Miss Smillas feeling for Snow (Peter Hoeg)

[max]

translated from the Danish orignal and made (very well) into a movie with Julia Ormonde and Peter Capaldi.
It explores themes of social exclusion and statelessness with some wierd sex thrown in (i'm not sure the thing on page 108 is physically possible); its a book i've come back to at least three times now, finding it rewarding each time.
Recommended, but watch the movie after reading the book.

[elmsyrup]

Yes, the film is quite watchable, but what a terrible simplification of the title- Smilla's Sense Of Snow. It's like Belleville Rendezvous being alternately named as The Triplets Of Belleville. I refuse to believe Americans can't understand the word 'rendezvous'. But there was that thing with The Madness Of King George...

[klee]

. . . is utterly ace. I *heart* Smilla more than words -she's feisty.

I though the film was bitterly disappointing, but then I wasn't expecting it to be that good. The mechanic was nowhere near big enough, Tork shouldn't have had a beard, the list goes on.

His other books are rubbish, though. Anyone who's ever thought of reading A History of Danish Dreams don't bother.

[mikemk]

elmsyrup said:

Yes, the film is quite watchable, but what a terrible simplification of the title- Smilla's Sense Of Snow. It's like Belleville Rendezvous being alternately named as The Triplets Of Belleville. I refuse to believe Americans can't understand the word 'rendezvous'. But there was that thing with The Madness Of King George...

The joke of course being that Americans would wonder if they had missed the first two films if they had called it The Madness of George III. Actually I think the real reason was because to Americans, there is only one King George, the one from whom they won independence. So it's not so much stupidity as a self-centred view of history.

[max]

klee said:

. . . is utterly ace. I *heart* Smilla more than words -she's feisty.

yeah, i would *grin* she doesnt do the wierd thing on page 108 in it, probably for good reason.

I though the film was bitterly disappointing, but then I wasn't expecting it to be that good. The mechanic was nowhere near big enough, Tork shouldn't have had a beard, the list goes on.

well, i didnt mind that too much. He was a gentle giant sort and i dont think the beard made too much difference. I forget who the actor was but he made a good job of it in my book.
They went to the trouble of putting the rope marks round his wrist from when he saved Peter Capaaldi and then barely explained them, even though that was a good part of the book.
They needed someone much more wimpy and effecte for Capaldis role too, he was too swash buckling in the movie.

His other books are rubbish, though. Anyone who's ever thought of reading A History of Danish Dreams don't bother.

thanks for the warning.

the film is on my "must watch again" list

[zaffra]

I enjoyed the book (which I had read first) but I thought the film was rubbish.

It often is a problem when you've already read something first, but I just found the film wrong in so many ways.

[klee]

Fundamentally, I thought Julia Ormond didn't look like Smilla. She seemed a bit - well - ordinary.

Fiona Allen, of Smack the Pony and Mike Baldwin shagging fame would have been my wish-casting.

[Leah]

max said:

It explores themes of social exclusion and statelessness with some wierd sex thrown in (i'm not sure the thing on page 108 is physically possible);

I started to read that, but I thought the main character was too lonely it made me depressed, but after reading the above, I wish I had stuck with it!

[Gary Gillatt]

klee said:

. . . is utterly ace. I *heart* Smilla more than words -she's feisty.

I though the film was bitterly disappointing, but then I wasn't expecting it to be that good. The mechanic was nowhere near big enough, Tork shouldn't have had a beard, the list goes on.

I have to agree. The book is a wonder, though I recall being slightly unsettled by the twist into science fiction toward the end.

For another example of Beautiful Book About Lonely People Lost In A Frozen Land Made Into A Very Average Film, I respectfully tender The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx - a wonderful read, but a painfully unworthy two hours in a cinema.

G
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