The Sweet Hereafter (New Line Platinum Series)

Starring:Ian Holm, Caerthan Banks, Sarah Polley, Tom McCamus, Gabrielle Rose, Alberta Watson, Maury Chaykin, Stephanie Morgenstern, Kirsten Kieferle, ArsinÃ©e Khanjian, Earl Pastko, Simon Baker (III), David Hemblen, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Rosen Fruitman, Marc Donato, Devon Finn, Fides Krucker, Magdalena Sokoloski, James D. Watts
Director: Atom Egoyan
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

In synopsis The Sweet Hereafter may sound like a devastatingly unpleasant downer, but don't be discouraged. The real subjects of this luminous picture (adapted by director Atom Egoyan from Russell Banks's novel) are hope and renewal--avoiding the cheap emotions suggested by those clichéd terms. Like other Egoyan films (Exotica, for one), it's an intriguing sort of mystery, a puzzle in which the big picture is not revealed until the very last piece is in place. A metropolitan attorney (Ian Holm) travels to a small British Columbian town where 14 children have been killed in a school bus accident to prepare a class-action suit. With sensitivity and empathy, he approaches relatives with promises that the suit will give focus and closure to their grief. And as he investigates the circumstances of the accident, he not only uncovers a few local secrets, but dredges up some painful pieces of his own past. Slowly, deeper mysteries are revealed--eternal mysteries at the very heart of human nature: Who is to blame for a tragedy like this? And why do people feel such a need to assign blame? Is that how they give meaning to otherwise inconceivable events? How does one reassemble a shattered life? The Sweet Hereafter is too honest to offer bromides, but it shows how a few people struggle, as best they can, to answer these questions for themselves. DVD extras include audio commentary by Egoyan and Banks, a Charlie Rose interview with Egoyan, and a panel discussion with the filmmakers. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

The Nasty Now-and-Now : What children quietly and painfully know about their families.......2007-06-26

The simple fairy tale THE PIED PIPER OF HAMLIN becomes the connective tissue of this very engrossing screenplay about the supposed idyllic lives of a rural community in snow-covered Canada. The children have disappeared to The Sweet Hereafter from a school bus accident.Why? How? What could have possibly caused this to happen? As The Pied Piper lead his townschildren away from the harm of the adults, so too these children in rustic Canada have gone on to peace. This is the story of THE SWEET HEREAFTER.

Lawyer Mitchell Stephens (Ian Holm) comes to this close-knit (almost closed) town to investigate the accident and to offer the promise of financial retribution to the parents of the dead children. What follows is a very slow and methodical look at the secrets that are hidden within the lives of the people. On the outside, everything looks picture perfect; but as this film unfolds we discover, in a very poignant way, the really dark undercurrents that lie beneath the surface of the townspeople who "always act as a community." One teenage girl,Nicole (Sarah Polley who just triumphed in her 2006 directorial debut in AWAY FROM HER)is the sole remaining child alive, and she knows the town's secrets. She has a painful one of her own.Does she expose all of those secrets or does she remain mute or lie? As Lawyer Stephens probes into the accident, the dark and deep wounds of his own relationship with his drug-addicted daughter are painfully and gradually brought to the surface.

This film has so much to say about children-what they see, hear,observe and know.It grants intellect and wisdom to the characters of children who, though innocents, supposedly, are capable of perceiving adult action and feeling the deep effects of it. The children are the real subjects of this film, and yet they have so little screen time, apart from Nicole, who is the "left-behind" lame child who speaks (or may not speak) for all of those who are injured by adult actions. This film is so sly and subtle that to miss one glance or one picture on the wall or one passing remark reduces the entire impact of what this film has to say.Adults have agendas...and children know it!!!!This film is a stinging indictment on adult frivolity and the keen observation of the innocent.

