Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Bille August

Writers (WGA):

Peter Høeg (novel)
Ann Biderman (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 February 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Snow covers everything...except the truth

Plot:

Based on Peter Hoeg's bestseller, this film is set in snowy Copenhagen where a small boy is found dead after he fell off a roof...

Plot Keywords:

Roof | Greenland | Snow | Young Boy | Murder

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ona Fletcher	...	Inuit Hunter
Julia Ormond	...	Smilla Jasperson
Agga Olsen	...	Juliane Christiansen
Patrick Field	...	Policeman
Matthew Marsh	...	Detective
Gabriel Byrne	...	The Mechanic
Jim Broadbent	...	Dr. Lagermann
Tom Wilkinson	...	Prof. Loyen
Charlotte Bradley	...	Mrs. Lagermann
Richard Harris	...	Dr. Andreas Tork
Charles Lewsen	...	Pastor (as Charles Lewson)
Robert Loggia	...	Moritz Jasperson
Emma Croft	...	Benja
Bob Peck	...	Ravn
Ann Queensberry	...	Mrs. Schou

Also Known As:

Fräulein Smillas Gespür für Schnee (Germany)
Fröken Smillas känsla för snö (Sweden)
Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne (Denmark)
Smilla's Feeling for Snow (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and a sex scene.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Denmark | Germany | Sweden

Language:

English | Inuktitut

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Denmark:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:16 | Canada:14A | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Studios, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Bavaria Film

Trivia:

Director Bille August has later admitted that the film did not turn out as well as he had hoped. He said that in hindsight there was an inherent problem ever since the script stage of transforming the qualities of Peter Høeg's novel into film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Smilla's father is showing her the X-rays of the worms in the heart, he points out "what remains of the liver, lower oesophagus...this is the heart...what's left of it". He is actually pointing to an upside-down X-ray of the upper abdomen and the "heart" is actually just bowel gas in the intestine.

Quotes:

Smilla: The way you have a sense of God, I have a sense of snow.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Skinner's Sense of Snow (#12.8)" (2000)

High Hopes Dashed By Horrible Last 40 Minutes

This is a fairly low-key for a crime story, a tale about a woman trying to find out why a young boy fell from a rooftop to his death. I had high hopes for this movie but the last 35-40 minutes were so disappointing that I'd never watch this again. That ending had so many holes to it, it was mind-boggling.

I like Julia Ormand, who plays the lead character, but she's a bit surly and rough with this character. I also enjoyed seeing scenery in Denmark and Greenland, not the normal sites for crime film movies. Few films, I imagine, have been made in Greenland with its brutal temperatures. (There is a fascinating very short featurette on Greenland that comes with the DVD.)

Perhaps worth a rental, but only with a discount coupon, meaning don't spend more than $3 to look at this. Heck, you can buy it for $5 most places, which tells you something.