The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Atom Egoyan

Writers:

Russell Banks (novel)
Atom Egoyan (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

There is no such thing as the simple truth.

Plot:

This film documents the effects of a tragic bus accident on the population of a small town.

Plot Keywords:

Bus | Children | Lawyer | Community | School

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Ian Holm	...	Mitchell Stevens
Caerthan Banks	...	Zoe Stevens
Sarah Polley	...	Nicole Burnell
Tom McCamus	...	Sam Burnell
Gabrielle Rose	...	Dolores Discolt
Alberta Watson	...	Risa
Maury Chaykin	...	Wendell
Stephanie Morgenstern	...	Allison
Kirsten Kieferle	...	Stewardess
Arsinée Khanjian	...	Wanda
Earl Pastko	...	Hartley
Simon Baker	...	Bear
David Hemblen	...	Abbott
Bruce Greenwood	...	Billy
Sarah Rosen Fruitman	...	Jessica

Also Known As:

De beaux lendemains (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and some language.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Africa:13LS | New Zealand:M | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:16 | Canada:14A | Chile:18 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Merritt, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Alliance Communications Corporation

Trivia:

Caerthan Banks is the daughter of Russell Banks, who wrote the novel (also titled "The Sweet Hereafter") that the film is based on.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Stephens visits the Ottos, and Mr. Otto offers him some tea, we hear a teakettle whistling but the one we see on the cooker is not the whistling type.

Quotes:

Mason: Nicole, did the Pied Piper take the children away because he was mad that the town didn't pay him?
Nicole: That's right.
Mason: Well, if he knew magic, if he could get the kids into the mountain, why couldn't he use his magic pipe to make the people pay him for getting rid of the rats?
Nicole: Because... he wanted them to be punished.
Mason: So he was mean?
Nicole: No, not mean, just... very angry.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Ararat' (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

One More Colour

Tragic and beautiful masterpiece

The Sweet Hereafter is as tragic, sad and matter-of-fact as movies get, but it's still so very beautiful that it becomes a film that's virtually impossible to forget.

The story makes no secret of the fact what terrible tragedy will happen, right from the outset. A lesser filmmaker than Atom Egoyan would've jumped at the chance to shock the audience with the freak accident that robs the town of Sam Dent of nearly all their children, by telling the story in a linear fashion. Not Egoyan. The story is fragmented, thus enhancing the true point: This is not about the overwhelming power of loss, it is about the overwhelming power of survivor's guilt (nicely represented in Browning's poem The Pied Piper Of Hamelin, which is referred to in the movie). It's all about people who grieve not only for the ones they've lost, but also for themselves, how empty their lives have become because of their tragedies. In focussing on that point, the film refrains from manipulative sentiment (which so many others don't), and presents true and unintrusive emotion, that, in the end, despite all the terror, shines a light of hope, for the sweet hereafter is not only the peaceful afterlife, it's also the peaceful future, the continuation of life...

The performances speak for themselves. Ian Holm and Sarah Polley shine in particular, through nicely subdued and subtle acting. Polley also excels as a fantastic singer-songwriter. The songs in the movie were written and performed all by herself.

Egoyan's direction is simply masterful in its beauty, elegance and evocation.

One of the best films of the 1990s.

10 out of 10.