History Film / TheDressmaker

* DistractedByTheSexy: During an AFL game, Myrtle removes her scarf and gloves to show more skin and distract players.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[spoiler: Molly, Tilly's mother, turns out to be absolutely brilliant when she's finally sober and pissed]]. She sets up a masterful plan to make the entire town of Dungatar pay for what they did and who they are.

* MeaningfulName: Evan Pettyman is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. And so was his son. [[spoiler: This eventually gets them both killed]]. Averted with Marigold, who simply carries her husband's surname.

* DefrostingIceQueen: As she develops relationships with a tiny handful of townsfolk, Tillie's icy demeanor melts just a fraction.

* EvilMakeover: Tillie returns for revenge, dressed to the nines.

* LoveCannotOvercome: Tillie develops a relationship with Teddy, and it appears that his love for her may be enough to allow her to accept happiness and give up her plans for revenge. It's not.

In 1951, Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage (Kate Winslet) returns to her childhood home of Dungatar in rural Victoria to take care of her elderly mother, known to the town as "Mad Molly" (Judy Davis). She was taken away at ten, accused of a crime she cannot remember, and has since worked in Melbourne, Paris, and London as a highly trained and skilled seamstress. However, the town has not forgotten the murder that she cannot remember. Her sewing skills regain her some favour with the townspeople, but few seem to actively like her. One of the few is Teddy [=McSwiney=] (Creator/LiamHemsworth), star of the Dungatar football team; another is Sergeant Farrat (Creator/Hugo Weaving), the local cop with an interest in fashion.

In 1951, Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage (Kate Winslet) returns to her childhood home of Dungatar in rural Victoria to take care of her elderly mother, known to the town as "Mad Molly" (Judy Davis). She was taken away at ten, accused of a crime she cannot remember, and has since worked in Melbourne, Paris, and London as a highly trained and skilled seamstress. However, the town has not forgotten the murder that she cannot remember. Her sewing skills regain her some favour with the townspeople, but few seem to actively like her. One of the few is Teddy [=McSwiney=] (Creator/LiamHemsworth), star of the Dungatar football team; another is Sergeant Farrat (Hugo Weaving), the local cop with an interest in fashion.

* DrowningMySorrows: Molly turned to the bottle after Tilly was sent away from the town, eventually turning into a [[TheAlcoholic dysfunctional alcoholic]] and gaining "Mad Molly" nickname. [[spoiler:She eventually gets better with the combination of [[ThePowerOfLove her daughter's care]] and [[ThePowerOfHate contempt to Dungatar population]] ]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:Played with Marigold. Marigold's method of dispatching her cruel and abusive husband is much more gruesome than in the book. On the other hand, it is done in the heat of the moment so it's not like her personality changed much, just what she had available at the moment. Also many would agree that he had it coming for a long time]].
* CampStraight: PlayedWith in case of Sergeant Horatio Farrat, who is ''very'' flamboyant, but he keeps it in private, while performing his duty and acting absolutely normal in public. [[spoiler:Evan Pettyman blackmailed him on this in the past. By the end of the story, Farrat decides to take the blame for drug trafficking as a way to both protect Tilly and to compensate for his weakness in the past. When he's arrested, he wears a flashy matador suit, while handling over everyone the drawings Pettyman used to blackmail him, in a final act of defiance against town's clique]].

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[spoiler:Molly, Tilly's mother, turns out to be absolutely brilliant when she's finally sober and pissed]]. She sets up a masterful plan to make entire Dungatar pay for what they did and who they are.

** [[spoiler:Teddy jumps into a silo to impress Tilly. Unfortunately, the silo was filled that day with sorghum, so he ends up trapped inside and slowly suffocates]].
** [[spoiler:When Stewart Pettyman was trying to hurt young Tilly, he ends up ramming his head straight into a brick wall at full running speed, breaking his own neck]].
** [[spoiler:Marigold cuts Evan's Achilles tendons. This makes his legs completely useless, while he bleeds to his death, crying for mercy he never had]].
** [[spoiler:Percival Almanac drowns in a tiny pond behind his house, unable to stop without his wife's help. While the pond is barely knee deep and in size of a puddle, he had too many different ailments to get out of it by himself]].
* CruelTwistEnding: Tilly has seemingly gained the closure she wanted and seems ready to move on and start a new life with Teddy. [[spoiler:Then [[SurprisinglySuddenDeath he dies]] and, later, so does her mother while Sergeant Farrat, the only other person in town who likes her, allows himself to be arrested to protect her.]]
* DestroyTheAbusiveHome: [[spoiler:Tilly was fiercely bullied, falsely accused of murder, and forced to leave Dungatar, and is shunned and bullied on her return. She sets the entire town on fire. While it was empty it must be said, but the citizens' reactions when they return are absolutely epic]].

