Passionflower Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Passionflower
Year: 2012
Director: Shelagh Carter
Country: Canada
Language: English  

The tragedy of the Canadian Film Industry is that it is almost always overshadowed by our Hollywood neighbors to the south. Our modestly made pictures are no match for the mega blockbusters that seem to be released every week. Unlike Canadian radio stations, movie theatres are not required by law to play a certain percentage of Canadian films. Therefore most theatres will only play American films because it drives in more customers. Few Canadians have actually seen a Canadian-made film. This is a shame, because it allows great artists like Manitoba born Shelagh Carter to go un-noticed. Her latest film Passionflower is one of the greatest movies ever made.

The film is set in the Early 1960's. Sarah (Kassidy Love Brown) and her brother Thomas (Ethan Harapiak) live with their parents in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She belongs to a regular nuclear family. However something is not right; Sarah becomes confused at her mother's increasingly destructive behavior. Her father refuses to believe that anything is wrong and their family is slowly imploding from the stress. Sarah tries to survive this using her creativity and imagination.

In some ways Passionflower reminds me of John Cassavetes' 1974 classic A Woman Under the Influenxe, but in many ways it's completely different. Shelagh's picture is more personal and realistic, it is autobiographical. On one hand it's a tale about a woman's brutal slip into psychosis and on another it's about a daughter who just wants to love and be loved back. It's heartbreaking and certainly tear-jerking, I felt immensely drawn into it as I could relate it to my own experiences with mental health.

Shelagh Carter uses her film to push mental health issues to the forefront. Perhaps if mental health was treated more seriously in the 60's her family would not have suffered as much. Passionflower is a reminder that mental health should not be ignored, but always treated with care. Carter doesn't blame the mother for her actions, rather it shows her as a victim of an uncaring world. From a technical point of view, the Director did everything she could to make an authentic 1960's Winnipeg and it looks absolutely wonderful. The set and costume designer from Mad Men should be replaced by her people. The actors are magnificent, they truly draw you into the story.

In Conclusion, if you have never seen a Canadian film in your life then this is the picture to start with. It is alluring and never ceases to be thought provoking. It is a complex honest film about mental health, marriage, growing pains and parenting. It is hard to think of what I didn't like about it, because Carter makes a film with very few flaws.