Based on the true story of Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, two close friends who share a love of fantasy and literature, who conspire to kill Pauline's mother when she tries to end the girls' intense and obsessive relationship.

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Trivia:

Almost all locations used for filming were the genuine locations where the events occurred. The tea shop where Honorah Parker ate her last meal was knocked down a few days after the shoot ended. According to director Peter Jackson, when they got to the location of the murder on the dirt path, it was eerily quiet; the birds stopped singing, and it didn’t seem right. So they moved along a couple of hundred yards.

Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet were so strongly into their roles that they would interact with each other as their characters off screen.

A picture on the wall in Pauline’s bedroom is a photograph of the real Juliet Hulme.

All of the journal voice-overs are direct from real diary entries made by Pauline Parker. The characters in the stories (if not the stories themselves) and make-believe world are also authentic.

Since the Parker-Hulme murder had been an infamous crime that was strongly sensationalized in New Zealand history Jackson decided rather than do a film that would be a historical look back at the crime to instead create a drama about Parker and Hulme’s intense friendship. In addition to reading Pauline Parker’s diary Jackson and company undertook a nation wide search for anyone who had known the girls and interviewed them to get a closer look at their lives.

Juliet Hulme was revealed to be mystery writer Anne Perry who came forward and revealed her real identity in 1994 during the making of the film, but all attempts to find Pauline Parker failed. In 1997, Pauline Parker was finally traced to a rundown cottage on a farm near Strood, Kent, England, where she currently runs a children’s riding school. Since assuming the name of Hilary Nathan, she has become a devout Catholic and devoted her life to handicapped children.

Most of the cast was selected because of their physical resemblances to their real-life characters.

Before the murder, Juliet is seen pacing nervously around Pauline’s bedroom, saying “Your mother is rather a miserable woman…I think she knows what’s going to happen. She doesn’t appear to bear us any grudge.” This line was paraphrased from a statement by the real Juliet to her psychologist prior to the trial, when the two girls were being evaluated for an insanity plea.

Until 1973, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder associated with deviant behavior including, but not limited to, murder. Because of the closeness of Hulme and Parker’s friendship, there was a lot of speculation about whether or not they were lesbians. When Hulme was asked during the trial if she and Pauline had had sex, she replied, “How could we? We are both women.” To this day, Anne Perry (the name Juliet assumed after prison) continues to insist that there was never a sexual element to the friendship.

Kate Winslet was one of 175 girls who auditioned for the role of Juliet Hulme.

The only time Kate Winslet has worked with Peter Jackson.

Kate Winslet’s first on screen nude appearance.

Character Quotes:

“All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It’s all frightfully romantic.”

“Only the best people fight against all obstacles in pursuit of happiness.”

“Absolutely not! Orson Welles! Urgh! The most hideous man alive!”

” I think she knows what’s going to happen. She doesn’t appear to bear us any grudge.”

“I’m not. I’m going to the Fourth World. It’s sort of like Heaven, only better, because there aren’t any Christians. It’s an absolute paradise of music, art and pure enjoyment.”

“Excuse me, Miss Waller, you’ve made a mistake. “Je doutais qu’il vienne” is in fact the spoken subjunctive.”