Reviews

Various reviews available on the Internet:

Review of the movie by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, from March 2, 1997 broadcast

(graciously transcribed by Maria Garcia)

Two Thumbs Up for Smilla's Sense of Snow, an off-beat drama about a woman with a chip on her shoulder and a mystery buried in ice. Julia Ormond stars and does a great job!

Ebert: Smilla is a woman from Greenland, now living in Denmark, who tries to figure out why a small boy apparently ran straight off the roof of her building. Smilla is played by Julia Ormond and her mysterious neighbor is played by Gabriel Byrne. The police figure it was all just an accident, but Smilla doesn't believe them and goes to question the doctor who performed the autopsy on the dead boy. She finds out from a retired secretary, played by Vanessa Redgrave, that the boy's death may be linked to his father's death in a mysterious Greenland mining accident. Later, she is stunned to see her neighbor, who she trusted, meeting with the head of the mining company, played by Richard Harris. Then she smuggles herself on a ship to Greenland to get to the bottom of this mystery which obsesses her.

Ebert: Smilla's Sense of Snow is a complete triumph of style over substance. The plot is totally absurd and I didn't care that it was! The first two-thirds of the movie are completely successful. Julia Ormond does a brilliant job of playing this cold, intellectual, determined, stubborn, loner of a woman and the movie creates a cold, moody, frightening winter atmosphere in Copenhagen. Then the ending of the film turns completely weird and what's hiding under the ice in Greenland can only be described as wildly inappropriate to the rest of the story, but by then it doesn't matter! The acting, the cinematography, and the style are so good that nothing can sabotage this film, not even some of the goofiest plotting of the year.

Siskel: I had the same reaction. I was so thrilled...thrilled to see Julia Ormond play this character and have the character written. We sit here week after week saying "Why can't they write characters who are smart?" This is a smart person. This is a person that's angry and isn't going to back off, and it's not presented too much as a head case. But when I saw her, I thought, "What's wrong with her? There's nothing wrong with her!" She is outraged and she just isn't going to back off and I liked the way she played it! I would follow her in any story and I do, in a wild one! That's what happens!

Ebert: It's a great performance, it's great writing, it's great direction, and cinematography and then the ending...I cannot, I will not give away the ending except to say that it belongs in a 1960 Roger Corman science fiction movie.

From the New York Times, February 28, 1997

Intrigue Amid Lonely Vistas of Snow By Janet Maslin

Smilla's Sense of Snow has a heroine whose mother was killed by a walrus, one small sign of the chilly exoticism that made Peter Høeg's mystery novel such a huge, unlikely popular success. Høeg's tale of Arctic intrigue moved from urbane Copenhagen to remote regions of Greenland with scientific concentration and with a snappish main character who enjoyed quoting Euclid and philosophizing about snow.

This story has now been gracefully adapted by Bille August into a sleek, good-looking film that captures the book's peculiar fascination. Readers of Høeg's best seller will find this a faithful film that mirrors the novel's strengths - a tough, interesting main character and a strong sense of place - while also sharing its plot problems. Smilla's Sense of Snow begins grippingly, then devolves into ever less credible derring-do as the action turns Smilla from a self-styled detective into an adventurer. The story finally leaves credibility behind as it sails off to the frozen north.

The film has an elegant Smilla in Julia Ormond, whose remoteness works better here than it has in other roles. Ms. Ormond plays Smilla in the chic, alert, unsmiling fashion of a French film star, and she richly rewards the camera's many beautiful close-ups of Smilla cogitating on crime. The actress brings considerable glamor to this stony heroine, the confused child of an American doctor (played by Robert Loggia) and an Eskimo hunter. It is Smilla's bitterness about her unusual background, with a childhood in Greenland followed by an abrupt change to Danish city life, that makes her so tenacious in investigating the death of an Eskimo boy.

As the neighbor of little Isaiah and someone who naturally understands footprints in the snow, Smilla never believes that this child accidentally fell off a roof. (Incidentally, one unsung genius behind the popularity of this thriller is the person who decided that its British title, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow could use some alliterative improvement.) She begins inquiring into the circumstances of his death even as she stumbles onto a conspiracy elaborate enough to recall John le Carre. There are so many plot complications that it seems the viewer has been to Greenland and back by the time Smilla unravels this mystery. It involves corrupt big business, a 19th-century Arctic explosion (seen in a prologue) and prehistoric worms, among many other features.

