User Reviews

Bille August's "Smilla's Sense of Snow" starts off with great promise. An opening sequence that's a terrific hook segues into an introduction of the character of Smilla Jasperson, played perfectly by the lovely Julia Ormond. Smilla is self-isolated, deeply unhappy, and unapproachable. Her only real friend is the young Inuit boy, Isaiah, who dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, and Smilla determines to uncover the reasons for his death. For the first two reels, this film is a terrific mystery story with good pacing, fine acting, and evocative cinematography. Characters with uncertain motives come and go as the story unfolds, most played by a fine stable of talented actors. But then in the third reel, the film collapses. I'm not talking about a slow descent into mediocrity here; I'm talking about a precipitous nosedive. Out of the blue, the story suddenly switches to an action/thriller format that is poorly written, directed, and edited. New, undeveloped characters are suddenly thrown into the mix, each a deus ex machina as the increasingly unrealistic plot requires. The film's denouement, in which the underlying mystery is revealed, is so scientifically ridiculous both in terms of biology and especially in physics that I felt thoroughly cheated. It's as if the entire enterprise were rushed to completion due to a looming shortage of time, money, and interest. What a pity. Even so, the first two thirds of the film stand up well on their own, and my rating is based on that. Rating: 7/10.

n a cold December day in Copenhagen, a young boy named Isaiah falls to his death from the roof of the block of flats where he lives. The official police view is that he slipped and fell while playing on the roof. Smilla Jaspersen, a neighbour of Isaiah and his mother, does not accept that his death was an accident. Isaiah had a fear of heights, so was unlikely to have been playing on the roof; moreover, the footprints in the snow do not support the police version. Smilla therefore decides to start her own investigation to find out what really happened.

Isaiah and his mother belonged to Denmark's Greenlandic minority, and Smilla herself grew up in Greenland, the daughter of a Danish father and Greenlandic mother. She is in her late thirties, and works as a freelance mathematician and expert on the physics of ice and snow, although she has no formal academic qualifications. She discovers, however, that Isaiah's father was an employee of a Danish mining corporation and that he died in mysterious circumstances during an expedition to Greenland organised by this corporation. She begins to suspect that Isaiah's death was also in some way linked to the company, and learns that they are organising another voyage to Gela Alta, a small island off the coast of Greenland, although she does not know what the object of this voyage is. Nevertheless, she believes that the key to the mystery lies on this remote island and joins the crew of the ship as a stewardess, just ahead of the police who resent her interference in the case and are trying to arrest her.

This was one of those films that I enjoyed more than the original novel. Peter Hoeg's book was itself in some ways reminiscent of a film. The first half, with its urban setting, its tough, gritty investigator and its suggestion of a web of corruption and wrongdoing in high places, reminded me of a Humphrey Bogart style film noir, and the second part, set on the ship as it makes its way through the Arctic ice, of one of those filmed versions of Alistair MacLean thrillers that were so popular in the sixties and seventies. I found, however, that it suffered from an over-complex plot and was too slow moving to work as a thriller. Bille August's version removes some of the complexity of the plot and moves along at a faster pace. The revelation about exactly what lies below the ice comes earlier in the film than it does in the book- possibly August realized that the book's ending, more science fiction than science fact, was one of its weak points, and wanted to get this detail out of the way to allow the closing scenes of the film to concentrate more on the battle between Smilla and the villains. The film keeps, however, the book's atmospheric sense of place- there were some wonderful shots of Copenhagen in winter and of the Arctic ice.

Julia Ormond seemed to be the cinema's Big New Thing of the mid-nineties. Her role in 'Smilla's Sense of Snow' followed starring roles in three big Hollywood films, 'Legends of the Fall', 'First Knight' and 'Sabrina'. Since then she seems to have disappeared from the radar altogether and I have often wondered what has happened to her.. Her performance in 'Smilla', however, is a good one and she makes an appealing heroine. Rather more appealing, in fact, than Hoeg's original character, who combines a strong sense of justice with a gift for rudeness and sarcasm. Of the other actors, the best was Richard Harris as the chief villain, although he was probably considerably older than the character envisaged by Hoeg.

