Bongers which frames the action of each scene almost like a contemporary work of visual art, Campion’s film is a gem which allows for multiple readings, each set in the realm of dreamlike reality.
Kay is a factory worker in Sydney who believes her fate can be predicted by a local fortune teller. After hearing one such prophecy on the subject of her love life, Kay seduces Louis, a work colleague, and the two begin a domestic romance. Though things start well enough, the relationship is soon strained by Kay’s emotional instability and introversion, and then the arrival of her sister, Sweetie, who struggles with her mental health. Life becomes a constant tug of war between the sisters, eventually involving their parents in an effort to confront the reality of Sweetie’s unusual and troubling behaviour.
Told in part with narration by Kay, the story plays out in a sequence of slow, but very engaging scenes wherein the characters navigate everyday life, as well as their own inner motivations. Karen Colston radiates an eccentricity as Kay, making her a three dimensional stand out within the film. Geneviève Lemon as Sweetie is also a joy to watch, creating a picture of mental illness that brims with fidelity and never veers towards parody. Dorothy Barry and Jon Darling are each excellent in their roles as parents to the girls. Barry is wonderfully understated and believable as a mother beyond the point of understanding and Darling endears the audience to him as a pitiable father who can’t see the forest for the trees.
What stands out most in the film, aside from some very raw elements in the narrative, is the framing of each shot by Bongers. The placement of characters in various scenes evokes a feeling of tableau, lending a tragic air to the film beyond the level of it’s plot. The cinematographer also chooses certain angles to mirror a feeling of unease and tension throughout, but never manages to become overindulgent in the way her camera captures the action. Campion’s use of imagery and symbolism is also worth noting. It’s these two elements together which take the work a step further than the average depiction of youth, mental illness and family dynamics.
Sweetie is a film that draws the audience in with well drawn characters and a charm that disarms as readily as it stirs feelings of joy and compassion. Campion’s writing and direction (the former being a collaboration with Gerard Lee) is confident and distinctive, marking her as a director of compelling vision. Though it takes some time for the action to begin in earnest, what’s apparent from the start is a voice in film which stands apart from a great many who have come before.
4.5/5
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