Based on the autobiography of Janet Frame, Campion’s clear-eyed, sprawling feature—initially produced as a television miniseries—depicts the life of New Zealand’s most acclaimed author, who spent eight years hospitalized after a mistaken schizophrenia diagnosis. Divided into three sections, Frame’s story is told through different actresses (Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson, and Kerry Fox—each sublime and uncannily matched) who inhabit various ages of the writer’s life, from her childhood in prewar New Zealand, to her introverted adolescence and harrowing years around her institutionalization, to her literary success and experiences around the world. Intricate in its representation of time and interiority, An Angel at My Table is an unsentimental yet emotionally intense portrait of the artist as both narrator and subject. An NYFF28 selection.

Print courtesy of the National Film & Sound Archive, Australia.