"We're all strangers in this land called love"
"Desperate Remedies" is visual proof that they don't make costume dramas like they used to. In the '90s,historical/costume dramas often verged on the surreal and psychedelic,be it Peter Greenaway's take on "The Tempest" or Tilda Swinton in "Orlando." It's a heady blend of opera,a kaleidoscope of colors,and entwining love triangles.

"Desperate Remedies" is New Zealand gothic. Dorothea Brooke,named for the heroine of George Eliot's "Middlemarch",worries for her opium-addicted sister,Rose. Rose has Frasier,a creepy paramour. Dorothea hires Lawrence (the late Kevin Smith,of the "Xena" series) to seduce and marry her sister,while she finds a way to send Frasier to San Francisco. In the meantime,the banker William is wooing her,as is her faithful maid,Ann Cooper.

There's plenty of homoeroticism,be it Lawrence frolicking with shirtless men in a bathhouse (and Frasier making his moves on him),or Dorothea and Ann,clad in virginal white,passionately kissing among flower petals. There are loads of plot twists as well. "Desperate Remedies" was initially reviewed in Opera News,because of its use of music from Verdi and Strauss. It IS operatic and over-the-top.

"Desperate Remedies" is the campy cure for what ails you!

Enchanting Movie!
This movie is nothing I expected. Beautiful, sensual, enchanting with the feel of a fairy tale. This is no movie because it seems like a dream. You also see Kevin Smith in all his "glory". It is a shame he died a couple months ago in a tragic accident. ....
I totally recommend this movie for the dreamers out there.

Unique
Overblown, overwrought and over-the-top. That's what I was thinking early on. And that's what I was still thinking at the end, but by then I had caught on that everyone involved was having a great deal of fun with the melodrama. Whatever you may think of this film, I don't think you'll find it boring. Quirky, fascinating performances; exceptional set design; bold use of colors; beautiful (if relentless) musical score. It all adds up to a unique viewing experience.

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.

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