Jane Campion

An Angel at My Table

An Angel at My Table

With An Angel at My Table, Academy Award–winning filmmaker Jane Campion brought to the screen the harrowing autobiography of Janet Frame, New Zealand’s most distinguished author. Three actors in turn take on the lead role (including Kerry Fox in a marvelous performance as the adult Frame), as the film describes a journey from an impoverished childhood marked by tragedy to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia resulting in electroshock therapy and a narrowly escaped lobotomy to, finally, international literary fame. Unobtrusively capturing the beauty and power of the New Zealand landscape while maintaining the film’s focus on the figure at its center, Campion broke new ground for female filmmakers everywhere and earned a sweep of her country’s film awards, along with the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Film Info

  • New Zealand
  • 1990
  • 158 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • English
  • Spine #301

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Stuart Dryburgh and approved by director Jane Campion, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2005 featuring Campion, Dryburgh, and actor Kerry Fox
  • Short documentary from 2002 about the making of the film
  • Six deleted scenes
  • Audio interview with author Janet Frame from 1983
  • Trailer
  • Stills gallery
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from Frame’s autobiography, on which Campion based her film

Cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Stuart Dryburgh and approved by director Jane Campion, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2005 featuring Campion, Dryburgh, and actor Kerry Fox
  • Short documentary from 2002 about the making of the film
  • Six deleted scenes
  • Audio interview with author Janet Frame from 1983
  • Trailer
  • Stills gallery
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from Frame’s autobiography, on which Campion based her film

Cover by Eric Skillman

An Angel at My Table
Cast
Kerry Fox
Janet
Alexia Keogh
Young Janet
Karen Fergusson
Teenage Janet
Iris Churn
Mum
K. J. Wilson
Dad
Credits
Director
Jane Campion
Based on the autobiographies of
Janet Frame
Producer
Bridget Ikin
Coproducer
John Maynard
Screenplay
Laura Jones
Director of photography
Stuart Dryburgh
Production designer
Grant Major
Editor
Veronika Haussler
Composer
Don McGlashan
Sound design
John Dennison
Sound design
Tony Vaccher
Costume designer
Glenys Jackson
Casting director
Diana Rowan

Current

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An Angel at My Table: Alone, Naturally

Jane Campion is a rarity, not simply because she is a world-class female director, but because she has devoted her career to exploring female subjectivity.

By Amy Taubin

The Art of Withholding and Revealing in An Angel at My Table
The Art of Withholding and Revealing in An Angel at My Table

Professor Kristin Thompson explores how director Jane Campion uses a strategy of concealment and carefully orchestrated reveals to create curiosity, tension, and surprise.

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Mira Nair’s Guide to the Collection
Mira Nair’s Guide to the Collection

The writer-director of Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay! takes us through an eclectic mix of favorite films, including works by Jane Campion, Lars von Trier, and Satyajit Ray.

Women Take Over Sight & Sound
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On the Road With Jane Campion
On the Road With Jane Campion
It’s been six years since Jane Campion last directed a feature film, but her earthy, melancholy new Bright Star, about the romance between poet John Keats and his great love, Fanny Brawne, was well worth the wait. And now that Bright Star is receiv…