The movie Jane Campion called “hypnotically golden”
Jane Campion made her feature debut with Sweetie in 1989, but it was The Piano, a historical romantic drama, that catapulted her to widespread acclaim. Her nomination for ‘Best Director’ at the Oscars made her only the second woman in history to receive such recognition, though she ultimately lost to Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. However, Campion clinched the award in 2021 for The Power of the Dog, an epic picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Throughout her illustrious career, Campion has primarily focused on crafting period pieces. Her repertoire includes a biopic about John Keats titled Bright Star and an adaptation of Henry James’ novel The Portrait of a Lady. Continuously breaking barriers in the male-dominated film industry, Campion notably became the first woman to secure the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
In her quest for brilliance, Campion has found inspiration in diverse filmmakers, drawing from the legacies of Jean-Luc Godard and Akira Kurosawa and contemporaries such as John Huston and Jonathan Glazer. Throughout her career, Campion has openly expressed her reverence for specific films that profoundly shaped and ignited her creative odyssey.
One of which is Terrence Malick’s 1978 period romance drama Days Of Heaven. Set in 1916, this particular film tells the story of two lovers who travel to harvest crops for a wealthy farmer. “Malick’s second film is likewise beautiful and elegiac, filmed almost only in the magic hour,” Campion told A.frame. “It’s hypnotically golden, the amazing summer no one will ever forget.”
She continued: “There is, however, the secret that cannot hold and the anxiety of wondering how it will fray, especially as we get invested in the love affair between Sam Shepard (the farmer) and Brooke Adams (Abby). Returning to this film, I appreciated the sustained mood of romance and impending doom. It is a long way from the atmosphere of The Power of the Dog, but very close in period and the importance of nature. It helped me think about my film and the right choices for my story.”
Campion also cherishes Malick’s Badlands, featuring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, describing it as “a perfect film”. She explained: “Terrence Malick understands the poetry in every character and particularly in this fated teen murderer and his newly met runaway girlfriend. The Martin Sheen character does terrible things, but he is also in love and not long for this world. Sissy Spacek is beautiful and unique in a way we rarely see in films.”
She concluded: “Her voiceover is matter-of-fact and grounding. The couple’s brief time together in a kind of enchanted wasteland is unforgettable. There is a delicacy of shooting style and observation. Reading about how Malick works with his actors, I discover that he makes adjustments to his story to include the unique qualities of his actors, such as Sissy’s baton twirling.”
