Review of Sweetie

Karen Colston isn't doing too well at the moment. It's not just that she's terrified of trees and that she and her husband haven't had sex in..... well, a long time, long enough for his attentions, if not actions to wander....but her marginal sister, Geneviève Lemon, has taken up residence by breaking a window. Meanwhile, her parents are bemused by both of them.

Jane Campion has made a career out of movies about the marginal people who are just getting by, marginalized by the robust, beefy standards of Australia, people who don't understand them. Or perhaps they are not well in the head, or some combination of the two, needing insight in a culture that is more concerned with doing than introspection. An air of depression hangs over this movie, and I think that's the motivation: Miss Colston and Miss Lemon are depressed (Miss Lemon seems more manic-depressive) and no one seems to know this, even them. Lacking this insight, they find themselves thinking they're doing something wrong, since other people seem perfectly happy, and drive themselves deeper into that depression, without the consolation of self-awareness and a strong morality.

It's a fine portrait. As a depressive myself, though, I find the movie sad and dispirited.