Jane Campion

Early life

Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the second daughter of Edith Campion (born Beverley Georgette Hannah), an actress, writer, and heiress; and Richard M. Campion, a teacher, and theatre and opera director. Her maternal great-grandfather was Robert Hannah, a well-known shoe manufacturer, the founder of Hannahs Shoe Companies, for whom Antrim House was built. Her father came from a family that belonged to the fundamentalist Christian Exclusive Brethren sect. She attended Queen Margaret College and Wellington Girls' College. Along with her sister, Anna, a year and a half her senior, and brother, Michael, seven years her junior, Campion grew up in the world of New Zealand theatre. Their parents founded the New Zealand Players. Campion initially rejected the idea of a career in the dramatic arts and graduated instead with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975.

In 1976, she enrolled in the Chelsea Art School in London and travelled throughout Europe. She earned a graduate diploma in visual arts (painting) from the Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney in 1981. Campion's later film work was shaped in part by her art school education; she has, even in her mature career, cited painter Frida Kahlo and sculptor Joseph Beuys as influences.

Campion's dissatisfaction with the limitations of painting led her to filmmaking and the creation of her first short, Tissues, in 1980. In 1981, she began studying at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, where she made several more short films and graduated in 1984.

Career

1982–1989

Campion's first short film, Peel (1982), won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, and other awards followed for the shorts Passionless Moments (1983), A Girl's Own Story (1984), and After Hours (1984). After leaving the Australian Film and Television School, she directed an episode for ABC's light entertainment series Dancing Daze (1986), which led to her first TV film, Two Friends (1986), produced by Jan Chapman. Her feature debut, Sweetie (1989), won international awards.

1990–2006

Further recognition came with An Angel at My Table (1990), a biopic about the life of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, from a screenplay written by Laura Jones. Widespread recognition followed with The Piano (1993), which won the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, Best Director from the Australian Film Institute, and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1994. At the 66th Academy Awards, Campion was the second woman ever to be nominated for Best Director for her movie The Piano.

Campion's 1996 film The Portrait of a Lady, based on the Henry James novel, featured Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey and Martin Donovan. Holy Smoke! (1999) saw Campion teamed with Harvey Keitel for a second time (the first being The Piano), this time with Kate Winslet as the female lead. In the Cut (2003), an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's bestseller, provided Meg Ryan an opportunity to depart from her more familiar onscreen persona. In 2006 she produced Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story. Campion has also served as a faculty member of the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

2009–present

Her 2009 film Bright Star, a biographical drama about poet John Keats (played by Ben Whishaw) and his lover Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. In an interview with Jan Lisa Huttner, Campion discussed how she focused on Fanny's side of the story, pointing out that only two of the film's scenes did not feature her. Campion created, wrote, and directed the TV mini-series Top of the Lake, which received near universal acclaim, won numerous awards—including, for its lead actress Elisabeth Moss, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film and a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries—and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Campion was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.

She was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and Short Film sections at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and the head of the jury for the main competition section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. When Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan received the Prix du Jury for his film Mommy, he said that Campion's The Piano "made me want to write roles for women—beautiful women with soul, will and strength, not victims or objects." Campion responded by rising from her seat to give him a hug. In 2014, it was announced that Campion was nearing a deal to direct an adaptation of Rachel Kushner's novel The Flamethrowers.

In 2015, Campion confirmed that she would co-direct and co-write a second season of Top of the Lake with the story moved to Sydney and Harbour City, Hong Kong, and with Elisabeth Moss reprising her role as Robin Griffin. The sequel series titled Top of the Lake: China Girl was released in 2017. Shot and set in Sydney, Top of the Lake: China Girl features Alice Englert, Campion's daughter, in a lead role as Robin's biological daughter. The series also features Ewen Leslie, David Dencik and Nicole Kidman.

In 2019, Campion's first film in a decade was announced, an adaptation of Thomas Savage's novel The Power of the Dog. The film was written and directed by her and was released in 2021, having premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where Campion was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Direction. The film was critically acclaimed internationally, winning numerous awards and nominations for the direction, screenplay, and performance of the cast of actors. Campion earned three nominations in the respective categories for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture at the Golden Globe Awards, AACTA International Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and Satellite Awards. Campion issued an apology to Serena and Venus Williams following criticism of her acceptance speech for Critics Choice for Best Director, in which Campion said, "And you know, Serena and Venus, you are such marvels. However, you do not play against the guys — like I have to." Her apology included, "I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have achieved," she said. "I did not intend to devalue these two legendary Black women and world-class athletes." In February 2022, the film received 12 nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, leading that year's Oscar nominations. The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch, Best Supporting Actress for Kirsten Dunst, and Best Supporting Actor for both Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons. Campion became the first woman to receive multiple Best Director nominations, and she won Best Director for the film. She is also the first woman to win Best Director without also winning a corresponding Best Picture.

Personal life

In 1992, Campion married Colin David Englert, an Australian who worked as a second unit director on The Piano. Their first child, Jasper, was born in 1993 but lived for only 12 days. Their second child, Alice Englert, was born in 1994; she is an actress. The couple divorced in 2001.

Reception

In V.W. Wexman's Jane Campion: Interviews (1999), critic David Thomson describes Campion "as one of the best young directors in the world today." In Sue Gillett's "More Than Meets The Eye: The Mediation of Affects in Jane Campion's Sweetie", Campion's work is described as "perhaps the fullest and truest way of being faithful to the reality of experience"; by utilising the "unsayable" and "unseeable", she manages to catalyze audience speculation. Campion's films tend to gravitate around themes of gender politics, such as seduction and female sexual power. This has led some to label Campion's body of work as feminist; however, Rebecca Flint Marx argues that "while not inaccurate, [the feminist label] fails to fully capture the dilemmas of her characters and the depth of her work." Despite the positive feminist reputation of her work, Campion has received criticism from some feminists. bell hooks argues that The Piano "seduces and excites audiences with its uncritical portrayal of sexism and misogyny" and even though the film touches upon feminist tropes, it "celebrates and eroticizes male domination."

