Cold Heaven (1991)

An adulterous woman's faith in God is tested when her husband dies and miraculously comes back to life.

Director:

Nicolas Roeg

Writers:

Brian Moore (novel), Allan Scott (screenplay)

Stars:

Theresa Russell, Mark Harmon, James Russo

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Theresa Russell	...	Marie Davenport
Mark Harmon	...	Alex Davenport
James Russo	...	Daniel Corvin
Will Patton	...	Father Niles
Richard Bradford	...	Monsignor Cassidy
Julie Carmen	...	Anna Corvin
Talia Shire	...	Sister Martha
Diana Douglas	...	Mother St. Agnes
Seymour Cassel	...	Tom Farrelly
Castulo Guerra	...	Dr. DeMencos
Daniel Ades	...	Dr. Mendes (as Daniel Addes)
Jim Ishida	...	Dr. Tanaki
Jeanette Miller	...	Sister Katarina
Martha Milliken	...	Sister Anna
Margarita Cordova	...	Registrar

Storyline

A woman is planning to leave her husband for another man when hubby has a nasty accident. She keeps getting flashbacks of something compelling that had happened to her a year before, which builds to a supernatural encounter.

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Plot Keywords:

accidental death | motel | bare chested male | male rear nudity | boat | 

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Taglines:

A journey beyond this life.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sensuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 May 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Desejo Selvagem

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Box Office

Gross USA:

$17,163, 31 December 1992

Company Credits

Production Co:

Management Company Entertainment Group (MCEG), Sterling Entertainment Company, Hemdale

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of seven films that actress Theresa Russell has made with director Nicolas Roeg. The films include Eureka (1983), Track 29 (1988), Cold Heaven (1991), Hotel Paradise (1995), Bad Timing (1980), Insignificance (1985) and the "Un ballo in maschera" segment of Aria (1987).

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Batman Returns/Cold Heaven/Housesitter/Cousin Bobby/The Hairdresser's Husband (1992)

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Soundtracks

Mariachi Acapulco
Music by Phillipe Roy (as P. Roy)
Courtesy of Southern Library of Recorded Music

User Reviews

another Roeg/Russell head-scratcher

That the release of this film by director Nicolas Roeg and starring his wife Theresa Russell was delayed for 2 years says a lot about its perceived commercial prospects. The Roeg/Russell partnership's previous titles - Bad Timing, Eureka, Insignificance, and Track 29 - were a good warning, where Russell has been better served by other directors, and Roeg's interest in fractured narrative has left audiences in a quandary.

The material here is based on a novel by Brian Moore, which is an exploration of Catholic faith, but the screenplay by Allan Scott makes this seem ludicrous eg The Virgin Mary is seen by a convent, asking for the "building of a sanctuary", and the idea of a dead man coming back to life being a "demonic possession" is dismissed by a priest since "Life and death belong to God, but everything else is ours to decide". We can tell Roeg isn't really interested in providing an explanation to poor Russell, whose Los Angeles pathologist husband Mark Harmon, is supposedly killed in a boating accident during a holiday in Mexico (the book had the holiday in France), when the conclusion is weightless. Much is made of Russell as an unfaithful wife and how it is often the disbelievers that are visited by God, but when we are told of the real meaning of The Virgin Mary's message, it is laughably trite.

Roeg uses Moore's plot as a supernatural excuse to present his editing flourishes, with cross-cutting between sleeping Russell, her married lover James Russo, and Harmon in the morgue; Russell and Russo having sex cut against Russo and his wife Julie Carmen fighting; and Roeg's big one, Russell on a Carmel clifftop as The Virgin Mary makes an apocalyptic appearance whilst Russell rolls around in the dirt. The boating accident scene is pleasingly underscored with the music of Stanley Myers, though we get water on the camera, interiors are generally underlit with matching muffled dialogue and Russell's whispered thoughts on the soundtrack, Harmon wears pancake makeup and spits blood, and there is a subjective camera shot with a white veiling. However on the plus side is a scene where Russell is surrounded by butterflies, her Del A Dey-Jones hats, her willingness to appear overweight in a bikini, and the remarkably unmannered performance of Russo. An indication of Roeg's touch is when Russell tells a priest of her vision of The Virgin Mary, where Roeg undermines Russell's acting by cut-aways to the priest and long shots away from her as she paces.