Heaven (2002)

A woman takes the law into her own hands after police ignore her pleas to arrest the man responsible for her husband's death, and finds herself not only under arrest for murder but falling in love with an officer.

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writers:

Krzysztof Kieslowski (trilogy "Heaven, Hell and Purgatory"), Krzysztof Piesiewicz (trilogy "Heaven, Hell and Purgatory")

Stars:

Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Remo Girone

6 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cate Blanchett	...	Philippa
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Filippo
Remo Girone	...	Filippo's Father
Stefania Rocca	...	Regina
Alessandro Sperduti	...	Ariel
Mattia Sbragia	...	Major Pini
Stefano Santospago	...	Mr. Vendice
Alberto Di Stasio	...	The Prosecutor
Giovanni Vettorazzo	...	The Inspector
Gianfranco Barra	...	The Lieutenant
Vincent Riotta	...	Chief Guard
Mauro Marino	...	Doctor
Stefania Orsola Garello	...	Vendice's Secretary
Fausto Lombardi	...	Father High Rise
Giorgia Coppa	...	Older Daughter

Storyline

Love, retribution and redemption. Devastated by her husband's death from a drug overdose, Philippa, a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, tries to bring justice to the biggest drug dealer in Turin when the local police ignore her information about him. In building a home-made bomb and setting off a plan that fails miserably, her status changes from young widow to that of a criminal in custody. Young police officer Filipo descends into Philippa's life, changing her bleak outlook on existence into one in search of tranquility among corruption, as they become unlikely soul mates and lovers.

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Plot Keywords:

love | death | bomb | police | justice | 

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Taglines:

When you take justice into your own hands, what are the consequences?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a scene of sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States]

Country:

UK France Italy Germany USA

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

21 February 2002 (Germany)

Also Known As:

En el cielo

Filming Locations:

Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£78,207 (United Kingdom), 11 August 2002, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$51,909, 6 October 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$774,317, 8 December 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, X-Filme Creative Pool, Mirage Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first of a planned trilogy Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz wrote before Kieslowski's death: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.

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Goofs

Crewmembers are briefly reflected in the front of a train as we see the main characters walk away from the train. Specifically, look for a man in a red tee-shirt.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Helicopter Pilot: [in Italian supervising simulation] Follow the terrain. Good. Keep it perpendicular to the ridge. That's it. Under real conditions you might have to compensate for the wind here. Now, maintain you height. Watch your height, careful.
[climbing higher simulator switches off]
Helicopter Pilot: In a real helicopter you can't just keep flying higher.
Filippo: How high can I fly?

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Connections

References The Gift (2000)

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Soundtracks

Spiegel im Spiegel
Composed by Arvo Pärt
Performed by Vladimir Spivakov (violin), Sergej Bezrodny (piano)
Produced by Manfred Eicher
ECM New Series
Courtesy of Universal Edition, Vienna

User Reviews

Simply Not Good...

Ok, this is my second movie of this director after Lola Renn. First when you watch the DVD cover you see two superb actors as Giovanni Ribisi and Cate Blanchett (Both also in The Gift, that is a Raimi's excellent thriller) and also watch that is from Tykwer (specifically says "From the same director as Lola Renn"), you'll think that you are just ahead to watch an excellent movie. The start of the movie show some action but 10 minutes later the story starts to slow down and to became into a fictional story that try to make you think that Phillipo is an Angel who born the same day and hour than Phillipa and that his destiny is to help (and also fall in love!) Phillipa to escape from the law because she killed 4 innocent people when she was trying to set a bomb to kill the drug dealer who supplied the drug to her exhusband who died for an overdoze (besides that she was unfaithful in her marriage)!!!!!!!! can you imagine what a stupid and inmoral screenplay?... Things get worse when Phillipo help to Blanchett role to kill the drug dealer!... (very nice Guardian Angel!)

The last part is even worst, the scene where they escape in a helicopter from the police and dissapear in "Heaven", what a symbolic end! lol.

I enjoyed Lola Renn and the Color Trilogy, and i don't have anything bad to say about Blanchett or Ribisi, they have decent performs and the photography and locations are also good, but this story is not good at all!...