Heavenly Creatures

"There's something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls."

This is what the tumblr where i got this collage from said about the girls portrayed in those films. And it is true, boredom can be dangerous and in the case of all these girls, these heavenly creatures as i like to call them, is something fatal sometimes. These girls have in common a different view of things, sometimes not a real vision of life, often creating their own worlds using their imagination to invent a new reality and distorting things. So that's why i decided to go in depth with it, and especially after watching 'Perfect Sisters' (2014) which is a a modern day version of the Peter Jackson movie, to analyse what was in the minds of these characters, real people in some cases, and try to understand their worlds.

Check them all after the cut!

(Spoilers!!!)

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

• Director: Peter Jackson.
• Heavenly creatures: Pauline and Juliet (Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet).
• Plot: Based on the notorious 1954 murder case where two teenage girls aged 14 and 15 plotted to murder Pauline's mother as she wanted to separate them over their obsessive relationship.
• Why are they Heavenly Creatures: They created a fantasy world of their own and built an unhealthy friendship that led them to brutally murder the mother of one of them in order to remain together. Their obsession went beyond life and death and when arrested, they were separated forever as the condition for them to be released from prison, once they served their time, was to never meet again. 

This movie makes a really great portrayal of the minds of these two teenage girls who caused a commotion in New Zealand and also served as the screen debut of Kate Winslet at 19-years-old.



The Virgin Suicides (1999)

• Director: Sofia Coppola.
• Heavenly creatures: The Lisbon sisters Lux, Cecilia, Therese, Bonnie and Marie (Kirsten Dunst, Hanna Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelsea Swain and A.J. Cook).
• Plot: Based on the Jeffrey Eugenides novel, tells the story of how five sisters turn to suicide as their only path to freedom.
• Why are they Heavenly Creatures: Forced by their mother to remain isolated from the world and from everyone else, and after the suicide of their youngest sister Cecilia, they start to day dream with fantasy trips far away from everything and their parents. They start to exchange music calls with the boys of their neighbourhood in order to escape from their prison home, but they finally follow her sister's footsteps to end their lives of home confinement.

 Coppola's adaptation of the novel couldn't be any more accurate. She creates the whole mood the book reflects, the suffocation they feel being so young and with their lives ahead and the plotting of planning a trip with the boys to runaway that only served to escape in their minds as they put an end to their lives.


Spring Breakers (2013)

• Director: Harmony Korine
• Heavenly Creatures: Faith, Brit, Candy and Cotty (Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens and Rachel Korine).
• Plot: Four little chickens who travel to Florida to enjoy spring break and get immersed into a world of drugs, guns and crime.
• Why are they Heavenly Creatures: They go on vacation in order to get out of their boring lives during college, and their fantasy soon turns into a dangerous world in which it's not clear if they really can tell what's real or not. With the exception of Faith who returns home once she sees in what they're getting into, the three other spring breakers decide to live their trip to the most, or at least we see an unrealistic (i think) fantasy of what they are experiencing.

This modern day masterpiece that is not praised as it should, does a really great portrayal of how today's youth has grown up with MTV and the influence media has had on their expectations in life. Read more about the analysis that can be made of the film here.



Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me (1992)

• Director: David Lynch.
• Heavenly Creature: Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee).
• Plot: The prologue of the 'Twin Peaks' series follows the last seven days of Laura Palmer before finding her dead body wrapped in plastic.
• Why is she a Heavenly Creature: does the enigmatic figure of Laura Palmer need any explanation of why she's a perfect fit in this category? The Prom Queen led a double life of volunteering and being the town's poster girl to do drugs, prostitution and anything sordid you could do in a small town like Twin Peaks. "And the angels won't save you, because they've all gone away".

This movie is really underrated from all those people who are not really Lynch lovers and only liked 'Twin Peaks'. Those were expecting the film to be similar to the show but it was nothing like it because Laura Palner's life was darker than that. Completely and unfairly underrated.



Cracks (2009)

• Director: Jordan Scott.
• Heavenly Creatures: boarding school girls Di (Juno Temple), Fiamma (María Valverde), Poppy (Imogen Poots) and the rest of the girls.
• Plot: Di is obsessed with her young teacher Miss G. (played by Evan Green). When Fiamma, a new student arrives, Miss G. becomes besotted by her and even molests her when the girl is drunk.This event and some lies by the teacher will lead to a tragic ending.
• Why are they Heavenly Creatures: The girls have a really toxic and obsessive relationship with their mentor Miss G. and when she tells them that Fiamma tried to seduce her (when it was her who molested the young girl while intoxicated)  jealousy will make Di and the rest to beat her up until Fiamma starts having an asthma attack; but Miss G., who has witnessed all the fight, will leave her to die.

This movie is not particularly from my favourites but it was nice to watch. The devotion to these girls to their mentor is insane as well as Miss G.'s ways with them and everything is vicious and the actresses are all really good. Got to give it a second watch sometime soon.



Stoker (2013)

• Director: Chan Wook-Park.
• Heavenly Creature: India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska).
• Plot: The sudden arrival of uncle Richard after India's beloved father passes away, turns her world around when she both feels attracted and intrigued by him. 
• Why is she a Heavenly Creature: India knows there's something wrong with her. Soon she discovers that murder is in her nature, she even gets turned on by the killing of a young guy she seduced, and she accepts its and embraces her true nature. It runs in the family.

This movie was good. Sure people expected more from Wook-Park but i really liked it. It's a strange movie, with strange characters and an intriguing plot. India is totally Heavenly Creature as she can't help it, it's in her blood.

Lolita (1997)

• Director: Adrian Lyne
• Heavenly Creature: Lo, Dolly, Dolores, Lo-li-ta (Dominique Swain).
• Plot: The famous and polemic Nabokov's novel doesn't need an introduction. In Lyne's movie adaptation we get to see a less censured version of 'Lolita' than Kubrick did in 1962 for obvious reasons.
• Why is she a Heavenly Creature: Lolita is a 12-year-old girl that knows her way with men. Actually, she manipulates them to get what she wants and eventually drives Humbert Humbert crazy. Her apparent innocence mixed with that peevishly old soul is what makes Lolita so intriguing and fascinating to Humbert's eyes.

I liked this modern version as it's more faithful to the book as Kubrick had to censor many of the novel's hot stuff due to the time and age he filmed it. Even though i did not completely like Swain's portrayal of the famous girl (not much her acting but how the character was carried sometimes), i have to admit that Jeremy Irons did great as the infatuated professor, and the uncensored version was more complete.

Perfect Sisters (2014)

• Director: Stanley M. Brooks.
• Heavenly Creatures: Sisters Sandra and Beth Andersen (Abigail Breslin and Georgie Henley).
• Plot: Based on true events, two sisters are fed up by their drunken mother (Mia Sorvino) and her abusive boyfriends, so they decide to end her life and therefore inherit her insurance money.
• Why are they Heavenly Creatures: Sandra and Beth have created their own memories in order to escape from their tumultuous lives because of their alcoholic mother until they can no longer hold it on and decide to kill her making the police believe it's an accident. They will become the modern version of both Pauline and Juliet ('Heavenly Creatures' 1994) and it will be their bragging about their crime in highschool what will get them arrested and separated forever.

History repeats itself and yet we have another two girls murdering their mother. I didn't expect much from this film and despite not being anything great, it is really entertaining and not bad at all. Also, we get to see another modern version of these creatures besides the spring breakers, and how they're influenced by the media, music, television and popularity.


So, what other Heavenly Creatures would you include?

sources: cariatides, lippymag, desdefueralapecera,, criticalmassesmedia, arisfael, moviemail, screenmusings & scenesource