SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW
[Spoilers]
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Providing all of the elements of a mystery is not the same thing as actually crafting one. And taking a famous book and bringing it to the screen does not guarantee that the film will be successful.
Director Bille August, whose 1993 adaptation of Isabel Allende's "La Casa de los Espiritus" (THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS) was widely derided, turns his attention this time to Peter Hoeg's highly regarded novel "Froken Smillas Fornemmelse for Sne" (SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW.) I have not read the book but am told that, although complex, it is not as obtuse as Ann Biderman's screenplay for the movie. This film is as cold as the landscape and rarely engages the audience. So slow moving, you begin to wonder if the snow's effect on the actors is to blame.
As preposterous and ponderous as the story can be, it has great atmosphere and one excellent performance. I have always thought of Julia Ormond, who was delightful in SABRINA, as being an actress with a limited repertoire. She has played lovely heroines, but not tough ones. Here she shows her acting dexterity. Her starring role as Smilla Jaspersen demonstrates she has a much wider acting range than I had imagined.
Ormond's Smilla is a tough and cynical loner. An unemployed mathematician, she has been kicked out of four schools. Smilla has supposedly bonded with a six-year-old Inuit boy named Isaiah (Clipper Miano), who lives in her apartment building in Copenhagen. The lack of any credible chemistry between them makes an already unbelievable show even more so.
One day Smilla comes home to find the boy dead in the snow. He either fell from the roof while playing as the police claim or was forced off by someone who did not leave his footprints in the snow. Like last year's SHADOW CONSPIRACY, the story will begin to hint at some massive conspiracy and cover-up. The boy's alcoholic mother tells Smilla that his father died in a mysterious accident in Greenland while working for Greenland Mining.
Gabriel Byrne plays his canonical cryptic character. This time his character is known only as The Mechanic. The Mechanic lives in the same building as Smilla and may or may be helping her.
Providing easily the worst acting in the picture, Richard Harris oozes in with a cliche-ridden performance as Tork Hviid, the head of the infamous Greenland Mining. Vanessa Redgrave has a nice bit part as Elsa Lubing. Elsa, who seems to have just discovered religion, used to work for Tork. Smilla tries to enlist her aid in solving the murder puzzle. Smilla, having detected something in the snow after the boy died, explains to Elsa, "The way you have a sense of God, I have a sense of snow."
Other than Ormond's performance and Joergen Persson's magnificent cinematography of Greenland, the only reason to see the show is the mystery so I will reveal little. Suffice it to say that it involves prehistoric worms.
On a small note, after our family spent a wonderful time in Copenhagen last summer, I was disappointed to see such a gorgeous and colorful city made so gray and depressing. Although I understand the film wanted to do this to contrast it with the beauty and freshness of Greenland, I found it sad nevertheless. Perhaps a better film would have made me more forgiving.
SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW runs too long at 2:00. It is rated R for language, some violence and a sex scene. It is a mild R and the film would be fine for any teenager. Although there are parts to admire, there is not enough for me to be able to recommend it. I give this cold tale **.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: March 14, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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