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4.2 Events before the film.
** How old was Honora when she ran away from home
with Bert?
In "Heavenly Creatures," Pauline says to Honora: "Nana Parker told
me you were only 17 when you ran away with dad." I have yet to find a source for this
statement in real life. Pauline's statement in the film was physically impossible, in real
life, because Honora Parker was born in England and did not emigrate to New Zealand until
she was 18. According to Herbert Rieper's trial testimony, Honora was 45 when she was
killed, Herbert was 61, and they had lived together for 23 years. (Some previous
statements made by Herbert Rieper indicated that the couple may have been together for 25
years-- this would have made Honora under the age of majority at the time she and Herbert
Rieper took up together, so numbers may have been changed). That would have made Honora 22
(20) and Herbert 38 (36) when they started living together, in 1931 (1929).
** Was Pauline's flashback accurate?
Essentially, yes. Herbert Rieper testified that Pauline was struck with
osteomyelitis when she was 5, and that he had visited her in the hospital.
** Was Juliet's flashback accurate?
No. Juliet was sent to the Bahamas "for the good of her health" but after
WW II when she was 8, not during the War when she was 5, and there is no evidence she was
hospitalized there.
** How accurately were the girls' ailments
portrayed?
The facts presented in the film essentially matched those presented during the
trial, though the extent and seriousness of the girls' ailments was probably more extreme
in real life than was portrayed in the film. Pauline had suffered from extremely painful
osteomyelitis at the age of 5, and was reported to have nearly died. It was also reported
that her bout with this disease was her first memory as a child. She was hospitalized for
9 months and underwent very painful treatments very bravely. Even changing the dressings
was reported to be very painful. She underwent a series of operations over the span of
nearly 3 years to "drain the muck out" ("discharge" according to
medical reports). She was left permanently, though not severely, handicapped by this
disease and she experienced chronic pain throughout her childhood and adolescence, for
which she took pain killers. She was advised not to perform strenuous sports, and was
excused from PhysEd. Pauline may also have been affected, emotionally, by her illness and
by having to be isolated in a class all by herself for two years after being released from
the hospital. Her academic achievement didn't appear to be adversely affected by this
isolation, though. Juliet had been very sickly, on and off, as a child with various
respiratory ailments, some very severe, including a very serious case of pneumonia when
she was 6. At that time, she almost died. Juliet did contract TB, as shown in the film.
But, Juliet also had additional, significant medical problems not shown in the film.
Perhaps most significantly, she had been severely 'bomb shocked' as a young child. This is
an almost archaic term for extreme psychological trauma encountered during wartime. If
Juliet had been a soldier, it would have been called 'shell shock.' Juliet and her family
lived in London during the Blitz of WW II and this and other family conditions had a
severe emotional impact on Juliet. 'Bomb shock' is a slightly catch-all psychological
phrase, but her mother did tell consulting psychiatrists that the two of them were caught
out unprotected in London during an air raid and suffered a near miss. Bombs and bombing,
WW II and death (this was during the frenzy of the cold war, after all) actually held a
significant place in the girls' testimony and interviews. Oddly enough, her childhood
experiences probably would have made Juliet a prime candidate for what would now be called
'post-traumatic stress disorder.' Juliet was separated from her family more times than
depicted in "Heavenly Creatures" and her behaviour upon being reunited with them
was one of extreme overdependence, both not shown in the film. Hilda Hulme testified that
Juliet was very difficult to discipline and was demanding and prone to temper tantrums.
These things were only alluded to in the North American release version of the film. There
was also considerable indirect evidence entered into testimony during the trial of Juliet
having continuing, more severe psychological problems. These problems were mostly
connected with Juliet's being separated repeatedly from her family. However, it should be
borne in mind that the defense strategy was to have Juliet declared criminally insane, so
some (perhaps more than some) of the psychological testimony may have been biased toward
exaggeration of her problems. Herbert Rieper's testimony about his daughter's character
was pretty straightforward and tended to paint Pauline as a moody but quite ordinary girl
with no serious psychological problems before she met Juliet Hulme. However, it was also
clear from his testimony that Herbert Rieper was, in many ways, a typical father for his
times--he actually knew very little in the way of details about his daughter's health or
her personal life.
** Where was Juliet sent "for the good of
her health?"
Before she was sent away for the good of her health, Juliet was sent away to the
North of England soon after her brother was born. Then, after contracting pneumonia for
the second time, Juliet was indeed sent to live with another family in the Bahamas for 13
months, but she was aged 8, not 5. Then she was sent to the North Island of NZ, where she
lived with another family. She was apparently institutionalized, eventually, because of
another breakdown of her health, before her family moved to Christchurch. Soon after the
Hulme family moved to Christchurch, Juliet was again sent away because of her health,
according to Hilda Hulme's testimony, to a boarding school in the North Island of NZ.
Juliet returned to Christchurch before the events shown in "Heavenly Creatures."
In all, Juliet spent a total of about 4 1/2 of her first 11 years separated from her
family 'for the good of her health' and for other reasons.
