THE DRESSMAKER

* * * ½ (Joyce)

* * *  (Don)

(Australian dark

comedy)

We enjoy Australian films for their pure zaniness and originality. Joyce liked this black comedy a bit more than I, with my only problem being its slow-down halfway through the two-hour movie.

Kate Winslet plays Tilly Dunnage, a woman who returns to her remote Australian town in the mid-fifties, determined to find out whether or not she was responsible for the death of a young boy who bullied her. The now sophisticated seamstress is an immediate misfit among the unattractive backwater residents of the town, who look upon her with deep suspicion. All of the characters have their secrets, which are slowly revealed in one of the darkest, most bizarre endings you’ll ever see.

Tilly sets up shop with her aptly named mother, Mad Molly (a great Judy Davis), who has memory problems of her own. They create beautiful dresses that are so out of place for the dirty old town and its unattractive residents.

The oddball characters in this movie are worth the price of admission, each bringing a chuckle, and most ending up with severe punishment for their wayward behavior.

It’s weird. It’s pitch black humor. It’s Australian. And yes, Tilly does solve the mystery of the boy’s death.

Rated R, with violence and profanity.