The Dressmaker(2016)

Plot Summary

• In 1926, in the rural Australian outback town of Dungatar, schoolgirl Myrtle Dunnage is blamed for the death of classmate Stewart Pettyman and exiled from the town by local police sergeant Horatio Farrat (Hugo Weaving).Twenty-five years later in the year 1951, Myrtle, now an accomplished dressmaker going by the name Tilly (Kate Winslet), returns to Dungatar. Unable to remember the events of Stewart's death, Tilly asks her mentally ill mother Molly (Judy Davis), but she remembers nothing about the incident.At the local football final game, Tilly's red couture gown distracts the Dungatar players. Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth) confronts Tilly, and she changes into a black but equally alluring outfit before the last quarter. When the teams swap ends of the field, the team from nearby Winyerp are distracted by Tilly's black dress, and Dungatar wins. Tilly agrees to make a dress for Gertrude Pratt (Sarah Snook) for the upcoming footballers dance, in exchange for the truth about Stewart's death. Gertrude reveals that Tilly had hidden from Stewart, who was bullying her, but Gertrude revealed Tilly's location in self-defense.At the dance, Gertrude's dress captures the attention of William Beaumont (James Mackay), and they later become engaged. The townspeople ask Tilly to make more extravagant dresses, and Teddy pursues a romantic relationship with her.The local police Constable, Sergeant Farrat, confesses to Tilly that he exiled her because Stewart's father Evan (Shane Bourne), a town councilor, blackmailed him for secretly being a cross-dresser. Tilly and Farrat bond over their shared passion for designer clothing. Evan recruits Una Pleasance (Sacha Horler) to start a rival dressmaking service, but when Gertrude hires Tilly to create her wedding dress, the townspeople return to Tilly, ruining Una.Tilly bribes Farrat with a feather boa into letting her read the witness statement given by her former schoolteacher Beulah Harridiene (Kerry Fox), and she becomes convinced Beulah lied for fear Evan would blame her for Stewart's death. Tilly tells Farrat this at Gertrude's wedding reception, but he remains convinced that Tilly killed Stewart, as everyone else in town had an alibi. He also reveals that Evan is Tilly's father. Tilly leaves, and Teddy follows after his developmentally disabled brother, Barney (Gyton Grantley), hysterically says Tilly "moved" when Stewart died.Teddy takes Tilly to the schoolhouse, and tells her how Stewart died. Stewart had subdued Tilly against a wall, threatening to murder her mother if she moved. He charged head-down at her, but she moved aside and Stewart broke his neck. Barney witnessed this from the town silo, but was afraid people would think he was lying. Tilly and Teddy go to his caravan and make love. They sit atop the silo, and Teddy shows off by jumping inside, but asphyxiates as he sinks into the grain.Molly reveals that Evan knew about Tilly, and when Stewart died he had Tilly sent away to hurt Molly. She encourages Tilly to use her dressmaking talents against the townspeople. After suffering a stroke, Molly dies. While Tilly and Farrat hold a wake, Beulah snoops around the house. Tilly drunkenly objects to the music, and injures Beulah when she throws the portable record player off the veranda. Beulah is helped onto a train to Melbourne, ostensibly for treatment but really to be placed in an asylum.Percival Almanac (Barry Otto), the town chemist who mistreated Tilly as a child, drowns in a pond behind his house; his wife Irma (Julia Blake), under the influence of hash brownies baked by Molly, does not save him. To prevent Tilly's arrest, Sergeant Farrat takes the blame and is removed from the town. Tilly reveals Evan's philandering to his wife, Marigold. Confronting Evan, Marigold cuts his Achilles tendons and leaves him to bleed to death.Traveling to Winyerp to perform in a competitive Eisteddfod, the townspeople realize the numerous deaths have left them without a full cast, and that Tilly has created Winyerp's costumes. Tilly sets fire to her house and to a paraffin-soaked bolt of red fabric, rolling it down the hill towards the town. Stating that she is no longer cursed, she leaves the town by train. The townspeople return to find Dungatar has burned down.

Storyline

• Based on Rosalie Ham's best selling novel, The Dressmaker is the story of femme fatale Tilly Dunnage who returns to her small home town in the country to right the wrongs of the past. A stylish drama with comic undertones about love, revenge and haute couture. — Sue Maslin