I had never heard of Janet Frame before watching "An Angel at My Table", which made her story all the more fascinating. Jane Campion's movie shows the author's life, from her childhood in poverty to her adulthood in Europe. Every step of the way, the movie lets the audience see how those around Frame treated her, at one point committing her to an institution due to a misdiagnosis.

I suspect that the average New Zealander knows who Frame was. It's just that I in the United States was unfamiliar with her. I can only conclude that she was one of the most talented authors of all, a true credit to New Zealand. Moreover, the movie is a true credit to Campion, along with "The Piano" and the recent "Power of the Dog". Definitely see it.

It's a biography of New Zealand author Janet Frame played by three different actresses over her life. She was born in 1924. Her large family is relatively poor. She's a chubby sensitive kid with big wild red hair. As a young teacher (Kerry Fox),she has an emotional breakdown and spends time in a mental hospital. She is diagnosed a schizophrenic. With her mother's approval, she is admitted to a mental hospital for over 8 years where she is subjected to 200 shock treatments barely escaping brain surgery.

This is an interesting portrait of a life. It isn't that dramatic except for the hospital section. It's more a series of events where a nervous Janet is belittled and overlooked. It doesn't fit the traditional three act play structure. It's a simple straight time line of events. Jane Campion uses her style of directing. It's natural and confident. A more standard biopic would concentrate on the 8 year hospital stay making a drama out of it. Instead, this way is a more humanistic way of showing a life. Kerry Fox is terrific and the little girl has an unforgettable look.

Jane Campion's second feature film is a biography of New Zealand writer Janet Frame (1924-2004),drawn from her three sets of memoirs. Miss Frame was born in a large, turbulent family, got herself a bit of an education and spent eight years in and out of mental institutions. During this time, according to the movie, writing became therapy to her, and out of this arose works that were received as brilliant; she was scheduled to be lobotomized on the day she won her first literary award. The surgery never took place.

Kerry Fox plays Miss Rule as an adult, and the svelte actress gained almost thirty pounds for the role and wore an ugly, frizzy copper-red wig for the role -- very different from the Hollywood image of great women writers. Campion has always found fascination in ordinary-looking people.

If there is any point in this movie, other than the surface one of struggle and compassion for the unhappy and mentally unbalanced, it is the thin wedge between genius and madness. As far as I can tell, the only way to reliably tell the difference is to look at the result. If the product works, the creator is a genius, and if it fails, a madwoman.