Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Bille August

Writers (WGA):

Peter Høeg (novel)
Ann Biderman (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 February 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Snow covers everything...except the truth

Plot:

Based on Peter Hoeg's bestseller, this film is set in snowy Copenhagen where a small boy is found dead after he fell off a roof...

Plot Keywords:

Roof | Greenland | Young Boy | Snow | Conspiracy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ona Fletcher	...	Inuit Hunter
Julia Ormond	...	Smilla Jasperson
Agga Olsen	...	Juliane Christiansen
Patrick Field	...	Policeman
Matthew Marsh	...	Detective
Gabriel Byrne	...	The Mechanic
Jim Broadbent	...	Dr. Lagermann
Tom Wilkinson	...	Prof. Loyen
Charlotte Bradley	...	Mrs. Lagermann
Richard Harris	...	Dr. Andreas Tork
Charles Lewsen	...	Pastor (as Charles Lewson)
Robert Loggia	...	Moritz Jasperson
Emma Croft	...	Benja
Bob Peck	...	Ravn
Ann Queensberry	...	Mrs. Schou
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Elsa Lübing
David Hayman	...	Telling
Ida Julie Andersen	...	Smilla as a child
Maliinannguaq Markussen-Molgard	...	Smilla's mother (as Maliinannguaq Markussen-Mølgård)
Alvin Ing	...	Licht
Peter Capaldi	...	Birgo Lander
Mario Adorf	...	Capt. Sigmund Lukas
Jürgen Vogel	...	Nils Jakkelsen
Erik Holmey	...	Hansen
Peter Gantzler	...	Maurice
Lars Brygmann	...	Verlaine
Clipper Miano	...	Isaiah Christiansen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lars Bjarke	...	Gangster (uncredited)

Directed by
Bille August

Writing credits (WGA)
Peter Høeg		(novel "Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne")
Ann Biderman		(screenplay)

Produced by
Bernd Eichinger	....	producer
Thomas Heinesen	....	line producer
Rosanne Korenberg	....	associate producer
Martin Moszkowicz	....	producer

Original Music by
Harry Gregson-Williams
Hans Zimmer

Cinematography by
Jörgen Persson

Film Editing by
Janus Billeskov Jansen

Casting by
Tove Berg Bramsen
Leo Davis		(as Leonora Davis)
Risa Kes

Production Design by
Anna Asp

Set Decoration by
Ivar Baungaard

Costume Design by
Marit Allen
Barbara Baum

Makeup Department
Gerlinde Kunz	....	makeup artist
Horst Stadlinger	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Elizabeth Wang-Lee	....	post-production supervisor: Los Angeles
Stefan Zürcher	....	production manager: second unit

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Terry Madden	....	first assistant director: second unit
Jürgen Strasser	....	assistant director: Germany
Guy Travers	....	assistant director

Art Department
Simon Bang	....	storyboard artist
Anders Engelbrecht	....	construction coordinator
Peter Grant	....	property master
Annelie Wemstad	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
André Bendocchi-Alves	....	sound designer
Friedrich M. Dosch	....	sound designer
Stephan Fandrych	....	dubbing mixer
Stephan Fandrych	....	sound mixer
Claudia Fröhlich	....	foley editor
Jo Fürst	....	foley artist
Michael Kranz	....	sound re-recording mixer
Nick Lowe	....	dialogue editor
Claus Lynge	....	sound assistant
Chris Munro	....	sound
Hubertus Rath	....	adr recordist
Andreas Schneider	....	foley artist
Bjorn Ole Schroeder	....	dialogue editor
Ian Silvester	....	technical engineer

Special Effects by
David Brighton	....	special effects senior technician
Dave Eltham	....	special effects (as David Eltham)
Brenda Hutchinson	....	special effects
Peter Hutchinson	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Nastuh Abootalebi	....	digital artist
Cosmas Paul Bolger Jr.	....	visual effects
Manfred Büttner	....	visual effects production manager
John Cornejo	....	digital compositor: Cinesite
Charles Darby	....	digital matte artist
Eric Grenaudier	....	digital compositor: Digital FilmWorks
Nicole Herr	....	digital compositor: Cinesite
Martin Hobbs	....	digital effects coordinator: Cinesite
Tim Ketzer	....	computer graphics animator
Gokhan Kisacikoglu	....	digital effects artist
Brad Kuehn	....	visual effects supervisor
Vincent Lavares	....	tape operator: Cinesite Hollywood
Jim Livolsi	....	visual effects producer
Bob Lyss	....	lead compositor
Marcel Martinez	....	digital compositor
Craig Mathieson	....	digital compositor
Peter W. Moyer	....	digital compositor: Digital FilmWorks
Cristin Pescosolido	....	digital compositor
Sue Rowe	....	senior compositor: Cinesite
Courtney Vanderslice	....	head of production: Cinesite
Niki Wakefield	....	digital compositor: Cinesite
Clare Norman	....	lineup & editorial: Cinesite (uncredited)
Andrew Paquette	....	digital artist (uncredited)
Charles Tait	....	data operator (uncredited)
Eric Withee	....	digital film technician: RGA/LA (uncredited)

