Kate Winslet Burns It Down in Australian Haute Couture Revenge Movie ‘The Dressmaker’
On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.
First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.
Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.
The Pitch: Kate Winslet Brings the Heat to a Wild, Well-Dressed Revenge Dramedy
To paraphrase Moira Rose, “If you love female rage as much as I do, you’ll thrill to Kate Winslet in the underseen Australian movie ‘The Dressmaker.‘”
“The Dressmaker” exists in an odd lull in Winslet’s career. Post-Oscar win for “The Reader,” she appeared in a slew of OK period films (“A Little Chaos,” “Labor Day,” “Steve Jobs”) and the “Divergent” series — which meant no one was really looking for the next great Winslet performance. Too bad, because one of her best is at the center of Jocelyn Moorhouse’s pitch-black revenge comedy-slash-drama-slash-fashion show. (Also a period piece, as it happens.)
Returning to her small, dusty hometown in rural Australia, Tilly (Winslet) is greeted by furious townsfolk (Sarah Snook!), an aging mother (Judy Davis!), and a very hunky Hemsworth (Liam!) who doesn’t seem at all troubled by the cloud of gossip and scandal hovering over Tilly’s impeccably coiffed head. You see, Tilly was accused at the age of 10 of killing a classmate and has spent the subsequent decades in Europe. Now, she’s an ice-cold revenge factory outfitted in ‘50s haute couture (her costumes are by Margo Wilson), and no one is quite safe from her nimble needles. Not that she’s doing a Human Caterpillar with the people who drove her out of town; instead, she’s using makeovers to make them over and open their eyes to humanity and common decency.
It almost works.
All of this is delightful and very fun (the costumes are stunning, particularly a sequence in which Winslet wriggles over to a rugby field in a skintight dress to infuriate the women by tantalizing the men) — but there is an abrupt twist around the midway point. A twist so extravagant in its casualness that, upon first watching the film, I rewound it, convinced that I had missed something. And then waited for the dream sequence to be announced. Nope, the movie actually goes there, and what follows is even more remarkable. Moorehouse described the movie as “Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven’ with a sewing machine,” and by the time “The Dressmaker” ends, she’s proven right. We rarely get to see female rage brought to this kind of barnburner conclusion, and when we do, it deserves a helluva lot more attention than it got at the time of release. That means it’s ripe for rediscovery and late-night viewings, preferably with an icy cocktail. —MP
The Aftermath: It’s Not the Movie, It’s How You Watch It
If presented with “The Dressmaker” when it came out in 2015 — a year that also saw same-sex marriage become a constitutional right in the United States — I would have rightly and summarily pronounced it “GAY.” This delightful and delirious revenge flick holds up to its homosexual reputation. And yet, watching it close to midnight in the waning light of Brat Summer, its feminist boning seems more worthy of my praise.
Sure, this is a film that sells the hell out of lines like, “You’re a murderer AND a lesbian!” while gifting queens everywhere Kate Winslet in the reddest-reds seen to that point since Lady Gaga’s mask-and-crown thing from the 2009 VMAs. (Alexander McQueen, obviously.) And yes, here Hugo Weaving is doing his own one-man-band cover of “My Policeman” with a performance that could…and maybe even should… put Harry Styles to shame. (Where was his mariachi outfit, huh?)
However, that opulent twist my co-author mentioned — exquisite taste, by the way, darling! — is so viciously For the Girls it plays even more cutting than it is outrageously camp. Only those with experience running headfirst into a brick wall could think Tilly really killed a kid and, aside from the ridiculous way that Stewart died, the muted flashback exonerating our fiery antiheroine is expected. If you watched, then you know, plot isn’t this movie’s strongest asset.
In fashion, they say it’s not the dress but how you wear it. Apply that same logic to the midnight movie space and it’s not the revenge but how you take it. From “Cruella” to “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Dressmaker” eats with the best of them when it comes to dazzling via vengeful makeovers — but that’s just its first half. Winding through a nearly two-hour runtime, filmmaker Moorhouse makes room for every stylish indulgence before swan-diving into an unhinged finale on par with “Promising Young Woman” and “Pearl” that entirely lives up to the hype. Tilly’s fire-and-brimstone approach not only hits the bad Aussies where it hurts, but arms her to the teeth with reasons to do so.
Not since “Hostel” have I seen someone so deserving of an Achilles tendon slice actually get one (well, two), and not since “Fight Club” have I so loudly applauded such a wildly destructive act of arson. Even after Tilly realizes her decades-old trial was a sham — and that Stewart was her half-brother, because I guess why not — the god-forsaken town of Dungatar insists on her guilt. With or without couture, polite society likes its women convenient. Big mistake. Huge.
Tilly would be mostly happy to waltz off into the sunset holding her Teddy, if only he hadn’t suffocated in that grain silo. (I’m sorry, but again, HE SUFFOCATED IN THAT GRAIN SILO?!) Affronts cascade from there — sanatoriums, wrongful arrests, and strokes, oh my! — and by the time those pot brownies are served, she’s still dressed to kill but done screwing around.
I haven’t read the book that “The Dressmaker” is based on, but I imagine it does a better job than the movie of explaining its thematic intersection with “Macbeth.” Maybe Tilly is the blood Dungatar needed to wash off its hands? Or one of the witches prophesying its downfall? Regardless, the metaphoric Great Birnam Wood comes crashing down on Dunsinane and Tilly floats away from the ashes like a phoenix. If only her “Hunger Games” hunk had been there to see it. (Once more: A GRAIN SILO?!)
This story could be snatched tighter and its dialogue certainly needs hemming. But watched in the right spirit — with the right spirits — this masterclass in fashion-forward retaliation fits like a perfectly burnt bra. Bonus points are to be awarded for (1) use of the word haberdashery; (2) the ugly duckling arc befalling everyone’s favorite “Succession” actress; and (3) whatever you want to call that hostage situation pulled off via… golf?
More isn’t just more but better when it comes to the tenacious Tilly and “The Dressmaker” was indeed custom-made for midnights. Now, seamstress, get me one in every color. I want to see this frock go franchise. —AF
Those brave enough to join the fun can stream “The Dressmaker” with Freevee on Amazon Prime Video. IndieWire After Dark publishes midnight movie recommendations at 11:59 p.m. ET every Friday. Read more of our deranged suggestions…
