On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age. First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing. Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation .
To paraphrase Moira Rose, “If you love female rage as much as I do, you’ll thrill to Kate Winslet in the underseen Australian movie ‘The Dressmaker. ‘” “ The Dressmaker ” exists in an odd lull in Winslet’s career. Post-Oscar win for “The Reader,” she appeared in a slew of OK period films (“A Little Chaos,” “Labor Day,” “Steve Jobs”) and the “Divergent” series — which meant no one was really looking for the next great Winslet performance.
Too bad, because one of her best is at the center of Jocelyn Moorhouse’s pitch-black revenge comedy-slash-drama-slash-fashion show. (Also a period piece, as it happens.) Returning to her small, dusty hometown in rural Australia, Tilly (Winslet) is greeted by furious townsfolk (Sarah Snook!), an aging mother (Judy Davis!), and a very hunky Hemsworth (Liam!) who doesn’t seem at all troubled by the cloud of gossip and scandal hovering over Tilly’s impeccably coiffed head.
You see, Tilly was accused at the age of 10 of killing a classmate and has spent the subsequent decades in Europe. Now, she’s an ice-cold revenge factory outfitted in ‘50s haute couture (her costumes are by Margo Wilson), and no one is quite safe from her nimble needles. Not that she’s doing a Human Caterpillar with the people who drove her out of town; instead, she’s using makeovers to make them over and open their eyes to humanity and common decency.
It almost works. All of this is delightful and very fun (the costumes are stunning, particularly a sequence in which Winslet wriggles over to a rugby field in a skintight dress to infuriate the women by tantalizing the men) — but there is an abrupt twist around the midway point. A twist so extravagant in its casualness that, upon first watching the film, I rewound it, convinced that I had missed something.
And then waited for the dream sequence to be announced. Nope, the movie actually goes there, and what follows is even more remarkable. Moorehouse described the movie as “Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven’ with a sewing machine,” and by the time “The Dressmaker” ends, she’s proven right.
We rarely get to see female rage brought to this kind of barnburner conclusion, and when we do, it deserves a helluva lot more attention than it got at the time of release. That means it’s ripe for rediscovery and late-night viewings, preferably with an icy cocktail. — MP Those brave enough to join the fun can stream “The Dressmaker” with Freevee on Amazon Prime Video.
IndieWire After Dark publishes midnight movie recommendations at 11:59 p.m. ET every Friday.
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