re:mote voices

Title:Smilla’s Sense of Snow
Cast: Julia Ormond, Gabriel Byrne, Jim Broadbent, Tom Wilkinson, Richard Harris, Robert Loggia, Emma Croft, Bob Peck, Peter Capaldi
Director: Bille August

Smilla’s Sense Of Snow is adapted from the Danish best seller of the same name written by Peter Høeg, starring Julia Ormond in the titular role. Smilla was born in the Danish territory of Greenland, but when her mother died her father moved her back to Denmark and she now lives in Copenhagen. Even as a child Smilla had an affinity for snow, which she has made her life as she has grown up into an ice expert.

Smilla has befriended the son of a neighbour. The neighbour is a hard drinking widow, who has little time for her young son. So, despite her reluctance, Smilla looks out for the boy. However, one day when she comes home from work she finds the boy dead in the snow outside the block of flats they live in. It seems that the boy was on the roof and fell off. As far as the police it was a tragic accident, but Smilla thinks differently – the boy was afraid of heights and would never have played on the roof. Also looking at the boy’s footprints in the snow they head straight for the edge, and being an expert she can tell from the prints what kind of motion was involved in their formation. Regardless of how much she makes of this being a murder though, she finds that no one wants to listen, she is shut down, she starts to become threatened.

Smilla’s Sense Of Snow is a thriller, with Smilla piecing together the clues that point to a corporate conspiracy and cover up. Who can she trust? Who is in on it? All the classic questions for a growing plot. Smilla as depicted in this adaptation by Ormond is an interesting character, she is harsh, brusque, not someone who goes around making friends. Which of course doesn’t help her as these events escalate, but also makes the whole friendship with the boy in the first place a more curious thing. Ormond also puts in the effort to put on an accent, whether it is authentically Danish, I couldn’t say, but it adds to the performance as much as the feel of the city, providing the whole idea of this not being your regular thriller.