South African Psychiatry - November 2018

MOVIE REVIEW
THE
DRESSMAKER
a review by Franco P. Visser
A Screen Australia / Universal Pictures
International / Ingenious Senior Film Fund &
Embankment Films Presentation
A Film Art Media Production
Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse
Produced by Sue Maslin
If ever there was a tasteful feel-good revenge
movie for those affected by a traumatic school
career, it is this one. The Dressmaker (a 2015
release), a film based on the novel by Rosalie
Ham, tells the story of Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage (played
by Kate Winslet) whose return to the town where she
grew up more than ruffles a few feathers. A grown
up Tilly, an accomplished dressmaker, returns to the
Australian Outback town of Dungatar after years
of absence and banishment. As a young girl Tilly
was accused of causing the death of a local boy,
Stewart Pettyman (played by Rory Porter), the son
of Evan Pettyman (played by Shane Bourne), the
adulterous town councillor – a murder that she
cannot remember.
Upon Tilly’s return she finds her mentally ill mother
Molly (played by Judy Davis) living in squalid
conditions. Tilly sets about changing things at home
and in town, and boy does she ever!
Tilly turns up at the final of a local ‘footy’ match
wearing a drop-dead gorgeous red couture
dress of her own making, naturally to the shock
and astonishment of the locals, not to mention
the disastrous effects that she and her revealing
apparel have on the concentration of the men
playing in the game. It is at this football match that
Tilly crosses paths with Gertrude Pratt (played by
Sarah Snook), the dull daughter
of Dungatar’s local General Store
owner. It is not long after the match
that some of the town’s ladies start
knocking on Tilly’s door in order
to be transformed by her and her
dressmaking skills.
Naturally Tilly has her strong
detractors in town, not least of
which being Evan Pettyman whose son’s death
she allegedly caused. Evan recruits Una Pleasance
(played by Sacha Horler), a dress maker with far less
skills than Tilly posses to establish a rival dressmaking
business in town. It goes without saying that Una’s
attempted rivalry causes some hilarious moments
in the film, mostly due to the fact that Una is not
nearly in Tilly’s league when it comes to the art of
dressmaking.
TILLY’S DRESSMAKING SKILLS TRANSFORM
THE DULL GERTRUDE PRATT INTO A RATHER
HANDSOME AND ALLURING BEAUTY, AND
AT THE FOOTBALL DANCE SHE CATCHES
THE EYE OF WILLIAM BEAUMONT
(PLAYED BY JAMES MACKAY). WILLIAM’S
MOTHER IS ONE OF EVAN PETTYMAN’S
STAUNCHEST SUPPORTERS AGAINST TILLY,
AND HER SON’S CLEAR INFATUATION
WITH A TRANSFORMED GERTRUDE DOES
NOT GO DOWN WELL. WILLIAM SOON
ASKS GERTRUDE FOR HER HAND IN
MARRIAGE TO THE DELIGHTFUL HORROR
OF HIS SNOBBISH MOTHER ELSBETH
(PLAYED BY CAROLINE GOODALL).
SOUTH AFRICAN PSYCHIATRY ISSUE 17 2018 * 65