Based on Rosalie Ham's 2000 novel of the same name, The Dressmaker, released in 2015, tells the story of Tilly Dunnage (played by Kate Winslet), a dressmaker who returns to her rural hometown in Australia to care for her ailing mother (played by Judy Davis). After arriving, sewing machine in tow, she begins to investigate her murky past and begins to exact revenge on those in the town who wronged her in her youth. Director Jocelyn Moorhouse described the film as "Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven with a sewing machine."
The film marks Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse's return to film after a considerable break and includes many of her trademarks: it is tonally complex, darkly comic, and playfully paced. Producer Sue Maslin said of Moorhouse's work on the film, "It goes back to what she did with Proof, where every scene was on a knife edge between comedy and tragedy. You don't know whether to laugh or cry."
Although The Dressmaker was not especially critically successful, it was a bonafide popular and financial success. Richard Ouzounian of The Star called the film "a true bravura style [that] manages to serve as revenge tragedy, romantic comedy and stylish entertainment all at once." Benjamin Lee of The Guardian, however, thought differently, writing that "The film is a tonally uneven, genre-shifting hurricane of a thing, wildly careering off the rails and smashing into everything in its view." Against a budget of $11.9 million, the film made $24.11 million at the box office.
