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The Discovery of Heaven (2001)

6.7
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Ratings: 6.7/10 from 3,047 users  
Reviews: 38 user | 16 critic

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 »

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Title: The Discovery of Heaven (2001)

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3 wins & 2 nominations. See more awards »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Figure 1
...
Angel (as Viv Weatherall)
...
Gabriel (as Jeroen Krabbe)
...
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
...
Max
Emma Fielding ...
Helga
...
Bart Bork
...
Red Haired Protestor
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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... Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

angel | faith | friendship | cellist | heaven | See more »

Taglines:

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

Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

|

Language:

Release Date:

25 October 2001 (Netherlands)  »

Also Known As:

A törvény terhe  »

Box Office

Budget:

NLG 20,000,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The wedding scene of Onno and Ada is recorded at same place that director Jeroen Krabbé had his wedding in 1964. Onno is even wearing the exact same tie that Jeroen Krabbé wore at his wedding. See more »

Quotes

Max: I've discovered you, you bastards!
See more »

Connections

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

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User Reviews

 
An excellent movie for dutch standards.
4 November 2001 | by (rotterdam) – See all my reviews

The discovery of heaven is a must see movie. The makers have achieved a full transcription of Mulisch' novel into a movie. The storylines in the book are complex and can easily be distorted but this has not happened.

With the casting of Stephen Fry as Onno they couldn't have made a better choice. In the movie, Onno has the chance to develop his rebellious and witty character. Greg Wise as Max did not have this chance (for some reason his part in the story as a brilliant scientist has been greatly underexposed) and maybe that's why his performance was not nearly as good as Onno's.

It seems that the makers have focussed on creating, in a technical sense, a perfect movie without missing anything. But, by doing so, some parts of the story have been exaggerated and some details, though crucial for the story, have been neglected. For instance the scene where Max, in a drunken mood, discovers heaven is made into a slapstick scene. A second example is the, in my opinion, weak moment where Onno finds out that Quinten is not his son. Scenes like these take time to build up in order for the magic to come out and overwhelm the viewer.

Probably this is due to the fact that the book is too complicated to tell in 2 hours. Had the makers accepted this impossibility and simplified some parts of the story, then maybe the thrill towards the end of the movie that makes the unlogic actions of Quinten in Jerusalem logic, would reappear.

Reading these comments I have to say that turning Mulish' novel into a film is very hard. The book is considered as one of the best recent dutch books. All eyes will be focussed on the movie and it's makers because nobody wants their national heritage to be spoiled. In this light my comment has to be seen.

After all, an excellent movie, unseen in this genre in Holland. I want to thank Krabbe and the filmfund for this movie.


1 of 1 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

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