August, the director whose films include The Best Intentions and Pelle the Conqueror does a fine job of conveying such details in quick, economic fashion. But with a plot that grows increasingly far-fetched, his Smilla's Sense of Snow has as much to do with glossy good looks as with real information. The film's Smilla changes costumes with a frequency that rivals Evita's, and she suggests a stevedore envisioned by Helmut Newton by the time she stows away on a boat. The film's final confrontation is remarkable not only for spectacular glimpses of Greenland's lonely white scenery and for an actor gutsy enough to play a scene in freezing water but also for conspicuous product plugs on the characters' parkas.

Smilla's Sense of Snow, written by Ann Biderman with the same tart intelligence she gave Copycat and Primal Fear, features both interior settings and cool, clean outdoor scenes of Copenhagen and points north. (The cinematographer is Jorgen Persson, known for Elvira Madigan as well as several films by August.) The supporting cast also makes a colorful impression, though this is largely a one-woman show. As a peculiar, stammering neighbor of Smilla's known as the Mechanic, Gabriel Byrne looks notably less lively than his crisp co-star but does add mystery. Love scenes with him and Ms. Ormond seem more frozen than they're meant to.

Loggia brings the film dynamic energy, even if he's somewhat miscast as Smilla's suave father. Richard Harris plays a captain of industry with suitable ambiguity. And Vanessa Redgrave makes another scene-stealing appearance as a corporate accountant with a conscience. Her performance is brief, but it's good enough to melt snow.

From Rolling Stone Magazine, March 20, 1997

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Travers

Smart thrillers are such an endangered species - pale imitations such as Shadow Conspiracy are what we get instead - that it would be churlish to dismiss this mesmerizing mystery just because the plot fades in the homestretch. Based on the best-selling novel by Danish author Peter Høeg, Smilla's Sense of Snow hooks you with insinuating power from the first scene.

Smilla Jasperson (Julia Ormond), the scientist daughter of an American father and a Greenlandic-Inuit mother, returns to her apartment in Copenhagen, Denmark, to find that Isaiah (Clipper Miamo), a 6-year-old Inuit boy who lives in her building, has fallen from the roof to his death. At least that's what the police say. Smilla disagrees. Isaiah has always been terrified of heights, and there is something amiss about the boy's prints in the snow on the roof. Smilla knows her snow. On the roof, she realizes at a glance that these are the tracks of a boy being chased, not a boy at play. Her investigation leads her to a corporate conspiracy involving Tørk (Richard Harris), a tycoon; Elsa (Vanessa Redgrave), a former employee of Tork's; and a mechanic (Gabriel Byrne), a shady, flirtatious figure who lives in Smilla's building.

The movie, directed by Høeg's fellow Dane Bille August (Pelle the Congueror) and adapted by Ann Biderman (Primal Fear), baffles us with convoluted clues, but with this cast, who's complaining? Ormond radiates a cool intelligence that works with the chill she gives off even in such romantic films as Legends of the Fall and First Knight, where a chill is inappropriate. Trained on the British stage, Ormond was all wrong for the lead in Sabrina, a role that required a movie star, namely Audrey Hepburn, who exuded sexy warmth in the 1954 screen version. Ormond isn't a movie star; she's an actress - and here, a damn fine one.

At odds with the big-city clutter and noise of Copenhagen, Smilla takes comfort in the clarity of numbers. When she first encounters Isaiah, she calls the boy a "little shit," tells him he stinks and grudgingly reads to him - Euclid, not Aesop. Ormond and Miano work beautifully together, establishing a growing bond that leads to something as close as Smilla has ever come to love.

August and cinematographer Jorgen Persson achieve wonders when Smilla sets sail on an Arctic ship for her childhood home in Greenland, where the puzzle pieces are linked. If the solution is a disappointment, Greenland - making its debut in a feature film - is not. In the island's icy caves, the movie comes close to capturing the beauty and pain that drive Smilla so lyrically and dangerously in the novel. What intrigues us is the conflict raging in Smilla's head. Flawed film; fascinating character.

Julia's Sense of Smilla by Lincoln Mongillo

Today I finally got to go to my local theatre to see the masterpiece, Smilla's Sense of Snow. At 12:30 I parked the car and got to the theatre, to look for the perfect seat for what was to become the long-awaited best mystery (not thriller) film of 1997. At 1:20 the show started, and for the next 2 hours and 5 minutes I was in the ice cold world of Smilla Jaspersen.

