Sunday at Sundance: “Top of the Lake”

Directors: Jane Campion and Garth Davis.  Screenwriters: Jane Campion and Gerard Lee

Cast:  Elizabeth Moss, Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan, David Wenham.   Premiere; Australia/New Zealand, 2012, 363 minutes, in Color

The film was described as:  “A 12-year-old girl stands chest-deep in a frozen lake.  She is five months pregnant, and won’t say who the father is.  Then she disappears.  So begins a haunting mystery that consumes a community.”

Before the film began Jane Campion explained that the story developed when she was walking along a lake and imagined that her daughter was standing in the lake.  Thoughts came to her like, “Why is she there? – She is pregnant.”  “Who are her parents?”  “Who is the father?”  “Where are her parents?” and so on.  Jane and her screenwriter partner, Gerard Lee, started there and collaborated in developing the storyline into a six hour film that entwined the lives and stories of the whole community and ended with a dramatic, surprise ending.

Robin and I were in the Egyptian Theater for a total of 7 hours including 2 intermissions and a half-hour lunch break.  Sounds as though it would be hard to stay awake and in the theater for so long, but it wasn’t.  It was so engrossing and suspenseful that I didn’t rest my eyes once.  In fact when returning from the restroom after the second intermission to discover the doors closed, my first thought was to hurry in before I missed something.

The film was shot in 6 hour-long segments and we believe it will be shown as a series on the Sundance Channel.  I am not going to tell you anything more other than to watch for it.  You won’t be sorry.

For the “Top of the Lake” listing in Sundance Film Festival Guide, click here.