This film was especially relevant to my "wonder years" as sexual abuse, drunkenness,manipulation and dark secrets were THE major mode of operation in our family. We three children all knew the evil that was being perpetuated in our "idyllic" 1960's home as well as in the other "perfect" homes of our neighborhood friends. Oh the things we knew and the awful secrets we were forced to keep!!!! Oh, that The Pied Piper of Hamlin had lead us out to The Sweet Hereafter..........WE WOULD HAVE DANCED AND FOLLOWED GRATEFULLY!!!

The soundtrack by Mychael Danna is appropriately renaissance in flavor, scored with flutes,recorders and tambourines.

Perfect companion films would be INTO THE WOODS and THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY.

accident, tregedy, incest, adultery, love, father and daughter.......2007-03-14

what a sad story. lot of people in this film were suffering silently. what a boring high sierra snowy winter tragedy. the lawyer's daughter, the surviving daughter of that tragic accident. 'there must be something deadly wrong if your daughter chose to lie in front of you.'
what a sad story.

Poetic rendering of a very good story.......2007-03-04

The story is great, thanks, no doubt, to the novel by Russell Banks (which I have not read). Atom Egoyan translates it into film in his own style, which is deep, dreamy, filled with symbolism. He enjoys giving us an ambiguous and confusing sense of time. (His word is "floaty.") The only reason I did not give this fine film five stars is that, for my taste, it's a bit too self-consciously "poetic." I found the addition of the Pied Piper a little too cutesy/creepy, but, again, it did suit the mood that he was wanting to create.

Likewise, the face of the female lead, Sarah Polly--again, I found her pallor and lack of expression to be abstract to the point of being annoying. However, again, it suited the vision of the director. I would have liked to see her perk up, after her breakthrough scene at the end....some sort of change in her face seemed definitely in order--maybe a glint of light in her eye, some color in her skin or a new set to her jaw. What we saw was more of the same, lackluster mask like girl, driving back with her predator father.

Their relationship is central to the story and I think it should have been handled less vaporously. When I first saw them together at the County Fair, I thought the man was her somewhat-older boyfriend. I missed it when she called him "daddy" later in the scene. Egoyan comments that he wanted that ambiguity but I wonder why. A little ambiguity goes a long way in my book.

What I did like was the originality, the intelligence, of the story and for that we have the novelist to thank. Thanks are also in order for the great cast, especially Ian Holm, who did a superb job in portraying the character of the big city lawyer, part hustler, part anguished, loving father.

It's the vitality of the other characters that grounds the film in some sort of reality, especially the feisty Billy who, although grieving for his wife, certainly has a healthy appreciation for the living ladies, including the pale baby sitter.

Also the film is visually appealing, set in the Canadian Rockies in their snowy splendor. The details of the homes are nice, too, and give you something to entertain your eyes while the subject matter sinks into deep cold waters.

As dark as the film is in mood and subject matter, there is a transcendent quality to it as the central characters make choices that move them forward in their lives. This gives a satisfying conclusion that is still suitably subtle.

I think that whether a person will enjoy this film or not depends on his personal taste. Obviously many who wrote here love it enormously; others might have a hard time with the abundance of "mood."

"We've both lost our children. They're dead to us.".......2007-02-20

A mountain community's calm is shattered when a terrible school bus accident occurs that leaves everyone dead except two people: the bus driver and a now crippled teenage girl. (Sarah Polley) Mitchell Stevens (Ian Holm) is a lawyer who flies into the community to gather a lawsuit that will profit the parents. (and give him 1/3 of all earnings) Things immediately go awry, as parents argue with one another over the logic of filing a lawsuit, while the general feng shui of the small town is destroyed as trust and familiarity is lost.

Amazingly enough, although people may readily blame Ian Holm for all this, it seems as if the town has always had a few dark secrets to hide. Billy, who loses two children in the accident, tells one group of parents that they "used to be a community - they'd help each other out." Yet he was continually having an affair with the wife of a member of that community. There's also suggested incest between Sarah Polley's character and her father. There's no doubt that the community was built on lies, and Stephens cannot be "shattering" it as some synopsis and reviews have said.

