A very strange drama, the film has a few interesting questions about responsibility and Ian Holm and Sarah Polley do superb work with intriguing characters, however it is not a film that is likely to satisfy every taste. The ideas and performances are all undermined by the narrative structure - it juggles three (or more) different story lines, with different time periods each, all at once, which achieves no effect other than to make it harder to follow. The film also fails to resolve everything by the end. It finishes in a too open-ended manner in which it is hard to know what to feel at all, and some aspects (such as the mental condition of the protagonist) are never sufficiently explained. The film has quite a glowing reputation, and it certainly has the markings of a great film - wonderful camera movement, appropriately bleak setting, stellar cast, etc.. It is just a bit too awkward to be a film that could satisfy all tastes. Sure, it is worth checking out, but I would advise carefully before recommending it.
Review of The Sweet Hereafter
