Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)

Based on Peter Hoeg's bestseller, this film is set in snowy Copenhagen where a small boy is found dead after he fell off a roof. Smilla Jasperson, a close friend who lives in the same house... See full summary »

Director:

Bille August

Writers:

Peter Høeg (novel), Ann Biderman (screenplay)

Stars:

Julia Ormond, Ona Fletcher, Agga Olsen

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ona Fletcher	...	Inuit Hunter
Julia Ormond	...	Smilla Jaspersen
Agga Olsen	...	Juliane Christiansen
Patrick Field	...	Policeman
Matthew Marsh	...	Detective
Gabriel Byrne	...	The Mechanic
Jim Broadbent	...	Dr. Lagermann
Tom Wilkinson	...	Prof. Loyen
Charlotte Bradley	...	Mrs. Lagermann
Richard Harris	...	Dr. Andreas Tork
Charles Lewsen	...	Pastor (as Charles Lewson)
Robert Loggia	...	Moritz Jaspersen
Emma Croft	...	Benja
Bob Peck	...	Ravn
Ann Queensberry	...	Mrs. Schou

Storyline

Based on Peter Hoeg's bestseller, this film is set in snowy Copenhagen where a small boy is found dead after he fell off a roof. Smilla Jasperson, a close friend who lives in the same house begins to suspect murder because she knows that the boy was afraid of heights and would not have played on the roof. As she begins to investigate, she is pulled deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that could very well mean her death.

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Plot Keywords:

snow | female protagonist | character name in title | boy | roof | 

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Taglines:

Snow covers everything...except the truth

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violence and a sex scene

Details

Country:

Denmark Germany Sweden

Language:

English Inuktitut

Release Date:

28 February 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Smilla's Sense of Snow

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Studios, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$107,108, 2 March 1997, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,221,994, 27 April 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Film,Constantin Film,Det Danske Filminstitut

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sir Richard Harris played King Arthur in Camelot (1967), and Julia Ormond played Guinevere in First Knight (1995).

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Goofs

When Smilla's father shows her the X-rays of the worms in the heart, he points out what remains of the liver and lower esophagus, then says "This is the heart, what's left of it". He's actually pointing to an upside-down X-ray of the upper abdomen. The "heart" is actually bowel gas in the intestine.

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Quotes

Elsa Lubing: The Devil assumes many forms.
Smilla: It's one of those forms that I'm looking for.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Skinner's Sense of Snow (2000)

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Soundtracks

Quis est homo
(from Stabat Mater)
Written by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
performed by Kammerorchester 'Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach'
conducted by Hartmut Haenchen

User Reviews

Starts out at ***, ends up at 1/2*.

A strong beginning segues clumsily into a dark and confusing middle.

• Plot devices spring up out of thin air, with little rhyme or reason. EG, the powerful daddy, the buddy with nautical connections, ad nauseam.

• For most of the film, the lead actors seem to swallow the majority of their lines, which are anyway spoken so low as to be unintelligible. If I hadn't had closed captioning, I wouldn't have understood half the dialogue. Is this a thing with "artsy-house" films?

• Does Gabriel Byrne have narcolepsy here, or does he simply wish he were in a more intelligent movie?

Too bad, if it had kept up with the strong beginning, this could have been an excellent film. What a waste of talents like Robert Loggia and Bob Peck.

Summary: better than any sleeping pill.