The film is very heavy on character. You get to know everyone, and actually do get to care for them. Even Ian Holm's character is given depth through interaction over the phone with his drug-addicted daughter, and further developed in a monologue where he describes saving his daughter at a young age from a Black Widow bite.

The only fault with the film is, amazingly enough, while it may seem to drag it also seems to be resolved too quickly - when it's over, you'll almost think it was too short! In thinking about why this is, I think I have to agree with one previous reviewer that the film may have put too much emphasis on character. I know this may sound weird (especially since a lot of my past reviews I've urged greater character development) but it feels like a lot of build-up to a not-so-climactic ending. It's a bit strange to say without giving away spoilers, but hopefully some of the other reviewers (or people who have seen the movie in general) can get what I mean.

Still, it's an overall good film. Some might find it slow, but it is well done in the long run. Fine acting by all (especially Ian Holm and Sarah Polley) and it makes certain every character is worth their place in the script. I'd give it a chance if you're in the mood for a film like this.

A perfectly woven melodrama of human spirit..........2006-10-03

`The Sweet Hereafter' may not appear to be sweet, but then again that's all in the eye of the beholder. It's a very soft-spoken look at the aftereffects of loss and the striving spirit for closure. The story focuses on a small town after a tragic accident involving a school bus takes the lives of twenty children. The town has no one to blame, no one to accuse and so they seclude themselves in their own lives and homes in order to deal with the tragedy. That is until Mitchell (Holm) comes along. Mitchell is a lawyer battling his own form of loss and is determined to help the people of this town find peace.

Mitchell has lost his own daughter Zoe (Banks) to drugs and, as he so heartbreaking puts it, she's dead to him. With this raw conviction he fights for the children lost in this bus accident, and in a way this is as much his battle as it is for the parents involved. As he describes his feelings for his daughter, the ones he once had and the ones that now fester (that whole `steaming piss' speech) it is completely and utterly heart wrenching. It becomes apparent as the film begins to wrap up that Mitchell is doing this for himself, as his own form of closure, as he explains to one father that he has lost his daughter as well, and even after that man has left Mitchell alone in the cold air Mitchell is still talking, still thinking, still dying little by little inside.

Mitchell is not the only person effected of explored though...there are at least two others who are touched by the tragedy and the impending lawsuit of which Mitchell promises (or threatens depending on your viewpoint) to bring.

One of these is Billy (Greenwood), a young widower of twins who were killed in the accident. Unlike the rest of the town seeking answers, Billy just wants it to all go away. He is agitated with not only Mitchell's arrival but even more so with the involvement of his friends. One of those friends is Sam (McCamus) whose daughter Nicole (Polley) babysat for Billy and was one of the sole survivors of the crash. Nicole and her father are suffering in other areas as well. It becomes apparent about halfway through the film the Sam is somewhat of a sexual predator, at least in regards to his daughter, and this has caused a strain on their relationship (of course) but also on the case.

It's a bit difficult to decide whether Nicole is distressed over the abuse her father used to inflict on her or if she's distressed for the fact that now that she's in a wheelchair he doesn't pay her that special kind of attention. Regardless there is a mystery in her eyes that envelopes the entire film and creates a mood that serves the picture well. The acting in this film is phenomenal and it's a shame that it was ignored completely come Oscar. Holm, Greenwood and Polley all deserved Oscar recognition for they all enveloped their characters and delivered knockout performances.

A common thread throughout the film is Nicole's reciting of `The Pied Piper of Hamelin' which serves as narrative throughout the later half of the film, and when studied it really serves as the moral behind her character. Maybe it's just my perception but in a way I feel that Nicole wished she herself had died in that crash, for as she recites the later part of the poem when she references the young lame boy who could not follow the piper she reads with this sense of pain, as if she can relate for she was unable to escape the prison of her life.

