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Hero image for Desperate Remedies

The trailer from the film.

An excerpt from this film.

An excerpt from this film.

The credits from this film

The trailer from the film.

The trailer from the film.

An excerpt from this film.

An excerpt from this film.

An excerpt from this film.

An excerpt from this film.

The credits from this film

The credits from this film

Desperate Remedies

Film (Trailer and Excerpts) – 1993

M

Mature

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This stylishly high camp melodrama from directors Stewart Main and Peter Wells won acclaim, after debuting at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In the imaginary 19th-century town of Hope, draper Dorothea Brooks (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) is desperate to save her sister from the clutches of opium, sex and the dastardly Fraser. She begs hunky migrant Lawrence Hayes to help; but complications ensue. Inspired partly by 1930s and 40s Hollywood melodramas, Desperate Remedies was sumptously shot by Leon Narbey (Whale Rider). Richard King writes about the film here.

Desperate Remedies often feels a little like a soap opera, with its long glances, pregnant pauses and romantic morality. But this is Dynasty shot on the set of Coppola’s Dracula, or an episode of Poldark re-imagined by Peter Greenaway ...
– Mark Tierney, Listener review, 11 September 1993

Key Cast & Crew

Lisa Chappell

As: Anne Cooper

Jennifer Ward-Lealand

As: Dorothea Brook

Peter Wells

Co-Director, Writer

Leon Narbey

Cinematographer

Stewart Main

Co-Director, Writer

Cliff Curtis

As: Fraser

See all 44 credits

Produced by

James Wallace Productions

Source

New Zealand Film Commission

Acknowledgements

Made with funding from the NZ Film Commission in association with Avalon NFU Studios and NZ On Air

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NZ Film Commission listing for this film