In the comedy The Dressmaker, a woman (Kate Winslet) returns to her remote Australian home village with revenge on her mind. She was run out-of-town as a child for something that she can’t remember, and has become a successful Parisian dress designer. She’s come back to resolve the mystery and, when she finds that the hateful townspeople have left her mother (Judy Davis) to decompensate, she’s ready to unleash vengeance on a Biblical scale. It’s set in the early 1950s.
Be ready for this comedy to darken considerably in its final segment. The first 90 minutes weave together an excellent comedy, an ordinary whodunit and a run-of-the-mill romance. Then a tragic occurrence takes the movie to very serious place and unspools a VERY darkly funny revenge finale, which is both over-the-top and satisfying. But the shift in tone is jarring, and the movie as a whole is very uneven.
The Dressmaker is, however, very well-acted. Winslet is good in a very broad role. Judy Davis, 37 years after becoming an art house favorite in My Brilliant Career, gleams with energy as the vibrant and demented mother. Sarah Snook is particularly notable in one of the great “makeover” roles, transitioning from ugly duckling to local princess while retaining the same nasty personality.
My favorite performance in The Dressmaker is Hugo Weaving’s. I’ve been a fan of Weaving since he so compellingly played a blind man in the 1991 Proof (also our first look at a very young Russell Crowe). Since then, Weaving has earned iconic roles in the Matrix movies and V for Vendetta and is usually the most interesting performer in big budget movies. In The Dressmaker, Weaving plays the town constable, a minor official with a very peculiar secret proclivity. Totally committed to the part, Weaving is flamboyant fun.
All in all, The Dressmaker is generally entertaining, if not cohesive.