rdoyle29 Jackson tackles the Parker-Hulme murder case. In 1950's New Zealand, two teenage girls formed an intense friendship largely driven by a shared fantasy world they had created populated by a fairy tale royal family and movie stars they were obsessed with. When their parents became concerned that the relationship was too intense (and worries of lesbianism reared their ugly heads), the girls murdered one of their mothers in an effort to stay together. In what is Jackson's best film, he focuses on the intensity of their friendship and the heightened fantasy they lived in. A lot of Jackson's flaws as a filmmaker are present ... the film is too long and he encourages weird comedic overacting from some of his performers ... but it's definitely his most fully developed film, capturing the reasons that drove these girls as well as the tragedy of the story's outcome.

Dave This film is about real-life teenage friends Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme in New Zealand in the 1950s.Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey are excellent as the friends who are suspected by their parents of being a lesbian couple and who react very badly to being separated. This is Winslet's best performance.

leplatypus This is really a particular movie as it's as much classic as iconoclast : the British education, the rebellious teen, the golden friendship, we have seen or read about these but friends turning into depressive « lovers » and next to criminals are really dramatic new tragedies. What's interesting with Jackson's approach is that he supports those girls, not giving them all the responsibility but rather describing a hard environment : fragile health, need for someone's compassion and out-of- this world dream ! For sure, Kate is really burning the screen as like nowadays she really opens her feelings like nobody else ! At last, we can only support Jackson's « patriotism » to shoot in his native country as New Zealand is indeed a beautiful land much unknown.

asherlines I gave this film a 7 because it portrays the relationship the girls had very well. The fantasy world was very nicely combined with reality and all that happened is very accurate. The acting was good and the writing was too. The problem with this film is that it is a little too disturbing. I do not know how Jackson wanted us to feel but I was not happy for the two main girls and did not actually like them very much. I was kind of on the family's side rather than the teenagers' side. Also, there seemed to be an unrealistic age gap between the two girls with Pauline looking about 15 and Winslet looking about 22. They should have also shown more of the school life; how they were seen by their peers and teachers. On the whole a 'wow' kind of film, worth a watch.