Sophie's World (1999)
"Sofies verden" (original title)

Sofie is an ordinary Norwegian girl. One day she recieves a video tape on which a certain Alberto Knox talks directly to her from ancient Greece. They then start to meet at different ... See full summary »

Director:

Erik Gustavson

Writers:

Jostein Gaarder (novel), Petter Skavlan

Stars:

Silje Storstein, Tomas von Brömssen, Andrine Sæther

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Silje Storstein	...	Sofie Amundsen / Hilde Møller Knag
Tomas von Brömssen	...	Alberto Knox
Andrine Sæther	...	Sofie's mother
Bjørn Floberg	...	Major Albert Knag
Hans Alfredson	...	Socrates (as Hasse Alfredson)
Nils Vogt	...	Lærer Jacobsen
Minken Fosheim	...	Hildes mor
Edda Trandum Grjotheim	...	Jorunn
Arne Haakonaasen Dahl	...	Georg / Mischa / Giovanni (as Arne Haakenaasen Dahl)
Sullivan Lloyd Nordrum	...	Jørgen
Kjersti Holmen	...	Fru Johnsen
Ingar Helge Gimle	...	Herr Johnsen
Giorgos Floros	...	Meletos (as Giorgios Floros)
Sven Henriksen	...	Platon
Mark Tandy	...	William Shakespeare

Storyline

Sofie is an ordinary Norwegian girl. One day she recieves a video tape on which a certain Alberto Knox talks directly to her from ancient Greece. They then start to meet at different occasions and throughout the film, Alberto takes Sofie on an odyssey of the history of philosophy, from ancient Greece, over the Roman empire, the Middle ages, the renaissance, the enlightenment, the big revolutions and up to today. Throughout this journey, they start to realise that they are only fictions of a story writer's imagination and start conceiving a plan for escaping into reality.

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Plot Keywords:

philosophy | plato | robin hood | hamlet | teen | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | History

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Details

Country:

Norway Sweden

Language:

Norwegian German Swedish

Release Date:

6 August 1999 (Norway)

Also Known As:

El mundo de Sofía

Filming Locations:

Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Box Office

Budget:

NOK 70,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$16,875 (Denmark) (19 November 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Audiovisuellt Produksjonsfond, Danmarks Radio (DR), Filmkameratene A/S

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Upon it's release in 1999 it was the most expensive film to date in Norway.

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Connections

References The X-Files (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Internationale"
Written by Pierre Degeyter (as P. Degeiter) and Eugène Pottier (as E. Pote)
Moscow Choir and Radio Ensemble

User Reviews

Read the book instead

A while ago, I started reading a Dutch translation of Sophie's World. While I got only as far as its treatment of Kant and Hume, I was amazed by its capacity to provide a chronological overview of Western philosophy in a way that's accessible for teenagers and adults with a limited philosophical background.

Combining a mystery story with the history of philosophy and using clever examples to illustrate new philosophical insights, the book really managed to stimulate one's curiosity for what came next while at the same time offering some very interesting information.

As I started reading other books and spending my time on other activities, I stopped reading the book in spite of my curiosity. Owning a copy of the movie version, I figured I could just as well finish the story by watching the movie.

Boy oh boy, was that a mistake. The movie just didn't capture either the atmosphere or the intent of the book. The actors were poorly casted and the plot was shopped up and rehashed so amateurishly it left only very little of the philosophical depth of the book.

The movie was confusing, superficial and downright insulting to one of the greatest introductory works to the world of philosophy ever written. I found no redeeming qualities in this movie and highly recommend everyone to skip it and just read the book instead.

It is a cliché that movies based on books tend to be not nearly as good as the book. This movie doesn't just confirm that cliché. It's a caricature of that cliché.