Ellen Cheshire - In the Scene: Jane Campion

Ellen Cheshire

Ellen Cheshire has a BA (Hons) in Film and English and a MA in Gothic Studies and has taught Film at Undergraduate and A Level.

She has published books on Bio-Pics, Audrey Hepburn and The Coen Brothers and contributed chapters to books on James Bond, Charlie Chaplin, Global Film-making, Film Form, Fantasy Films and War Movies.

For Supernova Books, she has also written In the Scene: Ang Lee, and contributed to Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema eds. Melody Bridges and Cheryl Robson (voted best book on Silent Film 2016) and Counterculture UK a celebration eds. Rebecca Gillieron and Cheryl Robson.

See www.supernovabooks.co.uk

First published in the UK in 2018 by SUPERNOVA BOOKS 67 Grove Avenue, Twickenham, TW1 4HX

Supernova Books is an imprint of Aurora Metro www.aurorametro.com

In the Scene: Jane Campion text copyright 2018 Ellen Cheshire

Cover design copyright 2018 Aurora Metro Books

Series editor: Cheryl Robson

With thanks to: Marina Tuffier, Ana Rice-Wallace, Abi Silverthorne, Harry Read and Laura Mackenzie.

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Printed in the UK by 4edge Limited.
Ebook conversion by Symbiosys.

ISBNs:
978-0-9932207-2-2 (print version)
978-0-9932207-3-9 (ebook version)

IN THE SCENE:

JANE CAMPION

BY

ELLEN CHESHIRE

Jane Campion: A Life

Part One

-Tissues

-Mishaps: Seduction and Conquests

-An Exercise In Discipline Peel

-Passionless Moments

-A Girls Own Story

-After Hours

Part Two

-Dancing Daze

-2 Friends

-Sweetie

-The Audition

-An Angel at My Table

-The Piano

-Photographs

-The Portrait of a Lady

-Holy Smoke

-In the Cut

-The Water Diary

-The Lady Bug

-Bright Star

Part Three

-Top of the Lake

-Top of the Lake: China Girl

Timeline

Reference & Further Reading

Index

Born in the small town of Waikanae near Wellington, New Zealand on 30th April, 1954, Jane Campion had an unconventional childhood in a highly artistic family. As a teenager, she travelled through Europe, before returning to New Zealand to study for a BA in Anthropology at the University of Wellington. Still unsure of which direction her life should take, she once again returned to Europe for inspiration. Whilst studying in London, she began to take an interest in film, an interest that continued whilst studying for her second BA, when back in Sydney studying Painting at Sydney College of the Arts. This casual interest in film escalated and from there she applied and was accepted at the prestigious Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and so began her journey to the Oscar podium.

Her life, as befits a great artist, is paved with heartbreak: an unhappy childhood, a troubled relationship with her sister and the death of her baby son all painful experiences that have helped shape her career and the person she has become.

Campion has journeyed from provincial New Zealand to become the toast of both Hollywood and Art House cinastes, and recently, to the heart of the Box Set generation. A film-maker who attracts A-list stars to perform in her films stars who are prepared to drop their usual high salaries to put their personal image and persona on the line.

But how has this woman from New Zealand become a major force in international film-making?

Jane Campion often heard the stories of her parents childhood and their meeting while she was growing up. Richard and Edith Campions story is full of romance and tragedy as befitting their theatrical natures.

Edith was an orphan, but also an heiress to a considerable inheritance from her Irish grandfathers shoe factory. She was brought up by a series of governesses and endured a solitary childhood.

Richard was brought up within the strict teachings of a religious group called the Exclusive Brethren, which did not allow radio, books, film or theatre visits. At the age of 14, he rebelled and was no longer allowed to mix with his family.

Both had very different backgrounds, but shared the same sense of loneliness and love of theatre, so that when they met in a cable car or at the Old Vic Theatre in London (depending on which version you read) they found an immediate sense of twinning they had found their other half especially as they shared the same date of birth.

Richard was a member of the left-wing Unity Theatre movement and in 1952, using Ediths inheritance, they set up their own theatre company, the New Zealand Players. It was into this highly theatrical family that their children were born. Their first child, a son, tragically died at birth. Their eldest daughter, Anna (b. 1952), was followed a year and half later by Jane (b. 1954). Their fourth child, Michael, was born seven years later (b. 1961).

For the first ten years of Campions life, her parents were mainly absent and she and Anna were left in the care of a series of nannies who were strict and unloving. Like their parents before them, the Campion sisters had a lonely childhood from which they retreated into their own private fantasy worlds for comfort and expression. By the time Jane was nine, her mother Ediths inheritance had been spent and that saw the end of their theatre company. With their parents around more, the family travelled to Europe, which developed Jane Campions interest in painting and architecture.

By the age of 17, Campion had rejected all artistic ambitions and went to the University of Wellington, where she gained a BA in Anthropology. Her background in anthropology has been instrumental in creating the diverse characters in her films, many of whom seem like case studies offering detailed examinations of social, historical and familial impacts on personalities. These characters are often shown on the verge of transition and through Campions narratives, they are often observed either failing or triumphing at lifes turning points.

After three years study, Campion was still unsure of a direction in life, but knew she had to escape New Zealand. She returned to Europe where she rekindled her interest in Painting, then returned down-under to take up a place at the Sydney College of the Arts to complete her second degree, this time in Painting. Like her Anthropology, studying the mechanics and beauty of painting added a further dimension to her films.