Stunts
Paul Weston	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Niels Dose	....	electrician
Bernie Grill	....	gaffer
Gary Hutchings	....	camera grip
Rolf Konow	....	still photographer
Thomas Neivelt	....	best boy
Mogens Otte	....	electrician
Jan Pallesen	....	clapper loader
Søren Sørensen	....	gaffer
Sebastian David Tingkær	....	electrician
Jan Weincke	....	director of photography: third unit
Tim Wooster	....	camera operator: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Tim Aslam	....	assistant costume designer
Françoise Nicolet	....	costume: second unit
Marco Scotti	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Mogens H. Christiansen	....	off-line editor
Nicolaj Monberg	....	first assistant editor
Rikke Selin	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Geoff Foster	....	score recordist
Bruce Fowler	....	orchestrator
Nick Glennie-Smith	....	composer: additional music
Steve Jablonsky	....	composer: additional music
Georg Naschke	....	music consultant (as George Naschke)
Adam Milo Smalley	....	music editor
Steven L. Smith	....	music preparation
Hans Zimmer	....	composer: additional music
Gregg Silk	....	assistant score engineer (uncredited)

Other crew
Kasper Barfoed	....	location assistant
Christian E. Christiansen	....	runner
Marianne Jul Hansen	....	production coordinator (as Marianne Hansen)
Eva Juel	....	personal assistant to actor
Nanna Mailand-Hansen	....	production assistant
Dieter Meyer	....	production executive
Mouns Overgaard	....	location manager (as Mogens Overgaard)
Louise Birk Petersen	....	production assistant
Lars Valentin	....	location scout

Production Companies

• Bavaria Film
• Constantin Film Produktion
• Det Danske Filminstitut
• Greenland Film Production
• Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond
• Smilla Film A-S

Distributors

• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1997) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (1997) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1997) (UK) (theatrical)
• Constantin Film (1997) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Filmes Lusomundo (1997) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (1997) (USA) (theatrical)
• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Distribution (1997) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• TriPictures (1997) (Spain) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1997) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Aquarius TV (2005) (Greece) (TV)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2002) (UK) (TV) (BBC2)
• Net5 (2006) (Netherlands) (TV)
• PolyGram Video (199?) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• SF Video (1997) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (199?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• VCL Communications (199?) (Germany) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Cinesite (Hollywood)
• Cinesite
• Das Werk

Other Companies

• Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA)  funding

Also Known As:

Fräulein Smillas Gespür für Schnee (Germany)
Fröken Smillas känsla för snö (Sweden)
Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne (Denmark)
Smilla's Feeling for Snow (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and a sex scene.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Denmark | Germany | Sweden

Language:

English | Inuktitut

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Denmark:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:16 | Canada:14A | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Studios, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Bavaria Film

Trivia:

Director Bille August has later admitted that the film did not turn out as well as he had hoped. He said that in hindsight there was an inherent problem ever since the script stage of transforming the qualities of Peter Høeg's novel into film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Capt. Lukas is first seen in the casino, he has black hair (head, eyebrows, mustache) with just a little gray in the temples. The next day on this ship, all of his hair is gray.

Quotes:

[On the subject of love]
Smilla: I've been trying to avoid it all my life, so now it's here I just want to renounce it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Skinner's Sense of Snow (#12.8)" (2000)

Julia Ormond shows American "tough" women they're not in her league

I know what you're thinking, "Not another movie about people from Greenland, Indians, murder, meteors, and prehistoric worms!" Yes, it's the same old formula we've all seen a hundred times, but Smilla makes it fresh as snow. This is an odd film, constantly ducking and weaving so the viewer is off balance. Also, watching it feels extremely foreign, even though it's in English! There's a lot going on and in the end, the whole isn't quite up to the sum of the parts, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. Julia Ormond is criminally beautiful, yet manages to be as tough as a fall on ice. Acting throughout is first rate (even for famous international players who only have a few lines). So you fans of Scandinavian mysteries concerning deaf children and new energy sources, see it! And what a great title