Heavenly Creatures, Juliet Hulme, Anne Perry, and Rule of Rose
Posted by PokerNemesis in Uncategorized
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I saw Heavenly Creatures at the movie theaters when it was first released.
I read a film review, earlier that day, that said that an interesting fact had been discovered, something that the film-makers hadn’t known when they started their project. Juliet Hulme, one of the two girls involved in the real-life murder portrayed in Heavenly Creatures was now writing best-selling mystery novels using the name Anne Perry.
That fact piqued my interest.
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People read novels for different reasons. A reason that is important to me, is that I want to spend time with characters that I strongly like, preferably love.
A quick check of Anne Perry’s mystery novels, that had been written prior to that time, revealed that she had two series of popular Victorian Mystery novels which used on-going characters. Could it be that those on-going characters were quite lovable, and that was part of her best-selling “formula”? How would I feel, I wondered, falling in love with characters created by a real-life murderess? Could that possibly happen? I was curious to know.
So I bought a copy of The Face of A Stranger, the first of Anne Perry’s Inspector Monk series of mystery novels. And I started reading it during the few hours before I was going to see Heavenly Creatures. And I knew, even before I sat down in the theater seat, that I had found a novelist whose books I was going to enjoy reading.
And I DID find on-going characters in Anne Perry’s stories that I loved, especially in her series of mysteries featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt (this series begins with The Cater Street Hangman).
There are a lot of books in these two series—and I think I have read just about all of them, so far—so I have given a lot of thought to the topic of Anne Perry and Juliet Hulme over the years.
I’ve thought about the topic with respect to capital punishment, for instance, and the fact that if Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker had committed their crime in Texas, rather than in New Zealand, they almost certainly—in my opinion—would have been executed.
Anne Perry’s novels are not just entertainments (even though they ARE very entertaining). They are also the sort of stories that—I think—can make a person into a better person for having read them. The characters have good hearts and the sort of social conscience that one would expect of good-hearted persons. And the social problems of Victorian England play a role in these stories that is both very interesting and very much a part of the dramatic conflict.
I find the gentleman-class attitude of Sherlock Holmes, and his indifference to the social issues of the times, rather hard to stomach after having read Perry’s depictions of life in Victorian England.
I think that the world, and my own life, are better off because of Anne Perry’s novels.
But she IS someone who committed murder.
It presents an interesting conflict of emotions.
And I think that this conflict of emotions has played a part, has carried over, in forming my attitude towards creating mystery-solving theories about Rule of Rose.
Many people seem to really hate the idea that the orphans of Rule of Rose might have been involved in killings that occurred in the orphanage during Jennifer’s forgotten past. I think that part of this negative reaction, from players who read these theories, comes from the fact that they LIKE these characters. And because they like these characters, they find it hard to imagine them having done such dark deeds.
But because of my experience having watched Heavenly Creatures, and having read novels written by Anne Perry (while knowing her past), I was open to the possibility that the orphans might have been capable of having done quite dark deeds despite the fact that I found them to be, at least in some ways, likable.
To me, one of the sophisticated lessons of Heavenly Creatures, the Hulme-Perry life-story, and Rule of Rose, is that people you find to be likable are, in fact, quite capable of dark deeds, and yes, it is also a strange fact of life that one can sometimes even like people who have done very dark deeds.
Life is complex and strange, no?
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The photos above are of Juliet Hulme (taken around the time of her release from prison, I think), and a cover from one of Anne Perry’s Victorian era mysteries.
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On the possible influence of Heavenly Creatures, and the Parker-Hulme murder case, on plot-elements of Rule of Rose, see these blog-posts:
Comparing Rule of Rose, Heavenly Creatures, and the Parker-Hulme Murder Case (Part 1)
Comparing Rule of Rose, Heavenly Creatures, and the Parker-Hulme Murder Case (Part 2)
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An interesting co-incidence:
Jennifer starts out Rule of Rose having forgotten her past.
Wiiliam Monk starts the series of novels that feature him, as a person with virtually total amnesia. Hence the title of the first novel in the series: The Face of a Stranger. He doesn’t even recognize his own face.
