Jane Campion was born on April 30, 1954 in Wellington, New Zealand. She has a degree in anthropology from Victoria University and a degree in painting from the Sydney College of the Arts. Then in the early eighties she entered the Australian School of Film and Television and began her film career. Her first student film, Peel--An Exercise in Discipline, is a nine minutes film that incorporates color and dialogue to tell the story of an exasperated woman. Campion uses brilliant shades of the color orange to highlight the growing dispondency. As the father and son argue, the mother/wife grows more and more quiet. When the father finally stops the car and insists that the son get out to pick up the orange peels he has been throwing out the window, the mother/wife takes the opportunity to lock all the doors and roll up all the windows. Finally, getting the peace and quiet she has longed for. This film is fast paced and tight. Campion does not waste one frame of film. And she won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Short Film.
Her next short student film, Passionless Moments, is another brilliant film. It is a series of embarrassing moments that when viewed on film are hilarious. Those awkward experiences that we all live through but rarely remember later. But Campion makes us think about them again as she reminds us that we have all experienced these events but that the embarrassment is gone before we realize it. She makes us realize we are all alike.
A Girl's Own Story is another short film that packs a punch. This 26 minute film is the story of Catholic school girls who are tettering between adolescence and adulthood. They still kiss their pictures of the Beatles while exploring their sexuality and need for independence. This film is funny, poignant, and at times tragic. After Hours is another 26 minute short. The study of a sexual harassment case in which the seperating of fantasy and reality make the investigation even more difficult.
Campion's first full length theatrical release is Sweetie. This depressing and disquieting story is about two sisters. Sweetie is the domineering sister that is mentally ill and runs the house. The parents do not see that Sweetie is undermining her sister's mental and emotional development.
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