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Jane Campion is Australasias leading auteur director. ... In relation to these issues, Jane Campion is the subject of extensive critical discussion. ... (4) It powerfully demonstrated the potential for art cinema to cross over into mainstream awareness and commercial success, with its unprecedented box office takings and several Oscar nominations (winning Best Original Screenplay for Campion, Best Actress for Holly Hunter and Best Supporting Actress for Anna Paquin). ... Nevertheless, while Campion consciously avoided the striking framings of composition and colour that characterised Sweetie and her short films, (10) An Angel at my Table has a strong visual sense in its broad vistas of the New Zealand landscape and its evocation of Janets private world.“Jane Campions lunatic women” (11)Many critics have seen Campions persistent concerns with gender politics and the disempowerment of women within the domestic sphere as evidence of a feminist sensibility. Certainly, while Campion may not regard herself as a feminist director, (12) her films have been enthusiastically taken up by feminist film critics for their depiction of strong female characters rebelling against the roles expected of them by patriarchal society. ... In The Piano, Ada has refused to speak since she was six years old; Campion never tells us why. ... AmbiguityThe essence of Jane Campions films lies in ambiguity, in the opening up of narrative possibilities. ... Campion is not interested in telling her audience what to think or how to respond. ... Campion then cuts to a shot of Kay in bed, pulling up the sheets and blanket close to her chin, staring tensely at the ceiling. ... Campion again employs ambiguity to suggest an incestuous relationship in The Portrait of a Lady. ... Twice Campion shows a close-up of Osmonds hands stroking Pansys, creating a sense of uneasiness in this display of intimacy. ... (27) The startling beauty of this final image – Nicole Kidmans pale face and unruly red hair framed against the frost-covered glass panes of the mansions door – heightens the audacity of this unresolved narrative moment with which Campion concludes her film. ... Campion employs the kitsch stylings of 1970s pop culture to great comic effect in her portrayal of PJ Waters and her sense of humour is unforgiving in the presentation of Ruths family, particularly her sister-in-law Yvonne (Sophie Lee). ... Early in the film, Campion visualises Isabels sexual desires in a fantasy sequence, (31) when Isabel imagines her three suitors lying in bed with her, kissing and caressing her face and body, or looking on with desire. Campion is explicit about Isabels desire for this physical contact. ... (37) Campion is merciless in her depiction of a lovesick PJ, stumbling across the desert in a red dress and lipstick, finally collapsing and hallucinating images of Ruth as an Indian goddess. ... Campion is a director who inspired critical comment and analysis even before she made her first feature.
Approximate Word count = 3474
Approximate Pages = 13.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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