Although it is very different in its visual style, this atmospheric thriller is perhaps the nearest that the modern cinema comes to old-fashioned film noir. Despite its weaknesses it remained watchable throughout. It confirmed my view (based on 'Pelle the Conqueror' and 'The House of the Spirits') that Bille August is a highly talented director. 7/10

This mystery picture begins on a crashing-meteor opening and concerns about Smilla(Julia Ormond), a lonely scientist resident in Copenhagen. The grumpy Smilla is an half-America and half-Inuit with many problems of adaptation and her father(Robert Loggia) is a rich financier. When she returns home discovers the body of six-years-old friend named Isaiah(Miano) nearly her apartment building. Smilla believes the kid was killed and starts investigating , it leads to the Greenland mining company that is owner the magnate Tork(Richard Harris). Meanwhile she falls in love with her suspicious neighbor(Gabriel Byrne).

The picture based on Peter Hoeg's best seller novel packs suspense,thrills,intrigue, tension and interesting character study. The story is well developed though its final fail to sustain the outcome and is a little bit crappy. Suspenseful and mysterious musical score by Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams. Exceptional secondary casting mostly formed by British actors such as Jim Broadbent,Vanessa Redgrave,Bob Peck, Tom Wilkinson, among them. Evocative and cold cinematography is consistently created by Jorgen Persson, Billie August's usual cameraman.Location photography is particularly breathtaking with impressive images like a large icebreaker ship, snowy outdoors and giant floes thawing, among others. This partially successful first attempt at the thriller and tense mystery is efficiently directed by August. Billie is the Danish's best director, an expert on intelligent dramas as ¨Pelle the conqueror¨which took the best foreign-language film Oscar , ¨Twist and shout¨,¨The best intentions¨, ¨House of spirits¨, and ¨Les Miserables¨. Rating : Well worth seeing, better than average.

A scientist who heads up a mining company in Greenland discovers a way to make money and garner power. However, in doing so he endangers others. After a child supposedly commits suicide, a woman who has doubts about the death begins an investigation in behalf of the dead boy. Her life is then threatened, but she never gives up. Eventually, she comes face to face with her enemies on a lonely ice floe far to the north. At times the story was hard to follow, and I felt it had a few holes in it. Sometimes it just didn't make sense. Still, it was worth the seeing.

A jagged and incoherent narration of an otherwise brilliant story. The movie can best be described as how children write essays, on the form... "Smilla did this. Then she found out that. Then she watched this. Then she did something. etc. etc.". Really not what one might expect from Bille August who is an otherwise excellent storyteller. Peter Hoeg is an expert author who includes plenty of pause in his novels letting you wonder yourself and fantasize as to what is going on on the sideline helped by a painstakingly accurate description of the characters. These pauses must be substituted with cuts in a movie, not leaving the audience time to ponder and thus there must be subplots to support the build-up of the characters. This is exactly what this movie is missing. It has no subplots.

The scenery is pretty and winter-twilighty. This could have helped show a Danish winter as it can be but failed and cast the movie with a depressing shade of grey.

The intro, however, was spectacular. Not so much the wave plunging through the pack ice - but the anticipating stance of the man waiting to harpoon a seal. When filmed from behind (where we could see the meteor dropping) he looked exactly like a tupilak figure. THAT was beautiful.

Smilla's Sense of Snow is a revenge tale of sorts, that stars Julia Ormond playing the female version of Dirty Harry. At one point, she is so fed up with her father's wife, she grabs the girl by the neck with one hand, and by the crotch with the other, and says, "leave me alone!" This is one tough babe, who is sexy as hell. She wants to know what happened to her 'friend' (a homely child who lives next door to her, and was killed). Where her investigation takes her is something you would see in a James Bond film.

Nice acting by everyone -- especially Ormond. The film is just so out there, and it wears thin quickly, and goes nowhere slowly. Worth seeing for Ormond's tough girl character though.

Based upon the bestseller by Peter Hoeg, "Miss Smilla's feeling for snow", it would have been hard for the movie to disappoint. The performances by all are exceptional, not least Julia Ormonds portrayal of Smilla, as icy as the landscape that involves (and evolves) the movie. The movie has an almost poetic feel, so beautifully is it paced, and the story draws you in steadily as Smilla searched for the truth behind her young friends death. There are enough surprises, twists and turns to keep most people happy, and the warmth of the two leads performances are in great contrast to the snow that provides the story. I couldn't recommend this story enough to fans of the book, or anyone who is interested in seeing a movie that is not your ordinary run of the mill hollywood movie, but one with depth, character and genuine emotion.

