Um Anjo à Minha Mesa (1990)

Janet Frame was a brilliant child who, as a teen, was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Explore Janet's discovery of the world and her life in Europe as her books are published to acclaim.

Director:

Jane Campion

Writers:

Janet Frame (based on the autobiographies of), Laura Jones (screenplay)

Stars:

Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson

18 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kerry Fox	...	Janet
Alexia Keogh	...	Young Janet
Karen Fergusson	...	Teenage Janet
Iris Churn	...	Mother
Jessie Mune	...	Baby Janet
Kevin J. Wilson	...	Father (as K.J. Wilson)
Francesca Collins	...	Baby Jane
Melina Bernecker	...	Myrtle
Mark Morrison	...	Young Bruddie
Katherine Murray-Cowper	...	Young Isabel
Mark Thomson	...	Billy Delaware
Brenda Kendall	...	Miss Botting
Paul Moffat	...	Dis McIvor
Blair Hutchison	...	Bully Boy
David McAuslan	...	Bully Boy

Storyline

In 1920s and 1930s New Zealand, Janet Frame grows up in a poor family with lots of brothers and sisters. Already at an early age she is different from the other kids. She gets an education as a teacher but since she is considered abnormal she stays at a mental institution for eight years. Success comes when she starts to write novels.

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Plot Keywords:

new zealand | writer | based on autobiography | based on novel | f rated | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

M/12

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kerry Fox gained two stones (12.7kg) for her role as Janet Frame. She managed this by drinking liters of Coca-Cola, eating packets of chocolate biscuits and going on the pill.

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Goofs

The streets of Ibiza have some features that surely were not present on the 50s, i.e., a "no parking" signal on one of the streets. Cars were very rare on the island those days.

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Connections

Referenced in Ilha dos Cães (2018)

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Soundtracks

Po Atarau
Performed by Guide Kiri's Rotorua Whaka Maori Concert Party
Used by permission of Zodiac Records

User Reviews

a writer's life, and not exactly a bed of roses

In the ambitious follow-up to her celebrated debut feature 'Sweetie' Jane Campion presents yet another social misfit at odds with an unsympathetic world, drawing her inspiration this time from the autobiography of Janet Frame, a New Zealand writer who suffered eight years of electro-shock therapy after being misdiagnosed for schizophrenia. The film is structured in the form of a triptych, with the best moments (perhaps not surprisingly) all clustered in the first episode, showing the young Frame's childhood in a poor but literate household, always at the mercy of adult authority: teachers, doctors, and so forth. These early scenes aren't exactly meant to set a cheerful mood, but they look positively giddy compared to the rest of the film, the length of which eventually overwhelms its subject: watching the drab and lonely life of a painfully shy, pathetically insecure, repressed and introverted writer unfold over 158 minutes can be an oppressive experience. Campion's unique visual style is never less than interesting, but her technique of using sudden blackouts to separate short, seemingly unrelated fragments of narrative memory only underscores the difficulty of capturing on film the creative process of a writer.

Details

Country:

New Zealand Australia UK USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

18 October 1991 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Um Anjo à Minha Mesa

Filming Locations:

Ibiza, Spain

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,905, 27 May 1991

Gross USA:

$1,054,638

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,055,995

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hibiscus Films, New Zealand Film Commission, Television New Zealand (TVNZ)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

158 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1