Holy Smoke

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Movie
German title Holy Smoke
Original title Holy Smoke
Country of production USA , Australia ,
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 110 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jane Campion
script Anna Campion ,
Jane Campion
production Jan Chapman
music Angelo Badalamenti
camera Dion Beebe
cut Veronika Jenet
occupation

Holy Smoke (alternatively: Holy Smoke! ) Is an American-Australian drama directed by Jane Campion from 1999 .

action

The young Australian Ruth Barron is traveling through India with a friend. She learns from a guru named Baba, who is supposed to enlighten his followers in ritual gatherings. Ruth wants to take part despite her friend Prue's fears. Prue then visits Ruth's parents' house. She tells the parents how Ruth should be enlightened by the guru in a state of ecstasy.

Miriam Barron, Ruth's mother, is concerned and travels to India to bring her daughter home. As a pretext, she tells him that her father is terminally ill. But even with that she cannot change Ruth's mind. It wasn't until Miriam had a breakdown that Ruth was ready to return to Australia with her. When she gets there, it turns out that her father is fine and the family has lured her into a trap. She is said to be cured by the American sect expert PJ Waters, who was flown in from New York. To do this, he takes her to a remote hut, the so-called Half Way Hut, in the outback, where he wants to normalize her in isolation through incapacitation, tutelage and provocation.

A power and gender struggle breaks out between the emphatically macho PJ, an aging playboy, and the young, self-centered and headstrong Ruth. The two mercilessly expose each other's weaknesses and try to humiliate each other through venom. In the process, PJ Ruth's physical stimuli lapsed, although it is his highest maxim never to start a relationship with a client, so to speak not to harm her spiritually. However, after the two have slept together several times, Ruth gets the upper hand in the gender battle. In the end, however, she decides to escape isolation; an earlier attempt to break out had failed. As a result, PJ collapses and sees Ruth in a kind of divine apparition.

In the end, Ruth and PJ become pen pals. Ruth moved to India, where she lives with her new boyfriend and mother, who has been abandoned by her husband for a young secretary. PJ lives in Seattle, where he married his friend and colleague Carol, fathered twins, and works as a writer. Ruth and PJ tell each other their story in voice over. It becomes clear that a deep love arose from the strange encounter between the two, which they cannot really explain and which seems to have a spiritual, metaphysical moment.

background

The film was shot in New Delhi , Pushkar and Australia . It had its world premiere on September 4, 1999 at the Venice International Film Festival ; in October 1999 it was shown at the New York Film Festival and in November 1999 at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival . The film grossed around $ 1.76 million in US cinemas .

Reviews

Bob Graham wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle of February 11, 2000 that Kate Winslet played a woman who was not spiritually naive ("she's not a spiritual nitwit") , but had her own opinion. He mocked that Harvey Keitel always had a nude scene in his films; Kate Winslet's nude scenes would have surprised the critic.

Kevin Thomas wrote in the Los Angeles Times on December 3, 1999 that the film was "joyful" and "serious" , "cruel" and "loving" at the same time ; he is bursting with vitality. The director shows herself as a feminist, but her feminism has an all-encompassing humanistic note (“her feminism reaches the level of an all-embracing humanism”) .

Awards

Jane Campion was nominated for the Golden Lion in 1999 and received the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice International Film Festival that same year .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Holy Smoke . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2005 (PDF; test number: 104 683 DVD).
  2. ^ Filming locations for Holy Smoke
  3. ^ Opening dates for Holy Smoke
  4. ↑ Box office / business for Holy Smoke
  5. ^ Review by Bob Graham
  6. ↑ Review by Kevin Thomas