Heavenly Creatures

Some of the most haunting movies I have seen, not very surprisingly, have been about groups of young women. As women grow old, they probably become more world-weary and resigned to their fates, or just slightly easier to understand. But, young women are something else. It's just too difficult to decipher what they think and how they react. Men, of all ages, on the other hand, are really boring because they have no imagination at all.

Sofia Coppola's Virgin Suicides is one such movie. I don't find Kirsten Dunst all that beautiful, but her eyes are to kill for. She is the best-suited in her generation to play a person with hidden pain. She looks like there's something eating away at her even at the happiest occasions. She is amazing in Mona Lisa Smile as well. Or for that matter in every single movie.

Another movie of this ilk is Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. Starring Kate Winslet as one of the lead female pair, this is as great a love story as ever I have seen on the screen.

And then there's Picnic At Hanging Rock. I watched it yesterday, as part of the movie marathon I am having after my exams. It's a spooky movie by Peter Weir, and is based on a best-selling novel that claims to be based on real-life incidents.

It's curious how all these movies are about young women subjected to strict rules of propriety and conduct. Especially in PAHR, the sexual undertones are overwhelming. It's about a group of girls, studying at a finishing school near a village in Australia at the turn of the 20th century, who go on a picnic with a couple of their teachers on St Valentine's Day. Three of the girls and a teacher disappear without any trace. The teacher and two girls are never found. The 3rd girl, who is found after a week's search, can't recall what happened to her. She was barefoot but despite having got lost in an area filled with sharp rocks and thorns there are no marks on her legs. This was the first international hit, supposedly from Australia, and Peter Weir, of course, went on to make greater movies later.