Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1709 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-02-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Anchored by terrific performances from Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman, Snow Cake is a challenging, at times uneasy way to spend the best part of two hours. Yet it's a strong, mature drama that deserves to be seen.

Weaver plays Linda Freeman, an active, autistic woman, and her path crosses with Rickman's Alex Hughes. Hughes is the survivor of a car accident that's killed Freeman's daughter, and he's still heavily traumatised as he seeks out Freeman to deliver the news.

Yet from this melancholy promise, Snow Cake then builds into an affirming, delicate drama of real merit. It's in the small touches that it scores, ironically hitting its weakest moments when it tries to implement one or two ideas that don't quite gel. But these are minor quibbles in an otherwise fine piece of cinema. Clearly its Rickman and Weaver's film, but credit too should go to the able supporting cast, led by The Matrix's Carrie-Ann Moss, along with Emily Hampshire and David Fox.

If you like your films simple and easy, then perhaps Snow Cake isn't going to be your movie of choice. But if you're willing to try something that's restrained, challenging and in many ways surprising, then Snow Cake comes warmly commended. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Acting heavyweights Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver star in this searing drama that delves into the way in which we handle grief. Stopping for a pretty hitchhiker, little does Alex (Alan Rickman) know that his simple act of kindness will change his life, forever, as the car carrying the couple crashes. Alex emerges from the accident, but Vivienne tragically dies. Wrought with guilt, Alex seeks out Vivienne’s family and aids her autistic mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver) with the funeral arrangements. However, Alex is unprepared for how Linda’s insular community embrace him…

Customer Reviews

Stunning and beautiful movie
You can find it funny. You can find it very touching. But at the end you will feel warm in your heart. Amazing performances of Sigourney Weaver amd Alan Rickan. Stunning movie. Dazalious...

Fantastic film!
This film is one of my favourites, its both moving and funny! Alan Rickman is as brilliant as always in this film. I would recommend this to anyone, it really is something different!

The burdens of sorrow
Portrayal of a sensitive man isn't often given to Alan Rickman, but he surpasses his usual image with mastery in this poignant story. The opening scene of him airborne imparts the persona well - yet he's only sitting there, not even looking out the window. Alex Hughes is a con, who "killed a man". He's accosted by a young woman in a diner claiming he "looks like he needs to talk", something he rejects. It's Northern Ontario in early winter - not the most attractive season but highly fitting. Vivienne is an aspiring writer wanting to know about people. She's cut off in that youth by a semi-truck who sends Alex's car flying into the snow. Beset by guilt, he wends his way to Wawa, an isolated community along the Transcanada Highway to confront Vivienne's mother with unneeded apologies.

Linda [Weaver] greets him with total indifference. Vivienne is gone and there's nothing more to be done. She's autistic, with many of the symptoms portrayed by an actress who's clearly researched the syndrome. Subject to obsessions, given to outbursts over what are mundane circumstances to the rest of us, Weaver performs impeccably in the role. "I don't do garbage", she says, urging him to stay to move the bins to the street on Tuesday. Reluctantly, he agrees, perceiving Linda's state requires no little compassion. She has nobody else to rely on, keeping her distance from her neighbours in town - especially Maggie - "she's a prostitute", says Linda.

There are neither lapses nor "hanging" scenes in this film. Every frame carries the message of a man beset by grief. The prison sentence was from his wreaking vengeance on the man who, while driving drunk, had struck Alex's son, killing him. Rickman carries this film throughout, Weaver, for all her abilities in portraying Linda, remains yet a foil to a man so riven by grief and guilt. Unlike Linda, who must be accommodated, Alex must endure a painful healing process. It has already been long and painful, and there's no assurance that even the meeting of his former wife in distant Winnipeg will relieve him of his woes. That situation keeps the film heavy, but the performances make it more than bearable, it's compelling. Carrie-Anne Moss brings a particular strength in a small town as a woman sexually driven, but is in no way hackneyed in her role as Maggie.

Throughout the film Rickman is the balance point of many forces, his own anguish, Linda's bizarre lapses into her own world and Maggie's need for a man she can respect. A post-accident confrontation with the truck driver brings a turning point - Alex, who has feelings in check is given the opportunity to vent them fully. Does he achieve release? Death, to him, is a very significant presence, yet Linda simply asserts that "We won't see Vivienne again", a more rational approach than being suffused by crippling sadness. All we come to believe about Alex is confronted by his departure "gift" to Linda, a masterful departure from the grim man we've come to know. The film could have been terribly hackneyed, but Marc Evans has managed a low-key masterpiece. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]