By now you all know the film's plot so I won't go into that. In most of the reviews I have read I've been told that there are two feels for the film, the City and the Sea (where have I seen that before!). The first part, the City, has been reviewed as great. I will then second this notion and say it is just wonderful for a film. One reviewer on Usenet said that "there were too many fadeouts" and that "why do they insist on the boy being deaf?". Because he said that, I was looking for them to be a big deal, but they were used as a great tool in the start. As for Isaiah being deaf, that had two huge reasons for being made clear! Check the end again! "1) to illustrate the marginalization of Greenlanders in Denmark...the mother is a drunk (a huge problem among the indigenous peoples)/the boy is not well taken care of...he has suffered 3 major ear infections and is now deaf but the doctor told his mother that he was 'just fine'! 2) to prove that Tørk is lying when he explains what happened to the boy on the roof." (Mari, thanks) Because it is in the end, I won't give it away, just for those who didn't read the book.

Speaking of the book, my God!, it was just like the book! There were so many parts where I was reading the lines myself (I've read the book 3 times). Check out the part where Smilla discusses what 3 things make her happy. It is the exact clone of the book, IMO. The only thing different is that the book has more chance to develop ideas and thoughts. That is it (in terms of big things)! Smilla is defined right from the get go that she is who she is. Miss Ormond is undeniably perfect in every part of this film. She took this story by the crotch much the same way she grabbed Benya's. In other words, she was Smilla 110% for every second of the film. Check out the way Julia looks at people in the coldest of ways. She does more for the film with her eyes then anything I've ever seen in anyone's eyes before.

The movie just flowed so beautifully, which caused me to be sucked into the film with ease. Oh, BTW, this film really has some nice comedic lines!! Where lots of people laughed! I really didn't plan on crackin' up at this film, but there I was... Ann Biderman did a great job making the change from paper to film. The second portion of the film was just as good as the first!! I would guess every review has said one bad thing about this film. Well I'm about to change that.

The book was constructed into 3 parts: City, Sea, and Ice. The Sea portion was more looked into in the book. I think a relationship with Lukas and Smilla would make the ending more sensible, but no matter because it worked. (ie What is the motivation for Lukas to do what he did at the end of the film, in the book we know) Overall I thought this part of the movie was lacking in development. But the time this film really needed wasn't gonna happen (check out Hamlet). And I'm guessing that a ton of stuff got on the cutting room floor, if you will. So for us "connected people" (hi Mari & Matt,etc) this will prove to be a bummer, but I highly doubt that shall make a difference. Ce La Vie for this portion, but it moves the story forward in a postive light, and I think that that's just what Høeg and August both had in mind.

The Ice was great! Anyone who says "the scientific" part would be just a far out thing, you are really underestimating the world we live in, the scientist who can now clone sheep and God knows what else, and the universe as a whole. I thought the end was well constructed and it added a bit more closure than the book. As for the cinematography, bar none that was great. That should win an award easy. It was as if I was really taken to another part of the world. Truly great! They changed a few things, I believe just for time's sake, but nothing big. If you liked the book I think the film will make you quite proud to be a fan of Smilla. I know that I am more then proud. 3 cheers to everyone who worked on this film!

After the end, the crowd of about 100 people (around 200 seats total and at 1:20 on a friday!) sat quietly until the final credit, which was a nice change from everyone just bolting out. I really liked the atmosphere of the theatre. When I sat down I looked back to see a women about 35-40, smiling at me kinda wide-eyed and then she raised her book up to me. I just laughed. Nice to be among people like you. =) One thing about this movie that I thought off as I walked out. It's not a thriller. It's a mystery of Smilla the woman (character study), the death of a boy (murder mystery), and a lover and love (between Smilla and Isaiah/Smilla and The Mechanic/Smilla and her father, her lost mother and her motherland)! That's It>! The action is only there to serve the mystery behind it all. If you thought it was a thriller, see it again, I think you'll be suprised. With all the positives, and there are a lot, it is effortless to come to the conclusion that this film is a total artistic success. And now at least a box office success! Just wait till it opens everywhere! With the greatest of acting and actors, a great story, and wonderful pictures, and and a sense of mystery, Smilla has become the best mystery film of 1997.

Smilla's Sense of Snow by James Berardinelli

Rating (0 to 10): 7.0
Alternative Scale: *** out of ****

Smilla's Sense of Snow (say it three times fast and sound like an asp) opens with a breathtaking image: great cliffs of gray-blue ice towering over a vast plain of white. Once the opening credits have concluded, we suddenly find ourselves adrift in a special effects- enhanced prologue set in 1859 Greenland. And, while this sequence seems completely disconnected with the movie that follows, it is a visually pleasing way to introduce a contemporary mystery that incorporates murder, greed, and science fiction into an often uneven, occasionally preposterous, but always engrossing whole.