Superb.

'Smilla's Sense of Snow', derived from Peter Hoeg's similarly-named book (the original title was a little more arch), is nearly a great film. It's central conceit is that Smilla, it's lead character, a native Greenlander and sometime glaciologist, views the world with an icy disdain. But a young boy melts her heart and when he dies, she becomes his avenging angel. Julia Ormond is luminescent in the title role, and her intense, reserved Smilla is able to get away with lines that would seem unbearably trite if uttered by a conventionally feisty, kick-ass heroine. In fact, there are a lot of interesting faces in this film, from that of the beautiful Clipper Miano, who plays the young boy, to the distinctive visages of veteran (and now deceased) British character actors Richard Harris and Bob Peck. But despite the largely English cast (and the use of English for the dialogue), the film still feels suitably Scandanavian, Smilla may be unusually cold but she nonetheless belongs in the world as portrayed.

If the film's strengths lie in character and atmosphere, its weaknesses derive from it's basic form as a thriller. All thrillers depend on a key (and essentially implausible) step in the plot, where the hero transforms from an interested bystander to one man (or woman), fighting alone against the entire power of the system. 'Smilla's Sense of Snow' can't quite avoid a certain James Bond feel at (and after) this point, for all it's introverted seriousness; and director Bille August's understated (and unmelodramatic) style works better on the quieter scenes than the action ones. As a thriller, it's a bit too low-key; but as a character study, it's way too racy. The sheer evil of Smilla's enemies is also a bit disappointing; Smilla's severity is more striking when applied to humans with more ordinary failings. In spite of these faults, the film remains a highly distinctive movie and worth watching, though also one that can't quite deliver on its enigmatic promises.

I thought the trailer looked great and the acting talent involved really is quite impressive: Julia Ormond, Richard Harris, Tom Wilkinson, and Gabriel Byrne. Not to mention that the story looked interesting. And the cinematography is just amazing--very beautiful, very cold. So, what went wrong? Sadly, the film is crippled by the script. It's the kind of story where the protagonist knows exactly the right bits of obscure information and knows exactly the right people who can give her exactly the information she needs to unravel the mystery. Not only that, she can rappel off the side of a ship like nobody's business. In his review of this film, Ebert said it was "a triumph of style over substance." The style is definitely there, but just before it triumphs, something completely illogical is said or done that breaks the suspension of disbelief the film tries so hard to build up. As for the actors, I got the feeling that they just didn't know what to do with their characters, none of which were very well-rounded. Even Smilla, a unique female protagonist in that she is very intelligent and independent, is not given enough of a personality or a background to inspire the viewer's compassion. And anyway, it's not her intelligence that gets her to the end of the story, it's the fact that she's got more guts than any hero I've ever seen in a movie, male or female. The only truly likable and memorable character is Isaiah, if only because he's just an impossibly cute little kid. In the end, while the movie is aesthetically pleasing, not enough attention was paid to developing a plausible story, well-drawn characters, or a satisfying ending.

P.S.--I almost forgot to mention that Vanessa Redgrave does a very nice job but has to say the line "There is no Mr Lubing. I am the bride of Jesus", which just cracked me up, even though I think it was supposed to be a serious moment.

P.P.S.--The absolute highlight of the movie is a little speech Smilla gives about numbers. It's actually very unique and insightful and, fortunately, it's in the Memorable Quotes section.

