A good movie

I already saw this movie but since it was quite a long time ago and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might check it out again. It is basically Jane Campion’s directing debut and it was actually a small Australian indie feature but it was noticed at the time at the Cannes Film Festival and her career was launched. Well, I have to admit that I didn't remember much about it and I'm glad I gave it a second chance since I was, this time, more able to appreciate it. After all these years, I thought I was bothered by Sweetie because she seemed to be a rather unlikeable character, which is not necessarily an issue, but it can be something rather tricky. However, I was surprised that she showed up only half way through and only for a few scenes and, in fact, she was a very interesting character. Indeed, in spite of her neurotic and chaotic behaviour, she was even quite charismatic and there is no doubt that Geneviève Lemon delivered here a strong performance. In fact, I was now more bothered by Kay and Louis who were obviously supposed to be a quirky couple but I thought they were rather dull after all. In my opinion, it would have worked better if this couple would have been super square and normal, it would have created a huge contrast with Sweetie. By the way, the parents were also interesting and compelling to watch but they were also given too little screen time to be properly developed. Anyway, eventually, after this debut, Jane Campion would make the amazing ‘An Angel at My Table’ followed by the massively critically successful ‘The Piano’. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is still an intriguing directing debut though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jane Campion’s work.

7/10