Honours and accolades

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Jane Campion

Campion was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) in the 2016 New Year Honours, for services to film.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Television

Recurring collaborators

References

Bibliography

• Cheshire, Ellen: Jane Campion. London: Pocket Essentials, 2000.
• Fox, Alistair: Jane Campion: Authorship and Personal Cinema. Bloomington–Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2011. .
• Gillett, Sue: 'Views for Beyond the Mirror: The Films of Jane Campion.' St.Kilda: ATOM, 2004.
• Hester, Elizabeth J.: Jane Campion: A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Dissertations and Theses. , .
• Jones, Gail: 'The Piano.' Australian Screen Classics, Currency Press, 2007.
• Margolis, Harriet (ed): 'Jane Campion's The Piano.' Cambridge University Press, 2000.
• McHugh, Kathleen: 'Jane Campion.'Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
• Radner, Hilary, Alistair Fox and Irène Bessière (eds): 'Jane Campion: Cinema, Nation, Identity.'Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2009.
• Verhoeven, Deb: Jane Campion. London: Routledge, 2009.
• Wexman V.W.: Jane Campion: Interviews. Roundhouse Publishing. 1999.

References

1. Fox, Alistair. (2011). "Jane Campion: Authorship and Personal Cinema". Indiana University Press.
2. Fox. (2011). "Jane Campion profile". Indiana University Press.
3. (2007). "Contemporary Film Directors: Jane Campion". University of Illinois, Urbana.
4. Canby, Vincent. (30 May 1993). "FILM VIEW; Jane Campion Stirs Romance With Mystery". [[The New York Times]].
5. Fox. (2011). "Jane Campion profile". Indiana University Press.
6. Duff, Michelle. (12 November 2022). "Dame Jane Campion has always been fearless".
7. Fox. (2009). "Jane Campion profile". Wayne State University Press.
8. Mark Stiles, "Jane Campion", ''Cinema Papers'', December 1985, pp. 434–435, 471
9. "Awards 1986 : Competition – Festival de Cannes 2015 (International Film Festival)".
10. Audrey Foster, Gwendolyn. (September 2017). "Girlhood in Reverse – Jane Campion's 2 Friends (1986)".
11. "Festival de Cannes: The Piano". festival-cannes.com.
12. Gonzalez, Sandra. (2022-02-08). "Jane Campion scores her second best director Oscar nomination, making history".
13. "Chats – Jane Campion". Films For Two.
14. Guthrie, Marisa. (4 November 2011). "Jane Campion to Write, Direct Sundance Channel Miniseries Starring Elisabeth Moss". The Hollywood Reporter.
15. "Top of the Lake". Rotten Tomatoes.
16. "Top Of The Lake – Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic.
17. "Top of the Lake (2013– ) : Awards".
18. (13 November 2015). "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy".
19. "A Palme d'or for the Cinéfondation!". festival-cannes.fr.
20. (7 January 2014). "Jane Campion to preside over Cannes Film Festival jury". [[BBC News]].
21. "Bear hugs at Cannes as Mommy wins jury prize". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
22. (26 July 2014). "Xavier Dolan and Jane Campion".
23. Gibson, Megan. (13 May 2014). "Jane Campion in talks to direct the big-screen adaptation of "The Flamethrowers"".
24. Khatchatourian, Maane. (13 May 2014). "Jane Campion Near Deal to Direct Adaptation of 'The Flamethrowers'". Variety.
25. Shechet, Ellie. (23 June 2015). "Season 2 of ''Top of the Lake'' Will Take Place in Sydney and Hong Kong". Jezebel.
26. Kroll, Justin. (6 May 2019). "Benedict Cumberbatch, Elisabeth Moss to Star in Jane Campion's New Film". Variety.
27. (11 September 2021). "Venice Film Festival Awards: Golden Lion Goes to Audrey Diwan's 'Happening' (Full List)".
28. "The Power of the Dog".
29. (14 March 2022). "Jane Campion Apologizes for Comment About Venus and Serena Williams". The New York Times.
30. Andrew Limbong. (8 February 2022). "'The Power of the Dog' and 'Dune' lead the pack in Oscar nominations: Full list". NPR.
31. Shoard, Catherine. (8 February 2022). "Oscar nominations 2022: The Power of the Dog leads the pack". The Guardian News.
32. Sharf, Zack. (8 February 2022). "Jane Campion Makes Oscars History as First Woman With Two Best Director Nominations".
33. "ENGLERT, COLIN DAVID Australia". Business Profiles.
34. Franke, Lizzie. (1999). "Jane Campion: Interview". [[University Press of Mississippi]].
35. Sampson, Des. (24 January 2013). "Alice Englert stars in Twilight successor". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
36. V. W. Wexman. ''Jane Campion: Interviews''. Roundhouse Publishing. 1999. {{ISBN. 1-57806-083-4.
37. (21 March 2003). "More than Meets the Eye: The Mediation of Affects in Jane Campion's Sweetie • Senses of Cinema".
38. (30 April 1954). "Jane Campion – Biography – Movies & TV". [[The New York Times]].
39. "Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap? Misogyny, gangsta rap, and The Piano • Senses of Cinema".
40. [https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2016-vr217 “New Year Honours 2016”] {{Webarchive. link. (6 April 2016 (15 Jan 2016) 2 ''[[New Zealand Gazette]]'' 1 at 3.)
41. (30 December 2015). "Richie McCaw surpasses knighthood, appointed NZ's top honour". TVNZ.