* FateWorseThanDeath: Of the primary culprits only [[spoiler:Beulah survives the whole chain of revelations. Which makes her even more unlucky, since she will likely live for quite a few years blinded and spend the rest of her miserable days, crippled and trapped in a sanatorium. She has been so vile that it still feels like a fitting punishment]].

* IronicEcho: Early on, Tilly was trying to feed Molly soup. [[spoiler:After Teddy dies and Tilly is too depressed to even eat, Molly starts feeding her and talking about the past]]. For extra points, the soup looks identical.

* LetThePastBurn: [[spoiler:Her lover is dead, her mother is dead, and the only remaining townsperson she got along with has been arrested, so Tilly burns her mother's house alongside her sewing supplies, as well as the rest of the town, and then leaves - presumably forever.]]
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Evan Pettyman]] is Tilly's father.

* MeaningfulName: Evan Pettyman is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. And so was his son. [[spoiler:This eventually gets them both killed]]. Averted with Marigold, who simply carries her husband surname.

** [[spoiler:Teddy and Tilly have consummated their relationship, are talking about getting married and leaving Dungatar forever... and then Teddy jumps into a silo full of sorghum and suffocates.]]

** [[spoiler:The final act of the film goes back and forth between pure tragedy and pure comedy, often within the same scenes]].

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:Everyone who eventually sided with Tilly ends up dead (Teddy, her mother, though not as a result of siding with her) or in prison (Sergeant Farrat which was more of a sacrifice as a way of atoning for his past failures)]].
* RayOfHopeEnding: [[spoiler:Tilly's mother and lover are both dead, but she has sought revenge on the town that mistreated her. It is left open whether she will find happiness in the future but getting closure was a start.]]
* ThePowerOfLove: Subverted. [[spoiler:While love, friendship and being good is important and initially appear to work for Tilly, they are just not enough to deal with people like the citizens of Dungatar]].
* ThePowerOfHate: [[spoiler:Molly was already getting better due to Tilly's return and care, but it's the hate and desire for revange for all the shit her family had to go through that ultimately brings her back to sanity]].

* ShooOutTheClowns: The film progressively gets less and less funny, until it turns into straight-out tragedy... after which it turns into really BlackComedy in final act.

* SouthernGothicSatan: Tilly comes back to the town that tormented her as a child and unjustly blamed her for murder. [[spoiler:With her inhuman sewing abilities and TARDIS-like bag that contains infinite material and shoes, she dresses up the town in couture, and by the end of it multiple people are dead, arrested, in asylums, or otherwise ruined, the townfolk are humiliated in the local play competition, and Tilly has burned the town down.]]
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Tilly apparently has also unlimited storage for it, too. It reaches comedic levels early on, when her single suitcase couldn't carry even the shoes she wears at this point of the story, not to mention her clothes.
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: [[spoiler:Tilly pours petrol throughout her mother's house and on a bolt of fabric she has rolled down to the town, sets the house on fire, and leaves, with the entire town burning in her wake.]]
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Sergeant Farrat, though [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]]. He shows a great interest in fasion and seems to crossdress in private (something [[spoiler:Evan Pettyman blackmailed him with]]), but other than that he is fairly normal guy and a dedicated police officer.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Evan Pettyman]] cheats on his wife multiple times, including with [[spoiler:Molly Dunnage]].

* TheTallDarkStranger: Tilly comes back to the town that tormented her as a child and unjustly blamed her for murder. With her inhuman sewing abilities and TARDIS-like bag that contains infinite material and shoes, she dresses up the town in couture, and by the end of [[spoiler: it multiple people are dead, arrested, in asylums, or otherwise ruined, the townfolk are humiliated in the local play competition, and Tilly has burned the town down.]]