Heavenly Creatures

(Peter Jackson, New Zealand/Germany 1994, 99 min., 35mm)

ImageOut of the Archive. Based on a true story, Heavenly Creatures is a tale of two teenage friends (Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet) whose shared love for imaginary worlds can be matched only by the growing love they feel for each other. But in mid-1950s New Zealand, conservative parents are actively conspiring against the blossoming relationship, so the girls see no other solution than to plot a deadly conspiracy of their own. Then known exclusively as a director of violent splatter comedies, director Peter Jackson shocked the world with this simultaneously gentle and transgressive teenage lesbian romance that launched the career of Winslet and enabled Jackson to helm the Lord of the Rings trilogy.