Sweetie (Blu-ray)
Directed by Jane Campion
Studio: Criterion
Year: 1989
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.95
Release Date: April 19, 2011
Review Date: April 17, 2011
The Film
2/5
Internationally renowned film writer-director Jane Campion burst on the world scene with her first feature film Sweetie, a film that quickly established her credentials as an in-your-face, quirky filmmaker of the first order. Campion’s films are never ordinary, but as eccentric as they are and as demonstrative as her technique is, they’re not for all tastes, and Sweetie is definitely a film that didn’t work for me. Directorial flourishes are all well and good, but if your film’s story and/or characters don’t capture one’s fancy and continue to alienate throughout the film’s running time, then it doesn’t catch fire and remains a personally pointless exercise. There are occasional wonderful moments: a performance that works, a shot that’s breathtaking, or a moment that haunts, but a few bon-bons in a box of mud doesn’t make the mud all that appetizing.
Troubled young woman Kay (Karen Colston ) steals Louis (Tom Lycos) away from his former girl friend, but after they move in together, she ceases to have sexual interest in him seguing instead into a sibling type of relationship. Into their lives comes Kay’s schizophrenic sister Dawn aka Sweetie (Genevieve Lemon) who has stopped taking her meds, run away from home where she’s catered to by her indulgent father (Jon Darling) and put upon mother (Dorothy Barry), and proceeds to wreak havoc into Kay’s world as well. Dawn has delusions of making it in show business encouraged by her brain-dead boy friend Bob (Michael Lake), but she has no talent, and neither Kay nor her father can convince Sweetie to leave while the father refuses to see that Sweetie gets the professional help she so desperately needs.
Frankly, all of the characters in the film, with the possible exception of mother Flo, need professional help. None of them seem of this world existing in a sort of dizzy dreamland of their own making, so their helplessness at dealing with problems and the continual disruption of the household by Sweetie is obviously meant by Campion (who co-wrote the script with Gerard Lee) to be hilariously touching and fun. But nothing is really funny, and Sweetie’s desire for attention (eating her sister’s prized ceramic horse collection, for example, or parading around a tree house in the nude) seems more desperate than amusing. Campion and her cinematographer Sally Bongers really shoot some startling scenes. Kay drags Louis under a car in an underground parking garage where they have sex. It’s a thrilling shot and completely unique. The film’s last sequence showing the young Sweetie singing “Love Me Always” innocently in flashback before her life took such tragic turns is a haunting way to end the movie; if only Campion had been able to instill that kind of identification with the character before the movie concluded.
Genevieve Lemon walks off with the movie as the psychotic Dawn/Sweetie. Her hair-trigger temperament with the ability to switch emotions in the blink of an eye is pretty electrifying and makes the character, even at her most loathsome, someone whom one can’t take his eyes off of. In the rather colorless role of Kay, Karen Colston is much less interesting though the problem seems more with the part than with the actress playing her. Jon Darling’s too-lenient father (with perhaps a suggestion of incest thrown into the mix) does a fine job with an underwritten part. As the mother who’s fed up with dealing with her daughter’s unpredictability and her husband’s excuses, Dorothy Barry is simply wonderful, the most appealing character in the entire film. Tom Lycos makes an attractive love object for the sisters but doesn’t get to do much with the role other than appear in good shape. Michael Lake as the dim-bulb boy friend of Sweetie can steal the scene with the flicker of an eyelash.
Video Quality
4.5/5
The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. It’s a strikingly beautiful transfer with a great amount of detail to be seen in the sharp compositions, especially in skin, hair, and wood grain. Color is rich and generally well saturated with wonderfully accurate flesh tones. Contrast is only occasionally hot, and black levels sometimes seem a bit lighter than they should. Otherwise, this is one of the stronger color transfers in Criterion’s line-up. The film has been divided into 25 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix makes terrific use of the front soundstage with dialogue decisively recorded and placed in the center channel and the haunting music score by Martin Armiger and the choral music passages superbly threaded in an almost ethereal blend of sound. But the rears are completely neglected in the mix with only the slightest echoes of music passing into them.
Special Features
4/5
The audio commentary is provided by director Jane Campion and her longtime cinematographer Sally Bongers. The two old friends speak warmly of their effort expressing how many themes in the film have shown up in all of their subsequent work.
All of the video featurettes are presented in 1080i.
“Making Sweetie” pairs the film’s two stars Genevieve Lemon and Karen Colston in a fond reminiscence of what it was like working on their first project with Jane Campion. It runs 22 ¾ minutes.
Three of Jane Campion’s short student films are presented:
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An Exercise in Discipline: Peel finds a family in conflict over orange peels thrown on a highway. Made in 1982, it runs 8 ¾ minutes.
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Passionless Moments is a 12-minute sampler of snippets from the lives of many people in conflict.
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A Girl’s Own Story made in 1983 features a dysfunctional family struggling with many different kinds of problems. It runs 28 ½ minutes.
“Jane Campion: The Film School Years” is a conversation between Campion and interviewer Peter Thompson discussing her viewpoints about film school and directing as they pertain to the three films mentioned directly above. This 1989 interview which also touches on Sweetie runs 19 ¼ minutes.
There are a production gallery the viewer can step through featuring some dazzling color stills and behind-the-scenes shots during the making of Sweetie. The photography is by Regis Lansac.
The film’s theatrical trailer runs 1 ¾ minutes.
The enclosed 15-page booklet contains the chapter listing, cast and crew lists, some color stills, and a celebratory essay on the film and its director by film professor Dana Polan.
The Criterion Blu-rays include a maneuvering tool called “Timeline” which can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.
In Conclusion
2.5/5 (not an average)
Sweetie wasn’t my cup of tea, but it may be yours, particularly if you are one of director Jane Campion’s ardent admirers. The Criterion Blu-ray set features a terrific video transfer and bonus features every Campion fan will want to experience.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
