Top of the Lake is a mystery drama television series created and written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee, and directed by Campion and Garth Davis. Its first season aired in 2013, with the second season, entitled "China Girl", set to air in 2017.[2] It marks Campion's first work for television since An Angel at My Table in 1990. Filmed and set in New Zealand, the series follows a detective (Elisabeth Moss), and the first season deals with the investigation of the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year-old girl. Top of the Lake was co-produced for BBC Two in the UK, BBC UKTV in Australia and New Zealand, and Sundance Channel in the United States.[3][4]
Elisabeth Moss as Det. Robin Griffin, a Sydney police officer returning to her remote New Zealand hometown of Laketop, facing the crimes surrounding the pregnancy and disappearance of a local 12-year-old girl, Tui.
David Wenham as Det. Sgt. Al Parker, the oldschool and well-liked head of the local police station, who also has a café where young offenders are given a second chance.
Peter Mullan as Scotsman Matt Mitcham, head of the Mitcham family. The informal leader of the town, feared by the townspeople, but with a complex inner life.
Thomas M. Wright as Johnno Mitcham, Matt's estranged youngest son, and Robin's high school sweetheart. He recently returned to Laketop after serving eight years in Bangkwang, a Thai prison, for drug possession.
Holly Hunter as GJ, an androgynousspiritual leader, arriving at Laketop with a group of troubled women, who hope GJ and Laketop will help them rediscover themselves.
Filming took 18 weeks and was shot entirely on location in Queenstown and Glenorchy, in New Zealand. While Queenstown is referred to during the series, Glenorchy doubles as the fictitious town of Laketop. The scenes in the women's commune were filmed at Moke Lake.[5]
In early 2013, series co-creator Jane Campion said that season one of Top of the Lake comes to a distinct ending and there would be no additional seasons.[8] Despite this, it was announced in October 2014 that the series has been renewed for a second season.[9] In season two, which will be set and filmed in Sydney, Australia,[10] Griffin will investigate a case in Harbour City, Hong Kong. Shooting began in December, 2015.[11]
Jane Campion returned as co-writer and co-director along with Gerard Lee. Season 1 co-director was replaced by Ariel Kleiman due to scheduling conflicts.[12] Actress Nicole Kidman has joined the cast for season 2, which is the second time she has worked with Campion.
The first season screened in its entirety at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, in January 2013, as a miniseries. Sundance screened the series as a seven-hour program with one intermission and one lunch break; it was the first miniseries ever screened at Sundance.[13]Top of the Lake was additionally shown at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
The series premiered on the Sundance Channel in the United States on 18 March 2013,[14] in Australia on BBC UKTV on 24 March 2013,[15] and in New Zealand the next day (25 March), also on BBC UKTV.[16]
In the small town of Laketop, New Zealand, a young girl named Tui Mitcham tries to drown herself in a lake. After she is rescued, a school nurse notices that Tui is pregnant. Robin Griffin, a police inspector from Sydney who specializes in working with children, is called to interview Tui at the police station.
Robin encounters two women from Paradise. They tell her Tui was with them the day before she disappeared but was gone in the morning. Robin organizes the local authorities to search for Tui. During the search, Robin walks into the lake and has a vision of Tui doing the same, the latter clenching her fists in the water.
3
"Episode 3"
Garth Davis
Jane Campion & Gerard Lee
000000002013-03-25-000025 March 2013
Matt Mitcham goes to Paradise and sits in on a session with GJ, the enigmatic leader of the camp. In a mocking tone, Matt asks the group about the human mind. GJ tells Matt that the human mind schemes. Later, Al meets Matt in the middle of the lake for a secret meeting.
4
"Episode 4"
Garth Davis with Jane Campion
Jane Campion & Gerard Lee
000000002013-04-01-00001 April 2013
Robin has dinner at Al's ultramodern, immaculate, lakeside house. Robin tells Al she thinks Tui's note, that said "No One", meant there were multiple rapists. Al counsels Robin she is getting too involved in Tui's case, likely because of Robin's own history of having been gang raped, at age 15.
5
"Episode 5"
Jane Campion with Garth Davis
Jane Campion & Gerard Lee
000000002013-04-08-00008 April 2013
Robin asks Johnno what he wanted to tell her about the night she was raped. Johnno describes how he heard Robin screaming and he peed himself. He says he found a latch to get out of the dog cage in the back of the truck but was too afraid to persist in trying to stop the men from raping her.
6
"Episode 6"
Garth Davis with Jane Campion
Jane Campion & Gerard Lee
000000002013-04-15-000015 April 2013
Robin reveals to Johnno that she plans to make a case against Matt Mitcham, in hopes of encouraging Tui to come home. Robin shares that she caught Jamie attempting to take Tui with rohypnol, a "date rape" drug that Robin suspects Matt manufactures. Johnno warns Robin against bringing a case against Matt, as Matt's drug business provides much of the town with a livelihood.
7
"Episode 7"
Jane Campion
Jane Campion & Gerard Lee
000000002013-04-15-000015 April 2013
Robin goes to work at the police station the next day and tells Al that Matt said he was her father. Matt, certain that Tui could not be pregnant, searches for and finds her with her newborn baby. As he is about to kill the baby, Tui appears and kills Matt. As the final twist, Robin discovers Sgt Parker has been pimping young boys and girls from the barista training, including Tui, to other men for sex.
Reviews of Top of the Lake have been positive, referring to the series as "masterfully made", "beautiful", "mysterious", "riveting", and "a masterpiece".[18][19][20][21][22][23] It received a score of 86 out of 100 from Metacritic[24] and a score of 93 percent from Rotten Tomatoes.[25]
There were also some less positive reviews. Mike Hale of The New York Times criticized the "elaborately introduced plotlines" and described Tui's disappearance as "less a story element than a metaphor for the kind of armed resistance to male hegemony that constitutes the central idea of Ms. Campion’s body of work."[26] That said, Top of the Lake has also been lauded by feminist critics for its explicit effort to analyse rape culture[27] as well as its radical construction of narratives entirely foregrounding the experiences of single women.[28]
