The Discovery of Heaven (2001)

God is disappointed with the human race and wants his stone tablets back. An angel is given the assignment and, with Gabriëls help, tries to manipulate several humans on earth to get his ... See full summary »

Director:

Jeroen Krabbé

Writers:

Harry Mulisch (novel), Edwin de Vries

Stars:

Maureen Lipman, Will Bowden, Jeroen Krabbé

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maureen Lipman	...	Figure 1
Will Bowden	...	Angel (as Viv Weatherall)
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Gabriel (as Jeroen Krabbe)
Stephen Fry	...	Onno
Gillian Barge	...	Onno's mother
Nettie Blanken	...	Coba
Victoria Carling	...	Margareth Quist
Lois de Jong	...	Granddaughter Quist (as Loïs de Jong)
John Franklyn-Robbins	...	Onno's father (as John Franklyn Robbins)
Geraldine Alexander	...	Trees Quist
Nicholas Palliser	...	Diederik Quist
Greg Wise	...	Max
Emma Fielding	...	Helga
Sean Harris	...	Bart Bork
Molly Hallam	...	Red Haired Protestor

Storyline

God is disappointed with the human race and wants his stone tablets back. An angel is given the assignment and, with Gabriëls help, tries to manipulate several humans on earth to get his job done. But humans have a will of their own...

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Plot Keywords:

angel | faith | friendship | cellist | heaven | 

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Taglines:

Coincidence doesn't exist, everything happens for a reason.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

UK Netherlands

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 2001 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

A törvény terhe

Filming Locations:

's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Budget:

NLG 20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Meespierson Film CV, Mulholland Pictures BV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

150 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After all the auditions for 16-year-old Quinten were done without much success, Jeroen Krabbé stared out of the window and Neil Newbon happened to pass by. "That's what Quinten should look like" he mumbled, not yet knowing the guy was an actor.

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Quotes

Max: I've discovered you, you bastards!

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Connections

Featured in Brows Held High: The Discovery of Heaven (2012)

User Reviews

A moderate attempt to adapt the sublime book by H. Mulisch

Of course, the book was too good to make it into a movie. Nevertheless, the film is entertaining for non-readers and is above all, it's an equivocal enterprise. Acting is not very convincing (ada is terrible played, and humiliating is the acting of Krabbé himself, why does he always want to be "in the picture"?). The book is 900 pages and you can't fit that in two hours. The magical atmosphere, the unreal aura, and the creative style are not recognizable in the film. For example; the interventions from God and his angels are ridiculous as you see the film, where in the book, it's strange, magical and structuring. Another example; the friendship between Onno and Max is heavenly in the book, fragmentary in the film. For me, it was a 6/10; if you want a 10/10 go and read the book. But i know, it's "time-consuming" as they say, and time still seems to be money, bullsh*t of course! Time is life, time is the discovery of a heavenly book...