Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest
Year: 1990
Running Time: 105 minutes
Pretty much everything Tim Burton touches turns to gold and this film, the first collaboration between Burton and Johnny Depp, is no exception. Thirty years since it's original release, it remains one of my favourite films of all time because of its surreal and fairytale elements, Johnny Depp's flawless performance and the timeless themes it explores. It is also the perfect film to re-watch in Halloween season.
The film's opening shot shows a spooky castle on a hill before the camera moves to the warm glow of a suburban home and an old, wrinkly woman (Wynonna Ryder) tucking her grandchild into bed. At her grandchild's insistence, she tells her the story of an eccentric inventor who created a man but the inventor died before he finished him, leaving Edward (his creation) to live a solitary life in the castle - and in need of a serious manicure and a vitamin D supplement.
Meanwhile down in suburbia, an Avon lady named Peg (Dianne Wiest), dressed in mauve from head to toe, is not having much luck with sales so she looks to the spooky castle in the hope of finding a new customer. She discovers an immaculately manicured garden with fantastic topiaries before entering the castle, where she meets the skittish Edward and decides to take him home with her. The sight of Edward with Peg sets the ladies of conventional suburbia's tongues wagging and they scramble to get the hot gossip.
Peg gives him some clothes and consults her Avon handbook about his scars ("blending is the secret"). Edward shows off his gardening skills, shaping overgrown bushes into a giant T-Rex topiary and a display of the Boggs family. Soon all the ladies of the neighbourhood are bringing their dogs to be groomed by Edward the maestro and this leads to requests for him to cut their hair, turning the backyard into an outdoor salon. The women are thrilled with the results but their infatuation with Edward is short-lived, especially after one of the horny housewives spreads rumours about him following his rejection of her sexual advances.
Peg's daughter, Kim (Ryder), returns from her camping trip, along with her annoying bro of a boyfriend, and is understandably terrified when she finds Edward in her bed. She is not charmed by Edward initially but soon sees beyond the exterior and falls in love with the kind spirit inside. Not everyone is as open-minded, unfortunately, and soon the very people who were falling over themselves to get closer to him, are falling over themselves to chase him out of their community for good.
Indeed, the film shows the dangers of mob mentality and the ease with which people can assume the worst of someone because they look different or don't meet a society's expectations of what is "normal" and therefore acceptable. Edward's unusual appearance immediately makes him an outcast and therefore an easy target for injustice and hatred. Even though everyone is drawn to him because of his differences at first, the bigotry of middle class suburbia is always there, simmering beneath the surface until the smallest catalyst unleashes it.
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