Brilliant film that reaches the heart and exposes the human need for closure and the constant desire to heal from the past.

Charlie Rose with Kevin Spacey; Atom Egoyan (January 9, 1998)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Kevin Spacey; Atom Egoyan (January 9, 1998)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Charlie Rose with Kevin Spacey; Jamaica Kincaid (March 1, 1996)
Charlie Rose with Kevin Spacey; Gabriel Byrne; Forest Whitaker (March 7, 1996)
Charlie Rose with Kevin Spacey (September 30, 1999)

ASIN: B000IU34GO
Release Date: 2006-09-18

Description

First, actor Kevin Spacey. He is perhaps best known for his Oscar-winning performance as Verbal Kent in the 1995 sleeper hit The Usual Suspects. Since then he has worked on a wide range of films including Seven, A Time To Kill, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and LA Confidential which is receiving much critical acclaim and has already been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards. Then, a conversation with Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan. He talks to Charlie about his latest film, The Sweet Hereafter, which is an adaptation of the Russell Banks book about the effect a terrible school bus accident has on a rural town.

Average customer rating:

The Nasty Now-and-Now : What children quietly and painfully know about their families
accident, tregedy, incest, adultery, love, father and daughter
Poetic rendering of a very good story
"We've both lost our children. They're dead to us."
A perfectly woven melodrama of human spirit...

The Sweet Hereafter [Region 2]
Starring: Ian Holm , Caerthan Banks , Sarah Polley , Tom McCamus , and Gabrielle Rose
Director: Atom Egoyan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000059YUN

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Customer Reviews:

The Nasty Now-and-Now : What children quietly and painfully know about their families.......2007-06-26

accident, tregedy, incest, adultery, love, father and daughter.......2007-03-14

Poetic rendering of a very good story.......2007-03-04

"We've both lost our children. They're dead to us.".......2007-02-20

A perfectly woven melodrama of human spirit..........2006-10-03

Dulce Porvenir (The Sweet Hereafter) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]

Average customer rating:

Dulce Porvenir (The Sweet Hereafter) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]
Director: Atom Egoyan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Average customer rating:

The Nasty Now-and-Now : What children quietly and painfully know about their families
accident, tregedy, incest, adultery, love, father and daughter
Poetic rendering of a very good story
"We've both lost our children. They're dead to us."
A perfectly woven melodrama of human spirit...

The Sweet Hereafter
Starring: Ian Holm , Caerthan Banks , Sarah Polley , Tom McCamus , and Gabrielle Rose
Director: Atom Egoyan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Exotica
Ararat
Felicia's Journey
Cache (Hidden)
Paris, Texas

ASIN: B000065KBX

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

The Nasty Now-and-Now : What children quietly and painfully know about their families.......2007-06-26

accident, tregedy, incest, adultery, love, father and daughter.......2007-03-14

Poetic rendering of a very good story.......2007-03-04

"We've both lost our children. They're dead to us.".......2007-02-20

A perfectly woven melodrama of human spirit..........2006-10-03

The Sweet Hereafter (De beaux lendemains) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2&4 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

A CINEMATIC GEM...

The Sweet Hereafter (De beaux lendemains) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2&4 Import - Australia ]
Director: Atom Egoyan
Manufacturer: Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 2&4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: Atom Egoyan's haunting adaptation of the Russell Banks novel The Sweet Hereafter was the Canadian filmmaker's most successful film to date, taking home a Special Grand Jury Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and scoring a pair of Academy Award nominations, including "Best Director." Restructured to fit Egoyan's signature mosaic narrative style, the story concerns the cultural aftershocks which tear apart a small British Columbia town in the wake of a schoolbus accident which leaves a number of local children dead. Ian Holm stars as Mitchell Stephens, a big-city lawyer who arrives in the interest of uniting the survivors to initiate a lawsuit; his maneuvering only drives the community further apart, reopening old wounds and jeopardizing any hopes of emotional recovery. Like so many of Egoyan's features, The Sweet Hereafter is a serious and painfully honest exploration of family grief; no character is immune from the sense of utter devastation which grips the film, not even the attorney, whose interests are in part motivated by his own remorse over the fate of his daughter, an HIV-positive drug addict. A sobering, beautifully-realized examination of the ties that bind -- and which can be severed at any time. SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailer(s), Photo Gallery, Interactive Menu, Filmographies, Cast/Crew Interview(s),

