Themes: Sibling Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Eccentric Families
Main Cast: Genevieve Lemon, Karen Colston, Tom Lycos, Jon Darling, Dorothy Barry
Release Year: 1989
Country: AU
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
New Zealand-born filmmaker Jane Campion directs the darkly humorous family drama Sweetie. Thin and mousy Kay (Karen Colson) works in a factory and lives a dreary existence with her well-meaning boyfriend, Louis (Tom Lycos). One day, her sister Dawn (Genevieve Lemon) arrives with her so-called manager, Bob (Michael Lake). Nicknamed Sweetie, Dawn is everything Kay is not: boisterous, impulsive, and overweight. Kay is consumed with uptight phobias, while Dawn hangs on to her unrealistic childhood dreams of show business. Meanwhile, their parents, Gordon (Jon Darling) and Flo (Dorothy Barry), are involved in a strange separation. Kay, Louis, and Gordon trick Dawn so they can visit Flo at a ranch in the Australian outback. Everyone gets together back at the family home where Dawn pulls an immature stunt, exposing the psychological realities of the situation. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
Writer/director Jane Campion garnered worldwide attention at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival with her first full-length feature, the alternately whimsical and disturbing Sweetie. This color-saturated tale of two sisters -- the reserved, deliberate Kay (Karen Colston) and the uninhibited, childlike Sweetie (Genevieve Lemon) -- divided critics on its release, as it established many of the motifs that Campion would explore in her subsequent successes, An Angel at My Table and The Piano. When the film begins, Kay's sad-sack demeanor and passive behavior appear to be dissolving as she starts to take control of her life -- that is, until the younger Sweetie turns up on her doorstep. Lemon's performance is something to behold: She's a pale, fleshy Freudian nightmare in heavy eye makeup, prone to histrionics and sly turns of seduction. Without resorting to textbook feminist indictments of male culture, the film charts the havoc a husband's indifference and a father's misguided attention can play on the emotional development of two very different women. Campion would later use Lemon in The Piano and Holy Smoke. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Cast
Genevieve Lemon - Dawn/Sweetie
Karen Colston - Kay
Tom Lycos - Louis
Jon Darling - Gordon
Dorothy Barry - Flo
Michael Lake - Bob; Andre Pataczek - Clayton; Sean Callinan - Simboo; Sean Fennell - Boy clerk; Louise Fox - Cheryl; Robyn Frank - Ruth; Jean Hadgraft - Mrs. Schneller; Paul Livingston - Teddy Schneller; Ann Merchant - Paula; Bronwyn Morgan - Sue; John Negroponte; Charles Abbott - Meditation teacher; Larry Brand - Sweetie's Funeral; Gerard Lee - Lead Jackaroo; Diana Armer - Melony; Ben Cochrane - Boy in Tree; Bruce Currie - Man with Saw; Irene Curtis - Mandy; Emma Fowler - Little Sweetie; Norm Galton - Notary; Warren Hensley - Man handshaker; Cedric McLaughlan - Sweetie's Funeral; Barbara Middleton - Clayton's Mum; Kristoffer Pershouse - Boy in Tree; Norman Phillips - Nosy Neighbor; Ken Porter - Lead Jakaroo; Doug Ramsey - Sweetie's Funeral; Shirley Sheppard - Nosy Neighbor
Credit
Jane Campion - Casting, Amanda Lovejoy - Costume Designer, Jane Campion - Director, Veronika Heussler - Editor, Martin Armiger - Composer (Music Score), Wendy Freeman - Makeup, Jane Castle - Camera Operator, Peter Harris - Production Designer, Sally Bongers - Cinematographer, John Maynard - Producer, Bernie Ledger - Stunts, Jane Campion - Screenwriter, Gerald Lee - Screenwriter, Gerard Lee - Screenwriter