I really, really, really liked this movie. Yes, I know the plot was a little twisted and the ending was very confusing and somewhat unbelievable at times, but this was a great movie. Julia Ormond's portrayal of the ice princess is absolutely fantastic. This has got to be her best role ever. With SSOS, she proves that she is not just a movie star, but that she is also a damn good actress. The supporting cast is superb. All first class actors, Vannasa Redgrave, Richard Harris, and Gabriel Byrne. I love Byrne's portrayal of the mysterious mechanic. Yes, he could have done a better job but that didn't hurt the movie. I have heard so much criticism from others regarding this film but the bottom line is, you either love it or hate it. I happen to love it. This is a great thriller/mystery/sci-fi/drama. Did I mention Gabriel Byrne, as good looking as ever? 9/10

Julia Ormond has been known to be typecast as the woman in between or the center of a love triangle as seen in films like "Legends of the Fall," "First Knight," and "Sabrina." But in "Smilla's Sense of Snow," Ormond is beautiful, tough, intelligent, and gives a powerhouse performance as Smilla a Greenland-born woman who has lived her life in self-isolation. She is bitter, angry, often times cold and detached and she avoids all human connection by pushing people away including her own her father (Robert Loggia) until she befriends a little boy named Isaiah, an Inuit who lives next door. Smilla and Isaiah bond and become close until one day Isaiah is found dead with what the police rule as an accidental suicide while playing on the roof of their apartment building. But Smilla knows better when she looks at the scene of the crime and notices that little boy's foot tracks on the snow go running straight to the edge of the building. Smilla begins to investigate the young boy's death and along the way she is acquainted with another neighbor and friend of Isaiah (Gabriel Byrne) with whom Smilla begins a relationship that she resists. I liked this movie with the exception of the "X-Files"-like ending, but this film is worth watching for Julia Ormond who should've been given an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance...flawed script, but an intriguing character played beautifully by the classically lovely Julia Ormond.

I was surprised to see that IMDb users had given this movie a 7.0. It's really pretty terrible. I gave it a 3.0, and that was being generous. It's ridiculous, opaque and all around pretty stupid. It's empty of any emotion or believability. I had no sympathy and very little interest in the characters. Every time I started to get interested or began to like someone, something ridiculous or stupid happened. I was very disappointed in this movie. What did I miss? How come everybody liked it?

...but "Smila's Sense of Snow" is essentially a murder mystery. And an interesting one for about 80 minutes, but with a running time of a full two hours, it seems a bit overlong and drawn-out. It also doesn't help that the story becomes less believable as it goes along, or that the villains turn out to be pretty weak. The one thing that always sustains your interest in the movie is Julia Ormond's unconventional character and performance; on the other hand, Gabriel Byrne is simply lifeless. (**1/2)

I read the book and was curious to see how such a convoluted but fascinating story could be translated to film. I think the screenplay cleared up a lot of the irritating parts of the original story, particularly the ending, which i found to be vague and rather unbelievable.

Julia Ormond's portrayal of Smilla Jaspersen (a very complex character) was quite extraordinary, however I was less than enthusiastic with Gabriel Byrne's performance as her neighbour.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable film!

This is not your ordinary whodunnit. Others don't have the extraordinary character of Smilla Jaspersen, a transplanted Greenlander living in Copenhagen. She seems to know everything about snow and ice--as a little girl she couldn't get lost in her native Greenland. "As you have a sense of God, I have a sense of snow," she tells a nun early on. Smilla's stoic demeanor, cool even for a Scandinavian, hides a passionate heart. When an Inuit boy she has befriended is found dead, she is fiercely determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and nothing in the world will be able to stop her. As the quest goes on Smilla goes from appearing to the viewer as simply a quirky oddball to almost a superwoman, a female James Bond.

Trouble is, the ultracool personality of Smilla, the low-keyed nature of the other main character played by Gabriel Byrne, and a host of complicated plot details combine to slow this film down at many points, but towards the end the action picks up considerably, giving us some old-fashioned thrills. This movie is not really for those who only go for the standard flash-bang type of action thriller, but those who enjoy the unusual, the offbeat, and character-driven movies may well find it worth their while.

Julia Ormond plays Smilla. This is the first film of hers I've ever seen, and the picture I have of her in my mind is inseparable from the character. It makes me wonder as it did when I saw Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate" or Andy Griffith in "No Time for Sergeants"--is this a great actress totally immersed in a character to the point where she becomes one with it, or is it an actress basically playing herself and really only capable of playing that one role? Experience has shown me that I'd better give her the benefit of a doubt! Whatever the case this is a memorable role for her, and one she can be very proud of.