Customer Reviews:

A CINEMATIC GEM..........2006-09-20

This film is compelling in its storytelling, peeling back layer after layer of human emotion, until all that is left is that which is primal. Beautifully nuanced, if somewhat ponderously slow at times, this film is not for the action oriented viewer. It is a film for the more patient and discerning viewer, the one who will allow the story to unfold in its own good time. It is this viewer who will derive the most enjoyment from this cinematic gem.

The story is really several stories that are threaded into one tapestry of events. The main thread involves a school bus accident that resulted in the death of fourteen children in a small British Columia town in Canada. A big, city slicker lawyer, Mitchell Stevens (Ian Holm), waltzes into town on the heels of the tragedy to see if a class action suit, arising out of the bus accident, lies against someone, anyone for huge monetary damages.

As Stevens interviews those prospective clients, his own troubles are revealed to the viewer and center around his drug addicted daughter, who deftly manipulates him. Scenes with his daughter, which suggest just how out of control his daughter's life is, correlate nicely to the way the lives of the townspeople have spun out of control since the bus accident that took so many young lives. Stevens is as bereft as the townspeople who have lost their children. The lawyer's feeling of guilt over his daughter's seemingly hopeless condition, miirror the hopelessness felt by the townspeople in light of the overwhelming tragedy that has befallen them.

The town has its secrets, however. One of them involves an attractive, and talented teenager, Nichole (Sarah Polley). When the viewer first sees her, with her is a long haired, seemingly supportive and tender man. For some inexplicable reason the viewer may take him for her boyfriend, even though all they are doing is eating ice cream, only to discover that he is actually her father. Like the lawyer, Nichole must contend with a very personal and secret tragedy in her young life.

The brief scene that makes clear the true nature of Nichole's relationship with her father is shown in a way that belies its inherent corruption. It seemlessly transitions its way into the film, and the viewer really has to think twice about that which the viewer has just seen, as the setting seems almost romantic, a setting that belies the profound putrescence of the reality of the scene.

The threads of the film's story are woven in such a way that time and scene shifts are somewhat abrupt and may seem a little disjointed to the viewer, which has the net effect of keeping the viewer a little off balance. The tenor of the film, however, is set to perfection by Nichole's monotone voice over reading of Robert Browning's lyrical poem, "The Pied Piper of Hamlin". Her reading gives the viewer a feeling of alienation and despair. It also leaves the viewer wondering whether the pied piper is an allusion to her father or the lawyer. Watch the film, and you be the judge.

Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, and this cast of mostly unknowns, give wonderful performances worthy of note, compelling and moving. The film, as does an onion, has many layers to be peeled back. It is a film to be savored and viewed again and again. "The Sweet Hereafter" is sweet, indeed.

Average customer rating:

A CINEMATIC GEM...

The Sweet Hereafter

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

A small community is torn apart by a tragic accident which kills most of the town's children. A lawyer (Ian Holm) visits the victims' parents in order to profit from the tragedy by stirring up the their anger and launching a class action suit against anyone they can blame. The community is paralysed by its anger and cannot let go. All but one young girl (Sarah Polley), left in a wheelchair after the accident, who finds the courage to lead the way to the sweet hereafter.

Customer Reviews:

A CINEMATIC GEM..........2006-05-19

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