Here is a very good excerpt from an interview with Anne Perry (Juliet Hulme), shown on YouTube, in which she talks about her crime, trial, and punishment.
Ian Rankin talks to Anne Perry (Juliet Hulme)
(some spoilers for the movie Heavenly Creatures)
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Oh wow. This is some very interesting news. I’ve never heard of Anne Perry, but now I really want all of her books! Just to think she’s Juliet Hulme…it feels kinda eerie. I’m off to see that interview, once again, thank you Poker for your inquisitive mind!
I understand that Anne Perry committed a heinous crime, but she payed her time for it. I watched the interview, or rather half of it, and then paused to scroll down to read some of the comments made by viewers.
Quite frankly, I was appalled by the amount of people calling her a ‘bitch’ and saying that she should have been hanged for her crime. Now, I understand that she did murder a woman, and I’m not condoling her actions and saying that she was right in doing that. But for people to say that they want her to be dead? How is that any better than wishing someone was murdered?
I just don’t understand how some people can think like that; I respect their viewpoints and opinions, yes, but I don’t think I could really ever agree with them.. Anne Perry is a human, just like us and – as the rest of us do – she has a right to live her life, despite the wrongs she’s done.
I’m sorry for rambling about that, but I just thought I might get it off my chest. Relating to your blog; I’ve never heard of her novels, nor seen the movie, but your posts have motivated me to find them. I think I’ll look around and see if I can find them somewhere.
I very highly recommend Anne Perry’s Victorian mysteries. Both of her two Victorian Mystery series are still on-going. One can jump back and forth between those two series with no problems, but I recommend that, for each individual series, one reads the books of that series in sequence, as there are character story-arcs that progress throughout each series.
In recent years, Perry has written some books which are not Victorian mysteries. I haven’t read any of these yet except one, Tathea. Or perhaps I should say tried to read. I found it to be surprisingly badly written, painfully badly written. Perhaps because Perry is writing a religious allegory that she thinks is terribly important, she totally lost her artistic good sense. Unlike the deft, masterful touch which Perry has for dealing with moral, and other, issues in the Victorian mysteries, she gets quite heavy handed and artless in Tathea. Even the dialogue sounded, to my mind’s ear, stilted to the point of seeming totally artificial. I can read religious stories that are well written, but I couldn’t bear to read this one to the end.
So, I strongly recommend you avoid reading Tathea, or its sequel Come Armageddon, until such time as you may become such a huge fan of Anne Perry’s writings that you absolutely MUST read everything that she has written. Fortunately, she is quite a prolific writer and there are many other excellent works of hers that are available.
“Many people seem to really hate the idea that the orphans of Rule of Rose might have been involved in killings that occurred in the orphanage during Jennifer’s forgotten past. I think that part of this negative reaction, from players who read these theories, comes from the fact that they LIKE these characters. And because they like these characters, they find it hard to imagine them having done such dark deeds. ”
Interesting.
I personally don’t feel that way. It might just be me, but I think most people underestimate what children can do.
Not necesarily in a mean or sadistic way, but in a “not knowing better way.”
Even though it’s obviously frowned upon and such, children can bully each other, without knowing the possible consequences of that bullying. They most likely don’t know that the bullied kid can end up with severe psychological damage.
So, I can also imagine that a child might not fully understand the severity of murdering someone and how wrong it is.
I can vaguely remember reading about a horror movie which had children kidnapping adults and sacrificing them to a supernatural creature(If I recall correctly)
Just because they did that, doesn’t really mean the children were evil or something similar to that.
Welcome, Mary!
I’m thinking of writing a blog-post that will be, at least in part, a reaction to your blog-post (and the comments on YouTube associated with that video).
Thank you, Poker, it’s nice to be here!
And really? Aw, I can’t wait to read it if you do happen to write it. By the way, thank you very much for putting so much hard work & dedication into these blog-posts!
I’ve been reading the available quotes of her diary here http://members.tripod.com/hc_faq/7.4.3.htm
I think its fascinating from the psicological point of view, but isn’t it a shame that they couldn’t save that diary?? D:
I adore these kinds of cases, from a psycological point of view of course.
