She is ostensibly there to care for her dotty crank of a mother, Mad Molly (a cantankerously cagey Judy Davis, nearly unrecognizable until her character regains her wits and pretty much steals the movie), who has been living in pungent squalor. The lady above is one Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage ( Kate Winslet, providing a captivating harbor in this storm of kookiness), who has returned to the community that once banished her as a child. This ultimately exhausting tilt-a-whirl of a revenge tale set in 1951 that takes place in the mythical dusty Down Under hamlet of Dungatar embraces all manner of influences-spaghetti Westerns, a Tim Burton-esque aesthetic, a warped world view that rivals John Waters, a small mob of morally corrupt Dickensian-style eccentrics and a story whose wild tonal shifts range from Tex Avery cartoony to Douglas Sirk melodramatic. Not that “The Dressmaker” is ever dull and is even more than occasionally delightful in its nuttiness. Hogan of “Muriel’s Wedding” fame that is positively exploding with a surfeit of pent-up creative energy that unfortunately doesn’t know when to stop. Now, 18 years later, she has adapted a book by Rosalie Ham with a script co-written by hubby P.J.

She made a splash in the ‘90s with “Proof,” “How to Make an American Quilt” and “ A Thousand Acres,” before taking time off to raise her family. And that is its main problem.Īnother woman who can rightfully proclaim, “I’m back,” is Australian director and screenwriter Jocelyn Moorhouse.

However, when it comes to “The Dressmaker,” nothing is ever enough. He briefly stares before inquiring, “Is that, uh … Dior?” If that weren’t enough, a car stops and a uniformed constable gets out.

The dressmaker rosalie ham summary