Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

jasontheterrible When great care is taken with the cinematography and lighting, I want the big screen experience, but I avoided this film because the material did not grab me. It is immediately obvious they are using real film and that is rare, but what a treat! If one review had described the metamorphoses of the female forms and faces, I would have been there on opening night. That is no longer politically correct. The dress maker transforms rural hounds into breathtaking beauties with sexy dresses and super-hot make up. This happens in a backwards, rural town setting with a 1940's time flavor when glamour and man chasing was openly sanctioned. The story is good but the characters are the most fascinating bunch assembled in a long time and well played by all. Most will especially enjoy Winslet and Davis but all are good. The scoring is also great. See it for the sexual tension, raw beauty and love lessons.

P.uncia The best movie I've seen for a long time. It's funny, quirky and serious and intriguing at the same time. It took a while to get used to the character caricatures, but it works very well, and is in fact refreshing. I thought it might be based on a play, also because of the setting and the costumes, but it's based on the book The Dressmaker.The cast is great. I love Kate Winslet, and her character suits her like Tilly's dresses. Molly and the police officer are absolutely great as well. The town itself is like a mirage in the desert, and there is nowhere but in Australia this story would work. Like a micro cosmos of our strange human nature. Beautifully done!!

emilymayofok If there are light spoilers in this review, count it as a blessing, perhaps they will save you from watching this (**shudder**) film. The audience is introduced at the beginning (with inappropriately creepy music) to a supposed murder of a young boy committed by a young girl, Tilly (the dressmaker). Tilly is then, heartlessly sent away and becomes an incredible fashion designer, ooh la la. (Side note: the costumes ARE fantastic, but if that is all that draws you, mute this film). The Director must have had her fingers-crossed the audience accepts the notion that young Tilly was capable of murder, as both believable and interesting. Unfortunately it is painfully obvious it couldn't have been anything but an accident, largely due to the comedic tone of the film. The experience is similar to a fish being offered a plain, bait-less hook to bite and be reeled in on. The hinted darkness is eye-roll worthy. "The Dressmaker" is silly, silly, silly. Silly you say? But like, fairy-tale-esque? No. Is it whimsical?? If on a 1950's small-town-eccentricities end, then sure. This is well-executed by Judy Davis (the Dressmaker's "mad" mother, Molly) and Gyton Grantley (the Dressmaker's love-interest's mentally-handicapped brother, Barney). Those actors seemed to grasp the comedic tone the Director desired for the story. BUT ALAS! all their charm is marred by Winslet and Hemsworth's seriousness-- more fit for a drama. Their romance, BTW, is so inexplicable and poorly established that their tender words and emotions are laughably (and uncomfortably) devoid of understandable substance. Seriously speaking, the mother, Molly was more fit as a love-interest for Teddy than Tilly. But of course, the viewer was supposed to tick "The Two Most Physically Attractive Actors SHOULD End Up Together" box on their Film Trope List. As long as this box was checked, then the rough dirty boy Teddy and the fashionable damsel Tilly may be understood as deserving all the depth of love, emotional-intelligence and devotion previously established by love's literary superheroes, Mr. Darcy and Miss Eliza Bennett. There were about 3 different times the film could have ended and put us and the characters out of misery, but instead the yarn got away from the weaver of this story and it became more and more ludicrous. Let this be read with emphasis: NOT in an enjoyable B-Movie way. It is safe to say, Tilly should not have returned home and spared us this story. Do not bother watching.

blanche-2 ...but in the case of Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet) a few things need to be straightened out.Thus, the stunning Tilly returns to her home in Dungatar, Australia, back to her alcoholic mother (Judy Davis) who acts like she doesn't remember her and is thought of as the town slut, and back to a town that considers Tilly herself a murderer. Tilly cleans her mother's house and throws the woman in a tub, and then tries to find out what happened fifteen years ago that caused her to be sent away. It is believed by the town that she killed Stewart Pettyman when they were both children. Why can't she remember it?Now a designer in Paris, Tilly soon attracts a clientele of local women who love her chic designs. She also attracts Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth), the town hunk.Slowly, Tilly finds out the town's secrets, which include a cross- dressing sheriff (Hugo Weaving). He's the least of it.This is a story of redemption and revenge, deliciously told by director Jocelyn Moorhouse and her dynamite cast. Everyone, including the town's old biddies, are wonderful. Sarah Snook, as the impossibly homely Trudy, gets one of the all-time makeovers and is a sight to behold.A few cultural references that weren't quite right: The film appears to take place in 1950 - Tilly, Teddy, and her mother Molly go to see Sunset Boulevard. However, they listen to the soundtrack of South Pacific from 1958 and OKlahoma from 1955. So when the film takes place is anybody's guess - I didn't read the book.All in all, a mixture of dark comedy and drama that is ultimately satisfying. Tilly proves that revenge is a dish best served cold, even in Australia's hot climate.