An Angel at My Table
An Angel at My Table is a 1990 biographical drama film directed by Jane Campion. The film is based on Janet Frame's three autobiographies, To the Is-Land (1982), An Angel at My Table (1984), and The Envoy from Mirror City (1984). The film was very well received. It won awards at the New Zealand Film and Television awards, the Toronto International Film Festival, and second prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Plot
Janet Frame is born in New Zealand's South Island. During her youth, she develops an affinity for literature, writing poetry and reading Grimms' Fairy Tales. She graduates from primary school and goes to her local athenaeum. During her adolescence, Janet hangs out with her sisters Myrtle and Isabel and their friends Poppy and Marguerite. One afternoon, Janet stays behind while Myrtle goes swimming. That same day, her parents are alerted that Myrtle had drowned. She mourns her sister's death. Experiencing depression, Janet burns pages of her poetry she had written as a child.
Awards
Cast
More details
| author | Janet Frame |
|---|---|
| award | Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival |
| contentLocation | New Zealand |
| director | Jane Campion |
| editor | Veronika Jenet |
| events | Janet Frame schizophrenia |
| genre | drama |
| keywords | alan alan sillitoe aspirin athenaeum drown electroshock therapy fairy tale frank sargeson ibiza knightsbridge london mark goulden owls do cry primary school psychiatric ward public library read ruth fainlight ruth sillitoe south island sunnyside hospital swim train write young adult |
| musicBy | Don McGlashan |
| producer | Bridget Ikin |
| productionCompany | Australian Broadcasting Corporation Channel 4 Television New Zealand |
| publisher | Artificial Eye |
| recordedAt | New Zealand |
| theme | biographical biographical drama feminist independent |