This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Candy

* WHERE: Broadway Centre Cinemas.

* WHEN: Opens today.

* RATING: R for pervasive depiction of drug addiction, disturbing images, language, sexual content and nudity.

* RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes.

* BOTTOM LINE: A heartbreaking drama about two people - young, in love and on dope.

Few opening images encapsulate the film to follow better than the first shots of the harrowing Australian drama "Candy."

Director Neil Armfield shows us two young people in love, entering a carnival ride that soon has them spinning so rapidly that they lose their footing and are thrown to the wall by the centrifrugal force. But they don't care - they are giddily in love, their eyes, hands and lips only on each other.

The entire movie is about how these crazy kids, a bohemian poet named Daniel (Heath Ledger) and a would-be painter named Candy (Abbie Cornish), are spun out of control by twin addictions: each other and heroin.

Armfield (co-writing with Luke Davies, on whose novel the movie is based) tells the story in three chapters, titled "heaven," "earth" and "hell." The first chapter shows the couple happily in love, and how much more keenly they feel that love when they're high. But when the drugs wear off, they become snappish and uncommunicative. Soon all that matters is getting the money for more heroin - a pursuit that leads them to prostitution, credit-card fraud and other crimes.

When Candy learns she's pregnant, she and Daniel try to quit cold turkey. This leads to some of the movie's most harrowing scenes, as Ledger and Cornish (a rising star featured in last year's "Somersault") depict the shakes and other physical signs of withdrawal.

"Candy" moves in a recurring cycle: They get high, make love, come down, get angry, lash out, acquire money for more drugs, and repeat. What arc there is to the story comes when we learn that Candy's problems go beyond her heroin addiction.

"Candy" is a well-made film, precise in its details of drug use and with wrenching performances by Ledger, Cornish and Geoffrey Rush as a sugar-daddy chemist. It's not entertainment by any means, but it is riveting and rewarding viewing.

---

* SEAN P. MEANS can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.