Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 New Zealand drama film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he cowrote with his partner, Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 ParkerHulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. The film features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts with supporting roles by Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Merrison, and Simon OConnor. The main premise deals with the obsessive relationship between two teenage girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who murder Parkers mother. The events of the film cover the period from the girls meeting in 1952 to the murder in 1954.

In 1950s Christchurch, New Zealand, a 14yearold girl from a workingclass family, Pauline Parker Lynskey, befriends the more affluent English 15yearold Juliet Hulme Winslet when Juliet transfers to Paulines school. They bond over a shared history of severe childhood disease and isolating hospitalizations, and over time develop an intense friendship. Pauline admires Juliets outspoken arrogance and beauty. Together they paint, write stories, make Plasticine figurines, and eventually create a fantasy kingdom called Borovnia. It is the setting of the adventure novels they write together, which they hope to have published and eventually made into films in Hollywood. Over time it begins to be as real to them as the real world. Paulines relationship with her mother, Honora, becomes increasingly hostile and the two fight constantly. This angry atmosphere is in contrast to the peaceful intellectual life Juliet shares with her family. Pauline spends most of her time at the Hulmes, where she feels accepted. Juliet introduces Pauline to the idea of the Fourth World, a Heaven without Christians where music and art are celebrated. Juliet believes she will go there when she dies. Certain actors and musicians are saints in this afterlife.During a day trip to Port Levy, Juliets parents announce that they are going away and plan to leave Juliet behind. Her fear of being left alone makes her hysterical, culminating in her first direct experience of the Fourth World, perceiving it as a land where all is beautiful and she is safe. She asks Pauline to come with her, and the world that Juliet sees becomes visible to Pauline, too. This is presented as a shared spiritual vision, a confirmation of their Fourth World belief, that influences the girls predominant reality and affects their perception of events in the everyday world. ........

Source: Wikipedia