Based on the novel by Peter Høeg, Smilla's Sense of Snow is truly an international production. The cast is comprised primarily of British and American screen luminaries; the director, Bille August, is a Dane; and the film's funding comes from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the United States. Although the action transpires entirely in Copenhagen and Greenland, the dialogue is exclusively in English, with nary a subtitle to be found.

Julia Ormond (Sabrina) plays Smilla Jaspersen, a half-Inuit mathematician who currently resides in Denmark. One day, upon returning to her apartment, she discovers that Isaiah (Clipper Miano), the child who lives on the floor below her, has fallen to his death. The authorities say the fall from the roof was an accident, but, citing certain irregularities about the incident, Smilla claims it was murder. Another resident of the building (Gabriel Byrne) agrees with her. When the local police stonewall her, Smilla begins investigating on her own, and, the deeper she gets, the more dangerous the situation becomes. Her inquiries lead directly to the powerful and wealthy Dr. Tørk (Richard Harris), the head of Greenland Mining, who is behind a cover-up that includes, among other things, a host of prehistoric worms (I am not making this up).

As thrillers go, Smilla's Sense of Snow is definitely unconventional. The locations are atypical, the protagonist is a woman who doesn't run into the arms of a man at the first sign of trouble, and there aren't any car chases. The storyline is reasonably complex (not to mention a little silly) and features enough small surprises and twists to retain the average viewer's attention. And, the fact that it's a "why-dunnit" or "how-dunnit," rather than a "who-dunnit," allows us to focus on more interesting issues than identifying possible red herrings. As crisply directed by Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror), Smilla's Sense of Snow moves rapidly - almost too rapidly. The plot clicks along so briskly that numerous character details get lost in the rush.

Smilla, as forcefully portrayed by Ormond, is a fascinating character, but many of the more interesting aspects of her personality are relegated to the background. She's sullen, lonely, and angry, and, while a brief flashback or two attempt to explain why she is the way she is, they only hint at the reasons for her deep-rooted bitterness. In fact, there were times when I actually became annoyed at the film for pursuing the plot with single-minded determination rather than taking a few moments to delve more deeply into the main character. Smilla is presented with enough detail to tantalize, but not enough to satisfy. In the end, we're left wishing the movie had spent a little more time filling in a few more blanks.

Aside from Ormond, whose turn as Smilla is both effective and attention-grabbing, and Richard Harris, who brings a world-weary cynicism to his part, the acting is surprisingly lackluster. Vanessa Redgrave is unremarkable in a cameo as a retired secretary with a key to secrets, and Robert Loggia, as Smilla's father, is a little too restrained (the actor always seems at his best when chewing on scenery). Most disappointing of all, however, is Gabriel Byrne, who seems ill- suited for his role as Smilla's sidekick. He's supposed to be enigmatic, but the actor's one-note performance makes him lifeless.

The film's climax will probably seem preposterous for anyone expecting Smilla's Sense of Snow to stay grounded in reality. If nothing else, the opening sequence should prepare you to accept that boundaries not normally crossed in murder mysteries will be broken. Smilla's Sense of Snow is not a landmark thriller, nor is it likely to appeal to those who demand a semblance of reality. But it is involving and entertaining, and features an intriguing, independent heroine. Those things alone make it worth a trip to a nearby theater.

Rebuttal to Common Complaints by Maria Garcia

Supported by quotes from the novel Smilla's Sense of Snow.

**One Usenet poster said to me that she found Julia too young to play Smilla.

p. 99 Smilla Qaavigaaq Jaspersen. Born June 16, 1956
p.107 I'm thirty-seven years old. (Book copyright is 1993)

{Julia was 31 when she made the movie - a six year difference, which is not much difference at all. I am sure Julia will not look much older than she does now in another 6 years!}

