The Dressmaker Review

A dusty 1950s Australian town gets quite a shock when beautiful seamstress Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet) leaves her work at an exclusive Parisian fashion house to visit her home town, oozing glamour and transforming the dowdy local ladies with miraculous makeovers. Meanwhile, Tilly investigates a mysterious incident from her childhood and is wooed by handsome and kind-hearted local Teddy (Liam Hemsworth). That Teddy is supposed to be the same age as Tilly is just one of the fantastical elements of this muddled adaptation of Rosalie Ham’s bestselling novel, in which melodramatic episodes sit oddly with the dark comedy. But it’s still a giggle, largely thanks to Tilly’s cantankerous mother (Judy Davis) and the camp local cop (Hugo Weaving).