Still frames like paintings explore dysfunctional Australian suburban family life in SWEETIE, Jane Campion’s daring and beautifully strange feature film debut, a wry comedy that critic David Edelstein called “moody, frightening, savagely funny.”

The 1989 film is a tragicomedy about the love-hate relationship between two sisters. Inhibited Kay is frightened of the future and of the present, of life and of death, of loneliness and of love. One day her capricious sister Dawn—known as ‘Sweetie’ and the id to Kay’s ego—appears and disrupts her orderly existence.

After the movie, stay for the on-stage discussion of Campion's striking visual design with host Nathalie Atkinson and special guests Joyce Gunhouse and Judy Cornish, the cinephile designers of Comrags.

Campion was the first female director to win the Palme d’Or for her 1993 feature The Piano, the international sensation that also earned her the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay; she has also directed the acclaimed Bright Star, An Angel at My Table, Portrait of a Lady and most recently, the TV series Top of the Lake.

Sweetie (1989)

Directed and co-written by Jane Campion

Australia, 97 minutes, Rated R

Starring Genevieve Lemon, Karen Colston and Tom Lycos

Tickets $12 – $15, available on Eventbrite.