**Then there is the issue of Julia being too elegant for the role

p.10 Some people might say that I'm vain...At any rate, my clothes are what makes him listen to me now. The cashmere sweater, the fur hat, the gloves. He certainly would like to send me downstairs. But he can see that I look like an elegant lady. And he doesn't meet very many elegant ladies on the rooftops of Copenhagen."
p.13 I came home on a bus with that special pressure-cooker atmosphere, wearing a new dress of white linen, cut low in the back, trimmed with Valencia ruffles that took a long time to steam-press so they'd stand up properly...
p.31 I'm wearing a sealskin coat over a jumpsuit of embroidered wool with a zipper. Seen from a distance, we are a father and daughter with a plethora of wealth and vitality. On closer examination, we are simply a banal tragedy spread over two generations.
p.78 I'm wearing a pair of high boots, a red turtleneck sweater, a sealskin coast from Groenlandia, and a skirt from Scottish Corner. I've learned that it's always easier to explain things if you're nicely dressed.
p.95 {Peter, The Mechanic} There's a look of mischief in his eyes. "Smilla. Why is it that such an elegant and petite girl like you has such a rough voice?"
"I'm sorry," I say, "if I give you the impression that it's only my mouth that's rough. I do my best to be rough all over."
p.311 My life as a whole might seem rather messy. But my clothes are always neat.
p.274 Now I look like an hourglass five feet two inches tall.
{Smilla is very short and in this, Julia is different}

**On the subject of Smilla being a Terminator-type ball of destruction

p.87 The misconception that violence always favors the physically strong has spread to a large segment of the population. It's not correct. The results of a fight are a matter of speed in the first few yards...There was one boy in particular, from one of the older classes, who was really quite brutal. I found out where he lived. Then I got up early and waited for him where he crossed Skovshoved Road. He was thirty pounds heavier than I was. He didn't have a chance. He never got the couple of minutes that he needed to work himself into a trance. I hit him right in the face and broke his nose.
p.175 Swimmers of the English Channel were in good shape. They could last a long time. I'm in very poor shape. I remember that someone has tried to kill me. And that they're now standing somewhere and congratulating themselves. We got her. Smilla. The fake Greenlander. That thought carries me over the last stretch...
p.382 I refuse to have novocaine. I've developed a strategy for handling pain....The only other thing I have left is my ability to distance myself. This is happening to me; the pain is mine, but it doesn't completely absorb me. Part of me remains a spectator.
{Mind over matter, not brawn}
p.328 I'm sure that I'm going to die. But I push the thought aside. I refuse to accept this humiliation...
p.371 I'm no hero. I had affection for a child. I would have put my tenacity at the disposal of anyone who wanted to understand his death. But there wasn't anyone. No one but me.
p.264 I'm not afraid of the sea simply because it wants to strangle me. I'm afraid of it because it will rob me of my orientation. The inner gyroscope of my life, my awareness of what is up and down, my connection to Absolute Space.

{As we can see, she is tiny and 'out of shape', has her doubts and fears, and yet is tenacious and unyielding because of her loyalty to the dead child - Julia's work in Legends/ First Knight/ Captives/ Young Catherine/ Stalin should prove that she is perfect in portraying doubt and fear and yet tenaciously forging ahead because she has to; because it is the right thing to do.}

**Then there are those who say that Julia does not look Inuit so how can she play the part of Smilla

p.14 There aren't many Danes who can tell by looking at me. They think there's a trace of something Asian, especially when I put a shadow under my cheekbones.
{So, she does not physically look like an Inuit...she takes after her Danish father}

**For those people who say that she does not resemble the edgy loner in the book

p.20 I've never claimed that I was perfect. Confronted with people who have power, and who enjoy using it, I turn into a different person, a baser and meaner one. But I don't show it. I sit down on the very edge of the chair, and I place my dark gloves and the hat with the dark veil on the very edge of the mahogany surface. Facing Professor Loyen, like so many times before, there is a black-clad, grieving, inquiring, uncertain woman.
p.21 I sit there in total silence. It's always interesting to leave Europeans in silence. For them it's a vacuum in which the tension grows and converges toward the intolerable.
{I ask, what on earth is an "edgy loner" supposed to look like? Perhaps the critic of the above review thinks that "edgy loners" are supposed to look somewhat crazed, unwashed, unkempt, with perpetual scowls? Perhaps he has a hard time believing that someone as attractive as Julia could possibly ever be an "edgy loner" and therefore, if she plays the role of Smilla, her "in real life" attributes spill over onto Smilla and invalidate her "edgy loneliness"? As if physically attractive women are not allowed by some universal law to be edgy or lonely? A damaged soul is a damaged soul regardless of the body it inhabits. Smilla presents an elegant, refined, and educated picture of herself when dealing with the public at large. So people must be labeling her as petite, well-dressed, quiet - this is the first impression she projects. But when crossed, she is tenacious, does not give in to her fears, can be brutal, and is virtually unstoppable. Julia is PERFECT for the role.}

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