This is not a movie about how Inuit hunt for seals. Smilla lives in present day Copenhagen. This movie is anything but formulaic. It is part murder mystery, part paranoid thriller with faceless villains like the Conversation, part James Bond, with a drop of science fiction, and like none of those all that much.

The victim of a possible murder is a 6 year old boy whom you gradually get to know and care for deeply via flash backs of his tragic life.

One of the themes is trust. Smilla never knows whom she can trust. We in the audience weave back and forth trying to decide who is truly trying to help her and who to kill her or at least deflect her from her quest of finding out why and how someone would harm that little boy.

The movie is a maddening puzzle with clues coming thick and fast, but nothing making much sense. All you know is some very powerful people are involved and are ruthless in keeping silence. Smilla takes huge risks to gather information she has no particular reason to believe may be relevant other than others seem to be hiding it. Like a standard mystery novel, all is finally explained.

One interesting twist is, you in the audience even begin to distrust the caustic Smilla with her one-pointed push for vengeance.

Usually in a movie with a great many characters, I often find it hard to keep from confusing them. In this movie, the characters are all distinctly drawn, partly with a rich mixture of accents, so I had no such problem.

Some of the casting choices seemed a bit off, in particular Smilla's father's new teenage wife, Benja, who was obviously much older than a teenager, which made some of Smilla's cracks about her age not ring true.

Smilla Jaspersen (Julia Ormond) is a loner living in Copenhagen who befriends a young Inuit boy from Greenland. He's unwanted and one day he falls off the roof of their apartment to his death. Nobody cares except Smilla. Only her sense of snow convinces her that he was murdered. Her investigation dives deeper and deeper into intrigue and danger.

This has great atmosphere. I absolutely love the desolate tone of the snowy north and of Smilla's life. Julia Ormond really personify the iciness of this world. It's moodiness really pushing the story into a great mystery. But it does get into unrealistic territory. It's not so much a mystery rather as an action adventure. The ending in the ice really made the whole thing too outlandish. The mood of the earlier parts are lost.

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.

I read the book before I watched the movie. Usually I am not too fond of films made after a book. This is one of the rare exceptions.

The makers succeeded well in capturing the complexity of the book's characters. Julia Ormond does remarkably well as the moody, unpredictable Smilla Jaspersen. So does Gabriel Byrne in the role of the rather secretive Mechanic. The brilliant Richard Harris is in here too, one of the many movies he probably said that it would be his last. The rest of the cast fits in well. Nice to see that they didn't try to get all big names, but rather actors who can fill a role appropriately.

Of course the movie isn't perfect, but in order to give that book full credit, they would have had to make a 4 hour film. Especially the second part, with all the events on the ship and in Greenland, is rather condensed. Those scenes could have used a bit more air to breathe, less pace.

Nevertheless I really like this movie, I have been watching it several times already. And now I think I am going to read the book again... (8/10)

I have watched this movie without having read the book, and I expected something different, more exploring of the Inuit people of Greenland and their story. All of this is only casually spoken of in the movie. It's in the story and in Smilla's words (by the way, this British Smilla isn't really believable as a half Inuit woman). At the end the movie *is* convincing. Maybe a little less culturally involved compared to what I was expecting. It's a nice European action movie with a glimpse of Greenland and her sad story.

The ending is often criticized as scarcely believable, but it's OK. I have seen worse, and so have you if you have ever seen any Hollywood action blockbuster. Julia Ormond is good even if I wouldn't believe she has Greenlandic native blood. Richard Harris is perfect as the bad guy.

This is a fairly low-key for a crime story, a tale about a woman trying to find out why a young boy fell from a rooftop to his death. I had high hopes for this movie but the last 35-40 minutes were so disappointing that I'd never watch this again. That ending had so many holes to it, it was mind-boggling.

I like Julia Ormand, who plays the lead character, but she's a bit surly and rough with this character. I also enjoyed seeing scenery in Denmark and Greenland, not the normal sites for crime film movies. Few films, I imagine, have been made in Greenland with its brutal temperatures. (There is a fascinating very short featurette on Greenland that comes with the DVD.)

Perhaps worth a rental, but only with a discount coupon, meaning don't spend more than $3 to look at this. Heck, you can buy it for $5 most places, which tells you something.