An Angel at My Table (1990)

An Angel at My Table (1990) (DVD) (*)

~~$20.99~~ $17.98

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Toronto International Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Danish ( Subtitles )
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Finnish ( Subtitles )
Norwegian ( Subtitles )
Swedish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Sweden ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
158 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1990 and produced in:
Australia ( Australia, New Zealand )
New Zealand ( Australia, New Zealand )
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Jane Campion

Written By:
Janet Frame
Laura Jones

Actors:
Kerry Fox ..... Janet Frame
Alexia Keogh ..... Janet Frame as adolescent
Karen Fergusson ..... Janet Frame as a teenager
Iris Churn ..... Mother
Jessie Mune ..... Baby Janet
Kevin J. Wilson ..... Father
Francesca Collins ..... Baby Jane
Melina Bernecker ..... Myrtle
Mark Morrison ..... Bruddie Frame as child
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

Synopsis:

New Zealand poet Janet Frame is the subject of Jane Campion's biographical drama, which presents a poetically evocative look at the authoress' turbulent life. The film begins with a look at Frame's childhood, showing her as a bright but odd-looking, emotionally fragile young girl with a knack for writing. Frame faces great difficulty in adapting to the conventional rural life around her, and her social awkwardness only worsens as she grows older. After she fails in her attempt to become a schoolteacher due to an intense panic attack, she is subject to a psychiatric evaluation and shamefully misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic. Frame is subsequently committed to a mental institution, where she suffers years of unnecessary shock treatments and other horrors. Her salvation comes through her writings, however, which attract the attention of a renowned author who arranges her release. While the nightmare of Frame's institutionalization is presented with great sensitivity and power, Campion and screenwriter Laura Jones, to their credit, refuse to simplify her story to this one pivotal event. Instead, they pay equal attention to Frame's subsequent life, as she slowly adjusts life in the outside world, experiencing literary success and her first romance. Expressive visuals add immeasurably to the total effect, while Kerry Fox's superb performance creates a truly affecting portrait of Frame. Impressively, the film was originally made as a mini-series for New Zealand television, and slightly reedited for a later theatrical release.

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 is locked up in a mental institution for eight years. Success comes when she starts to write books.

Originally made as a three part mini-series for television, drama based on the autobiography of Janet Frame, New Zealand's most significant author, who was wrongly diagnosed as schizophrenic at an early age and has spent much of her life since fighting her own doubts and those of other people regarding her sanity.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 01 April, 2010.