Smilla's Sense of Snow |  | Director: Bille August
Actors: Ona Fletcher, Julia Ormond, Agga Olsen, Patrick Field, Matthew Marsh
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
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Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 13018
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 121 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: FOXD2001221D
UPC: 024543012214
EAN: 0002454301221
ASIN: B000056BSI
Theatrical Release Date: February 28, 1997
Release Date: May 21, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
When a small boy leaps to his death from the snow-covered roof of a Copenhagen apartment building, his friend Smilla, a Greenlander who can "read" snow, knows it was no accident. For one thing, Isaiah was horribly afraid of heights, and his small footprints tell her he was fleeing from something, or someone, even more terrifying.ts tell her he was fleeing from something, or someone, even more terrifying.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: ORMAND/BYRNE/HARRISS
Title: SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW
Street Release Date: 02/21/2006
Domestic
Genre: MYSTERY / SUSPENSE
Amazon.com
Based on a much-praised 1992 bestseller by Peter Hoeg, Smilla's Sense of Snow is a film of moody power and boundless mystery in its first half, but it becomes an overblown, conspiracy-laden schlock thriller in its second. Julia Ormond stars as the half-Inuit, Greenland native of Hoeg's book, a loner who is supported by an emotionally ambivalent father (Robert Loggia) in Copenhagen. Apparently perceived as a troublemaker who sees secret plots everywhere, Smilla finds herself largely alone in an effort to discover what really happened to a six-year-old Inuit boy who fell (or jumped) off the roof of her apartment building. Somewhat aided by an ambiguous neighbor (Gabriel Byrne), Smilla investigates a connection between the child's death and the misdeeds of a mining company, a story hook that conveniently ratchets up the action but quickly dissipates the more compelling, introspective intrigue of the film's beginning. Ormond is fascinating, somehow more beautiful than usual through her emphasis of her character's destabilizing conflicts (isolation and a possibly unhinged intelligence). But she isn't done any favors by an unreliable script or by the usually superb Danish director Bille August's chronic problems working in English-language films (including his disastrous The House of the Spirits). The DVD edition of this film includes an original theatrical trailer and a short feature on the making of the production. --Tom Keogh
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 69
 Fantastic, haunting movie with great performances March 24, 2009
Anonymous (Illinois USA)
This movie is fantastic, and Julia Ormond in it is excellent. The symbolism and plot are pretty tricky to grasp at times, and I'd say the movie stays with you over time, and if you see it again, you see it with new eyes, catching different nuances.
between Mystery and Sci Fi March 7, 2009
R. Bagula (Lakeside, Ca United States)
I thought the acting and filming were extraordinary in this film.
The death of a young boy in mysterious circumstances leads to a story of an ancient meteorite, a prehistoric worm and corporate greed.
The result is a strange love story where the stuttering Gabriel Byrne is never what he seems and the strong female character is the toughest
woman lead I've seen in a long time.
I really liked this film and the character Smilla.
 Certainly offbeat, but quite flat September 26, 2008
Bradley F. Smith (Miami Beach, FL)
Thriller about some nonsense involving a meteor and Greenland Eskimos. The female lead has one speed: flat. Absolutely no heat between her and her alleged costar boyfriend. The little boy has a good part, but barely speaks. The plot is silliness. I was tired of Julia Ormond's non-stop anger about 20 minutes into this two hour film. Why didnt she just move back to Greenland if she was so angry about being taken from it? Good riddance! Watch if you have nothing else to do.
Smilla's Sense of Snow February 19, 2008
Clive Beilby
I came across this movie on late night television by accident and when I saw who was in it I set my VCR to record. I was pleased I did. I now have the DVD. It was the second movie I saw Gabriel Byrne in and I am now a confirmed supporter. Julia Ormond is a treasure and after seeing her with Harrison Ford in Sabrina she can do no wrong. The small boy in this movie should have received a carton of oscars for his effort. Greenland scenery is superb
 The Smilla Cliff Notes January 25, 2008
K. Boullosa
Let me state immediately that while I liked this film, it does not remotely begin to convey the multi-layered density of Peter Hoeg's long, complex novel. This film should be more aptly titled, "Bille August's Cliff Notes of Peter Hoeg's Novel, Smilla's Sense of Snow". Because that, basically, is what this movie is: a sketch of major events from the book, and not even all of them.
Of course, it must be said that bringing all the plots, subplots, twists, turns, and subtleties of Hoeg's novel to the screen in one film was probably impossible. Thus, August, I suppose, is to be congratulated for even trying to convey some sense of the book's primary themes about identity, power, and responsibility.
Fortunately, the film works quite well on its own terms, so if you haven't read Hoeg's novel, this film functions more than respectably in the suspense genre, and features a finely focused performance by Julia Ormond as the protagonist, Smilla Jaspersen. Ms. Ormond is really very good, and it is a pity she spent even ten minutes in Hollywood trying to become a Real Movie Star in silly movies like Sidney Pollack's disastrous remake of "Sabrina", "Guinevere", and, to a slightly lesser extent, "Legends of the Fall". The role of Smilla shows more of her range, talent, and emotional commitment than all three of those films wrapped up together.
Smilla is a half-Greenlandic/half-Danish scientist/mathemetician who has never been able to reconcile her two cultural heritages. Her Danish father, smoothly played by Robert Loggia, is also a scientist, and brought a young Smilla back to Denmark after her Inuit mother died in the Arctic waters off Greenland. And, as Smilla's mother was the love of her father's life, Dr. Jasperson's rage and grief at her loss left little care and love within him for the strong-willed little daughter who was also devastated by the loss. Smilla, who spent her entire childhood in Greenland among her mother's people, has never really adjusted to life in Copenhagen or to a European lifestyle. She misses Greenland's vast snowy expanses and suffers from the horror of small spaces that often afflicts those brought up in Greenland. As the film opens, Smilla is a sad, prickly, conflicted woman in her late thirties, difficult to approach and contemptuous of all systems save mathematics. She specializes in the science of snow, and translates all human experience through the language of mathematics.
The only human being who seems to have pierced her armor, and only after considerable effort, is a little boy who lives in her apartment building. Isaiah is also Inuit, and often takes refuge with Smilla when his widowed mother embarks on one of her long drinking binges. One day, Smilla comes home from work to find Isaiah dead in front of the apartment house, having ostensibly fallen off the roof while playing alone there. One look at his footsteps on the snowy roof convinces Smilla that Isaiah's death was no accident, and she sets out to find out what really happened to him.
As she does so, she uncovers a series of betrayals and multiple levels of corruption at the highest levels of government and scientific research. Her dogged pursuit of Isaiah's murderers puts a cynical and corrupt band of ruthless men on her trail, and places her in considerable danger.
The movie is stylishly produced and well-acted, with plenty of suspense as the destinies of the protagonists cross. Gabriel Byrne as another of Smilla's neighbors who is not quite what he seems; Richard Harris, Tom Wilkinson, and Bob Peck as the villainous conspirators; and a brief but sharply drawn cameo by Vanessa Redgrave as a conscience-stricken company official, all contribute to the high standard of performance in the film.
But the movie is anchored by Ormond's Smilla, whose journey to avenge Isaiah and illuminate the truth about his fate becomes part of her search for the answer to the question of who she is. There are some fine moments in the film, and a beautiful, haunting score. No, it's not Hoeg's novel, but one would probably need three movies for that. This one, however, is still well worth watching.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 69
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