THE DRESSMAKER

This wickedly comic drama stars Kate Winslet as a worldly dressmaker returning to the Australian backwater that exiled her. Writer-director Jocelyn Moorhouse’s film is a sumptuous, saucy and scandalous tale of love and vengeance in the 1950’s.

Tilly Dunnage (Winslet) arrives in the small town of Dungatar like a gunslinger: broad-brimmed hat on her head, sleek pumps on her feet, trusty Singer sewing-machine at her side. Driven away when she was just ten years old for supposedly committing a heinous crime, the resilient Tilly found her way to Paris, where she trained under the designer Madeleine Vionet. She has come back to look after her ailing mother, Molly (Judy Davis), but, with her beguiling, form-fitting dresses, she’s soon turning heads at the town rugby game – most notably the one atop the shoulders of star player Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth.)

When Tilly is hired to make haute couture for the more rebellious local ladies, a battle line is drawn: on one side, those who love Tilly’s style, and on the other side, Dungatar’s conservative contingent. Tilly’s shadowy past becomes her enemies’ most potent weapon – but this fearsome fashionista has resolved to never let Dungatar get the best of her again.

Winslet exudes femme-fatale danger as Tilly – she’s Clint Eastwood meets Rita Hayworth. And Moorhouse, working with co-writer P.J. Hogan in adapting Rosalie Ham’s novel, infuses the film with a perfect blend of glamour and edginess, generating laughter and intrigue right up to the explosive finale.

Country: Australia, 2015
Language: English
Run Time: 118 min.
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Rating: PG

Note: This event copy provided by Columbia Valley Arts.

Doors open at 6:30 PM – Film starts at 7:00 PM

Cash bar and light refreshments plus popcorn and other theatre snacks.