Main Cast: Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson, Iris Churn, Glynis Angell, K.J. Wilson
Release Year: 1990
Country: AU/NZ
Run Time: 157 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
New Zealand poet Janet Frame is the subject of Jane Campion's biographical drama, which presents a poetically evocative look at the authoress' turbulent life. The film begins with a look at Frame's childhood, showing her as a bright but odd-looking, emotionally fragile young girl with a knack for writing. Frame faces great difficulty in adapting to the conventional rural life around her, and her social awkwardness only worsens as she grows older. After she fails in her attempt to become a schoolteacher due to an intense panic attack, she is subject to a psychiatric evaluation and shamefully misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic. Frame is subsequently committed to a mental institution, where she suffers years of unnecessary shock treatments and other horrors. Her salvation comes through her writings, however, which attract the attention of a renowned author who arranges her release. While the nightmare of Frame's institutionalization is presented with great sensitivity and power, Campion and screenwriter Laura Jones, to their credit, refuse to simplify her story to this one pivotal event. Instead, they pay equal attention to Frame's subsequent life, as she slowly adjusts life in the outside world, experiencing literary success and her first romance. Expressive visuals add immeasurably to the total effect, while Kerry Fox's superb performance creates a truly affecting portrait of Frame. Impressively, the film was originally made as a mini-series for New Zealand television, and slightly reedited for a later theatrical release. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
Originally commissioned as a miniseries for New Zealand television, Jane Campion's sophomore directorial effort is a sprawling adaptation of the memoirs of author and poet Janet Frame, whose budding talents as a young writer were squelched by her community's -- and at times, even her own -- conviction that she be institutionalized. The film is as much a chronicle of one woman's changing emotional landscape as it is an expose of the sordid conditions of the country's psychiatric hospitals of the '50s, where Frame was left to languish until her writings attracted the attention of influential writers and editors. The perennially reliable character actress Kerry Fox established herself in the role of the adult Frame, and she delivers delicate, carefully modulated emotion beneath Frame's trademark shock of red hair. The film bears more than a passing resemblance to later "institutionalized genius" pictures (most notably 1996's Shine), but Campion avoids letting her subject become a mere martyr; there are incidents in which Frame exercises bad judgement, and her transition to the life of a successful, independent woman is a shaky, apprehensive one. As is common in Campion's films, however, the director seems to be outlining a larger social pathology behind her heroine's insecurity and pathos. Angel marked the beginning of the director's kinetic, distinctive work with cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, who would also shoot The Piano and Portrait of a Lady. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Melina Bernecker - Myrtle Frame; William Brandt - Bernard; Sarah Smuts-Kennedy - June Frame; Colin McColl - John Forrest; Martyn Sanderson - Frank Sargeson; David Letch - Patrick; Peter Dennett - Mark Goulden; David McKenzie - Alan Sillitoe; Paul Sanchez - Francesca; Peter Needham - Dr. Palmer; Natalie Ellis - Aunt Isy; Eddie Hegan - Uncle George; Andrew Binns - Bruddie; Melanie Reid - Melanie; Willa O'Neill - Edith; Karla Smith - Sybil; Edith Campion - Miss Lindsay; Sassy Acorn - Audition Girl; Helene Anderson - Norwegian Woman; Cushla Aston - Borstal Girl; Billy Atkinson - Mrs. Morgan; Geoff Barlow - Headmaster; Timothy Bartlett - Gussy Dymock; Virginia Brocklehurst - Rona; Fiona Brown - Shirley; Alison Bruce - Dora; Peter Brunt - Dr. Burt; Gerald Bryan - Dr. Crawley; Julia Calvo - Spanish Woman on Train; Mark Clare - Karl Stead; Eileen Clark - Neighbour; Francene Clark - Mary; Anne Cockroft - Nurse; Joshua Cole - June and Wilson's Child; Francesca Collins - Baby Jane; Rod Collinson - Mr. Niles; Bohemian Cooper; Tony Creamer - Audition Boy; Melissa Dawson - Nora Bone; Donnell Doreen - Teacher; Erin Dorricott - Eunice; Alistair Douglas - Headmaster; Maureen Duffy - Miss Farnie; Lillian Enting - Miss Crowe; Faye Flegg - Doctor; Caroline Flint - Mrs. Goulden; Angela Ford - Turning Girl; Joan Foster - Hotel Manageress; Natasha Gray - Lesley; Patrick Griffiths - Reporter; Michael Harry - Colin; Carla Hedgeman - Young Poppy; Ian Hendl - June and Wilson's Child; Rachel Hernandez - Columba; Ailene Herring - Teacher; Blair Hutchinson - Bully Boy; Rob Jayne - Ben; Fiona Kay - Marguerite; Brenda Kendall - Miss Botting; Harry Lavington - Head of Psychology; Sarah Llewwllyn - June Frame - as a Child; Annabel Lomas - Mrs. Chandler; Elizabeth MacRae - Nurse; Maria Mercedes Marato - Catalina; Sharon Marsden - Katie; Carlos Martinez - Spanish Official; Maria Matias - Spanish Woman; David McAuslan - Bully Boy; Hamish McFarlane - Avril Luxon; Susan McGregor - Pamela; Erin Mills - Katherine; Paul Moffat - Dis McIvor; Mark Morrison - Buddie Frame, as a Child; Jessie Mune - Janet Frame - as a Baby; Katherine Murray-Cowper - Young Isabel; Celia Nicholson - Piona; Jacqueline O'Rourke - Borstal Girl; Jim Rawdon - Wilson; Diana Rowan; Dave Scott - Doctor; June Shane - Neighbour; Timothy Smith - Edwin Mather; Caroline Somerville - Poppy, as a Teenager; Fritha Stalker - Bridget; Kelly Stewart - Rose; Sheryl Stewart - Nurse Maitland; Lorna Storm - Groovy Girl; Mark Thomson - Billy Delaware; Samantha Townsley - Isabel Frame, as a Teenager; Joy Trow - Woman on Platform; Jessica Wilcox - Kay Stead; Eleanor Wragge - Ruth Sillitoe; Richard Mills - Talent Scout; Faith Martin; Margaret Gordon - Neighbor; David Stott - Doctor; Christopher Lawrence - Buddie Frame, as a Teenager; Gwyneth Hugues - Matron
Credit
Jackie Gilmore - Art Director, John Maynard - Co-producer, Glenys Jackson - Costume Designer, John Maynard - First Assistant Director, Jane Campion - Director, Veronica Haussler - Editor, Don McGlashan - Composer (Music Score), Majory Hamlin - Makeup, Elle Stephenson - Makeup, Grant Major - Production Designer, Lisa Kissin - Production Designer, Stuart Dryburgh - Cinematographer, Bridget Ikin - Production Manager, Lisa Kissin - Production Manager, Bridget Ikin - Producer, Grant Major - Producer, Lisa Kissin - Set Designer, Laura Jones - Screenwriter, Janet Frame - Book Author
An Angel at My Table is a dramatisation of the autobiographies of New Zealand author Janet Frame. Originally produced as a television miniseries, the film, as with Frame's autobiographies, is divided into three sections, with the lead role played by three different actresses who portray Frame at different stages of her life: Karen Fergusson (child), Alexia Keogh (adolescent) and Kerry Fox (adult).
An Angel at My Table was the first film from New Zealand to be screened at the Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Special Jury Prize. In addition to virtually sweeping the local New Zealand film awards, it also took home the prize for best foreign film at the Independent Spirit Awards and the International Critics' Award at the Toronto Film Festival. The film not only established Jane Campion as an emerging director and launched the career of Kerry Fox, but it also introduced a broader audience to Frame's writing.
