Two Friends (1986)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Jane Campion's first feature concerns a pair of girls whose friendship is fading away... and works backwards from there. The reverse chronology comes off as gimmicky and adds very little to the film. It does provide a more upbeat note to end on, but I think it would have been better accomplished via more of a flashback structure. But it works well enough, and the film is quite sweet with some genuine moments. I'd like to think the title has a double meaning, referring not only to Kelly and Louise, but also Louise and her mother, a strong relationship that was enjoyable to watch. The production feels a little flat, but there's a terrific whimsical sequence near the end, and the performances are endearing. A pretty nice movie, although again I could have done without the gimmicky structure.

Jane Campion made this film for Australian TV in 1985 and went to gain worldwide acclaim with The Piano in 1993. However, Two Friends is one of her earliest attempts at making a fully-fledged feature film. The deceptively simple story is about two teenage friends in Sydney , Kelly and Louise from different backgrounds who develop a strong bond, only for external circumstances and controls to disrupt that attachment. The coup de grace of the film is how Campion presents the story rather than what she shows us. The difference is crucial because the story is pretty basic to say the least; but the fact it is is told backwards, headed by monthly chapters, makes it a little bit special. The film demands to be seen numerous times in this sense to grasp the nuances of the beginning which is really the end and contrast it with the end which is really the beginning. By flipping narrative convention on its head, Canpion urges the viewer to be alert to what went wrong between the girls. It's a clever device that has inspired many film-makers, including a recent adherent, French auteur, Francois Ozon, whose latest release 5 x 2 follows the same narrative conceit but instead dramatizes the decline of a marriage.