The very captivating Caterpillar: Affecting three-generation family drama from debut director Chelsie Preston Crayford

Three generations of feisty, flawed women living under one Wellington roof make for a captivating, touching family drama, and an impressive feature directorial and writing debut from actor Chelsie Preston Crayford. (You can read about the story behind the film here.)

Inspired by growing up with her director mother, Dame Gaylene Preston, and grandmother Tui, Preston Crayford mines her teenage years when Tui declined with dementia. It’s not autobiographical but a perfectly pitched piece of autofiction, in which mothers and daughters have relatable fractious interactions amidst home truths that sting. As someone who’s spent years in front of the camera, Preston Crayford elicits wonderful performances from veterans and first-timers alike.

Anais Shand is superb as teenager Cassie, an aspiring actress who goes in for the school play with best friend Awhi (Kirimaia Noel) and drifts into self-destructive behaviour due to mother Maxine’s (Marta Dusseldorp) profession as a film-maker forever absorbed in getting her next project up and running. “It’s not movies, it’s cinema – art!” a desperate Maxine implores her bank as she scrounges for funding.

Shand is terrific as Cassie, and her scenes with veteran Lisa Harrow as Huia are touchingly real. Australian star Dusseldorp is also marvellous as the driven, workaholic mum and the meat in a disapproval sandwich – “a mother’s place is in the wrong,” her friend sympathises.

Transitions between grandma Huia’s reality and waning mental faculties are sensitively and artfully handled, and the film is enhanced by a lovely piano score by Preston Crayford’s father, musician Jonathan Crayford, along with some period pop bangers.

You may say Preston Crayford is just following in the footsteps of her mother, who made a couple of films inspired by Tui’s real life. But this portrait of three women is quite something else, a pan-generational female character study that deftly interweaves coming-of-age and struggles-of-age stories. A beautifully made debut.

Rating out of five: ★★★★½