Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27163 in VHS
• Released on: 2001-04-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Customer Reviews

Where the heart sings (for those who can hear)
Guys: ever wondered what story was between the covers of those books in the romance section of a bookshop (have you ever been in a bookshop?), where the dashingly brooding hero is holding the beautifully swooning heroine? Gals: want to see one of those stories on the screen? Folklorists and storytellers: here is a reflex of the motifs and style of the genus of stories exampled by that Lost In Space episode about the fifth dimension - think of an atmospheric dreamscape (which is what any story really is, when all is said and done).

The costume (millenary, actually) is superb. The language is Historical Romance, in the mouths of all the characters, yet never out of place. The scenery is evocatively suggestive (though never actually external - just like historical romances are never actually historical). The camera-work and soundtrack augment the atmosphere. The acting is delightful, with the actors obviously enjoying themselves and the story in the multi-layered plot and dialogue (for example, watch Anne Cooper [Lisa Chappell] embroidering while conversing with William Poyser [Michael Hurst] while they wait for Dorothea [Jennifer Ward-Leland]), and there are several winks and nods to the audience (the film even ends when the fat lady sings).

After seeing this film, some people may be like the William Poyser character and never see (or at least comprehend) what is in front of their face, while trying at the same time to continue imposing their conformities on others. Other people may be like Anne Cooper, whose heart ends up singing.

Tightly structured societies may feel this film comes from a different planet (the story, after all, is about a woman, Dorothea, who desperately sacrifices everything, including her happiness, to help her sister. The only person in the whole world who brings something to Dorothea, rather than taking from her, turns out to be a woman...), and non-Australasian audiences may not pick up on the couple of tongue-in-cheek jokes that poke fun at the traditional friendly rivalry between Australia and New Zealand or satirise the world view of the newspaper barons, but those are minor quibbles.

This is a beautiful film - a ballet of the heart. And a multi-layered foreshadowing of what would come to be in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess (and beyond).

The multi-layeredness of it is almost as if it were a film version of DVD's multiple-angle feature, centred around what happens to the rubies.

In summary - this is a richly lush Dickens-Shakespeare-Cartland film: Dickens in setting, Shakespeare in mood, Cartland in style (and Kiwi in presentation).

I only wish there were more things in the world with Lisa Chappell in them.

By the way, I bought the video locally for the usual price of an ordinary video. I would like to see it on DVD.

04 December 1999

Perfectly pitched
An absolutely dead-on parody of the whole bodice-ripper genre, with performances so nuanced, earnest and perfectly-pitched that you're left completely breathless, trapped between howling over how utterly over-the-top it all is and yet so caught up in the fantasy fulfillment aspects that you find yourself moved and thrilled almost in spite of yourself. I shudder to think what would have happened if this film had been made in the U.S. -- smothered under realistic sets and costumes, with the actor's constantly winking and nudging you to make sure you know they're in on the joke. A brilliant -- and brilliantly used -- cast. Staggeringly inventive, wonderfully stylized design work. Drop dead costumes. This film is a major hoot in a way it would never have been if it had been filmed "realistically" or without actors fearless enough to play it completely, unashamedly, straight. Several people we've shown the film to have been utterly baffled by it, so you should be aware of that too. It's a difficult film to know what to make of. But if you enter into its world as wholeheartedly as everyone involved in its production seems to have, it's a wild ride, quite unlike anything else you're likely to see, ever.

Moving story with good acting but is pretty weird
The story of Desperate Remedies is pretty weird, and the movie contains graphics and themes such as lesbianism and violence that gives it a good reason to be rated R. However, some parts, especially toward the end, are very moving and contains great acting by the New Zealand stars Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Kevin Tod Smith as well as Lisa Chappel. Jennifer Ward-Lealand won best actress for this picture in New Zealand, and throughout Europe this film is acclaimed.

I personally liked the film second half on. It is a very disturbing picture and changes the mood of the audience quite drastically. It can really make you depressed, which is one of the reasons why it is successful. You would feel the way the protagonists are feeling, even if the circumstances are outrageous.

This film is one of the many big projects Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Kevin Smith were involved in, and I must say that the acting was the best aspect of the movie. The story was so-so and very strange, but the acting was exquisite. I have seen a lot of Smith's work, namely his portrayal as Ares god of war on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess and his portrayal of Iphicles and Jerry Patrick Brown on Hercules. There is no resemblance whatsoever between the character Smith portrays in this movie--Lawrence Hayes-- and Ares or Jerry or Iphicles. Jennifer, too, played a very convincing sister and lesbian who was in a real bind and struggle against her sister's evil drug-dealing boyfriend, her feelings for Lawrence, and her feelings for her lover Anne Cooper.

On the whole, the story is quite moving and can really depress people, and conveys the mood of constant struggle and depression. Let me put it this way. After I saw this film, I immediately went and saw Titanic, and Titanic didn't move me nearly as much as Desperate Remedies did. I felt so much more personally involved with Desperate Remedies than I did with Titanic, and the acting on Desperate Remedies bu Lealand and Smith are much better than that of Titanic's DiCaprio and Winslet.