There is also an enormous amount of interesting information at the following website about both the making of Heavenly Creatures, and the real-life Hulme-Parker murder case.
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/studio/2194/
Unfortunately, I believe that geocities is going to cease to exist very soon, and I don’t know if that site will relocate or simply come to an end.
Continuing comment #10 above:
Also note the place (to the far right) on the homepage page that says:
What a treat it would be to read Pauline’s diary to the full extent. I’ve clicked on one of the links, and read some quotes that were used in the movie, and some that were not, and I have to say, Pauline was brilliant, a deep thinker at times. Seems to sad to dwell on the bad.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Digitised/ParkerHulme/Page25.asp
Just another site with some quotes from the diary
Looks like a very interesting site, Eden. Thanks!
Thanks to Atlus that had published this game. O…. yeah, I always fell free/great/sad/happy(I mean all emotion in my mind it’s mixed one) after heard the music of this game. I think the music of this game it’s great but don’t know about the others. I am fan of rule of rose game I want asking something,,, every each of game have a next and how about this? well in the ending of this game windy is took by stray dog is she death or alive?! and before that she said like this to jeniffer “Only you and your beloved dog that could be stoped him” then after that, she took by stray dog. how about this? Well I’ll waiting the next of this game I hope atlus could published it again I’m delightfull if this it had the next and if there it was give me the new as soon as possible to my mail. Thank you very much ATLUS AND BE THE BEST FOR US
I, too, have read all of Anne Perry’s books and like the Monk/Hester and Thomas/Charlotte characters. However, I feel all the characters lack empathy for others and are emotionally stunted. I see that as a primary characteristic of Anne/Juliet and allowed her to rationalize the murder. Also, she became religious and her books are a little preachy.
I wonder if she had any real meaningful relationships in her life post-prison?
Welcome, susan gillis!
In Anne Perry’s Victorian novels she depicts an upper class that is largely quite lacking in empathy. But her protagonists in those novels, especially in the Charlotte Pitt novels, are not that way themselves. They feel deeply for others and are, in fact, actively concerned with social justice and not just criminal injustice. Many of those Pitt novels emphasize particular social issues, such as antisemitism, women’s suffrage, etc. Most depict the mistreatment of the “lower” classes.
Compared with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels there is an enormous difference. Holmes cares only about criminal matters and extremely little about social injustice. At most, one might hear a condescending exclamation of “poor devils!” out of him now and then.
One can easily miss the hellish aspects of Doyle’s Victorian London. Perry makes the hell unavoidably plain. To me, it is Doyle, not Perry, who depicts Victorian London with a lack of empathy. People feel nostalgia for Doyle’s London, not horror.
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I also loved Perry’s touching depiction of married life in the Thomas/Charlotte and the Monk/Hester relationships. I could hardly stand Monk and Hester before they got married. But marriage to each other seemed to improve both of their dispositions greatly. Of course, it did not escape me that perhaps only someone who never married, as was the case with Perry, would depict married life in such an idealized way.
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I admit, however, to finding Perry’s WWI novel-series (and the novel Tathea) unreadable.
continued from above–
Perry became a Mormon, in the U.S., shortly after leaving prison. She is described as devout.
I was very surprised to discover it, much as I was equally surprised to discover that science fiction and fantasy author Orson Scott Card was a devout Mormon. I was an avid reader of his works for a while too.
I think that Perry integrated her preachy tendency into good story-telling much better during her Victorian mysteries. In those novels (as with Orson Scott Card in some of his novels), you can mistake Perry for being anti-religious because she will depict religious hypocrisy so unflinchingly. Only in light of the revelation of devout Mormonism does this unflinching criticism clarify itself as being not anti-religious per se, but as part of a Mormon perspective on other Christian religions.
I think Perry may be growing more preachy, and more conservative (less of a social critic), with age. Too bad.
Merging together the above topics of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, social criticism, and Mormonism:
Doyle pulls no punches in his harsh depiction of Utah Mormonism found in the first Sherlock Holmes novel: A Study In Scarlet.
And if I recall correctly, the KKK also gets a negative depiction in one of the Holmes short stories. So I guess Doyle does actually become a social critic in the Holmes stories sometimes.