I recently watched The Dressmaker. I wrote a review of it and quickly gave it my second-lowest rating ever of 3.5/10. A week later, I watched the incredible film The Notebook. As I started writing the review, I subconsciously started comparing the two movies. Instead of allowing The Dressmaker to undeservingly take a spot of my weekly reviews, I thought I'd instead compare the movie to The Notebook just to emphasise that The Dressmaker is bad.

The Dressmaker is based on the 2000 novel of the same name. It follows a glamorous woman who returns to her hometown after being exiled twenty-five years earlier. She now uses her skill of making elegant dresses to take revenge on those who accused her of murder many years ago. The Notebook is similarly based on a novel and is brought to life by director Nick Cassavetes. It follows two teenagers who fall in love over the summer but are later separated due to their difference in social status.

Throughout much of The Dressmaker, I was confused. There were many stories weaved into one which only added to the complexity and lack of depth in the movie. The Dressmaker was made in a way that it felt like this was the sequel to another movie. It felt like we were never properly introduced to the characters and it was assumed that we already knew the story prior to seeing the movie. Additionally, it ended in a way that it felt like there was supposed to be another movie following on from this one. This was the complete opposite to The Notebook. The Notebook was extremely easy to understand, however, this didn't make the story feel shallow or unoriginal. The movie brought the two protagonists' stories full circle making it hard for any future director to make a sequel that would likely ruin the original movie.

I wouldn't call The Notebook a comedy. However, this didn't mean that the movie wasn't funny. The movie was at times very funny but in a subtle way. This made the movie enjoyable to watch and also entertaining, whilst keeping its story very uplifting and not losing any of the solemnity that came with the book. The Dressmaker was slightly funny but the humour felt very immature. And it wasn't only the humour that felt immature: the slight bit of violence there was and the attitude of all the characters was uncomfortable to watch. There were only one or two likeable characters and the audience didn't spend much time with these people. The Dressmaker also felt unnecessarily dark and depressing which didn't blend well with the so-called comedy genre of the movie.

I went on to say in my original review of The Dressmaker that most of my previous criticisms were uncontrollable by the director; they were traits of the original novel. The movie itself wasn't a bad adaptation: the costumes were fortunately exquisite, the flashbacks were used to good effect and there were some admirable film techniques. These elements were what gave the movie a 3.5/10 rather than a 0/10.

The Notebook, unlike The Dressmaker, has a beautiful story that was established in the original novel. I said how the director of The Dressmaker was able to make a reasonable movie out of a terrible story. This is very much unlike The Notebook whose director already had an incredible story to work with. You could say that this made the director's job easier, however, I think this added more pressure on Nick Cassavetes. If Jocelyn Moorhouse had made a terrible movie from a terrible book, no one would have cared. But if Nick Cassavetes had made a dreadful movie, he would have been ruining the book for everyone. Thankfully Cassavetes succeeded in making a tremendous movie.

The acting in The Dressmaker was good and each actor portrayed their character well, however, I wouldn't say that any of their performances were award-winning (even though some of the actors and actresses did win some awards for their work). The performers were simply doing their job but did it well. However, I would say that the lead actors and actresses in The Notebook went over and above their required job description to make the film the best it could be. The chemistry between the two leads was perfect and had clearly had some thought put into it. The movie was also super realistic. This credit could partly be given to the writers but also the actors.

Another note I took whilst watching The Notebook was that the movie was well-structured and well-paced. The movie transitioned pleasingly from past to present day and the movie was structured to ensure that the audience was constantly captivated by the movie. I didn't notice that The Dressmaker did any of this poorly whilst watching the movie. However, confusion and boredom from the audience can often be laid down to the fact that the movie wasn't structured or paced sufficiently. Additionally, The Notebook was slightly predictable. Some may abuse the movie for this but it meant that it was much easier to watch than The Dressmaker with its unexpected plotline.

There is one final point which I want to discuss which is the music. I enjoyed the western style of music in The Dressmaker; it is the kind of music that I would enjoy listening to separate from the movie. However, I felt that the music never truly reflected what was happening on screen and was at times distracting. I can't remember the music from The Notebook so it obviously wasn't memorable. Regardless, this music served its purpose more. If I can't remember the music then it clearly wasn't distracting but was able to reflect what was happening on screen. John Williams was able to master the talent of creating scores that reflect what happens on screen as well as memorable ones. But since we can't all be John Williams, it is much safer to write music that will support the movie than music that is unforgettable. 

If it isn't clear, I really didn't like The Dressmaker but I really liked The Notebook. The worst part of The Dressmaker was the complex, dark and meaningless story. The immaturity of the film, lack of likeable characters and questionable morals were all things that could be blamed on the original author. Although I didn't enjoy the experience, The Dressmaker (when ignoring the storyline) wasn't a bad movie. The director managed to pull something decent out of bad source material and created an admirable piece of work. However, the shocking story is an aspect that I couldn't ignore whilst watching the movie which is why I would never voluntarily watch it again.

Where The Notebook succeeded was that it had an incredible director working on an already incredible story, therefore, creating an incredible movie. Every other commendable aspect of the movie supported this strong foundation. The brilliant acting, realism, humour, well-structured and well-paced plotline all confuse me as to why The Notebook won fewer awards than The Dressmaker. Although The Notebook may not be a very rewatchable movie, I would happily watch it any day over the painful-to-watch let-down, The Dressmaker.

THE NOTEBOOK (PG)

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands

Year released: 2004

My rating: 8.75/10

Compared with...

THE DRESSMAKER (M)

Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Starring: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving

Year released: 2015

My rating: 3.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 21/08/2022