The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
On a winter's day, in the small rural community of Sam Dent, British Columbia, a school bus inexplicably crashes into a frozen lake, taking the lives of fourteen children and injuring many others. Shortly thereafter, Mitchell Stephens (Holm), a big city lawyer, comes to the community with promises to compensate its citizens for their loss. (Fine Line Films)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Atom Egoyan
Written By: Atom Egoyan, Russell Banks
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Ian Holm, Maury Chaykin, Sarah Polley, Gabrielle Rose, Alberta Watson, David Hemblen, Arsinée Khanjian, Tom McCamus, Peter Donaldson, Brooke Johnson, Caerthan Banks
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Where to Stream
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The Sweet Hereafter belongs to 68 collections
1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)
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Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 5 |  |
Magb | 95 94th |
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Damn, this is good. It's not often you see such a remarkably graceful, subtle, multi-faceted and completely un-melodramatic movie about a terrible tragedy. Oh, and the acting -- especially by my hero Ian Holm -- is just perfect. The direction is great too. Some of the outdoor scenes reminded me of the most beautiful parts of Fargo. There's very, very little about this movie that isn't just the way it ought to be.
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| 5 |  |
Danilolopes | 69 31st |
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Kind of a formulatic, predictable and manipulative film, like Iñárritu ones. It's not bad, but i don't buy this sort of thing, that easily.
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| 4 |  |
Alex Watkins | 5 91st |
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Bleak and depressing but never maudlin or sentimental. It's about as honest a depiction of tragedy and grief as you're likely to find. The nonlinear structure allows the material to progress on an emotional level and arrive at the feelings and depths of its characters gradually. The acting (especially Holm) is excellent, the cinematography is beautiful, the soundtrack is lovely, and the direction is pitch-perfect - you'd have to look long and hard to find anything wrong with this one.
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| 3 |  |
paulofilmo | 70 58th |
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Lynchian. Throughout the majority it felt like a sophomoric TV-movie, with patronising script, cloying melodrama, poor acting, and irksome editing (not to mention Ian Holm, who can't seem to decide on his accent). But there is a point at which The Sweet Hereafter caught me off-guard and became a surrealist comic-noir set in purgatory. Indeed, for all its ills, it left me quivering in quasi-existential terror; where I realise the poor beginning may have existed solely to cleanse me of prejudice.
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| 2 |  |
Pickpocket | 9 93rd |
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So dense and so much going on at all times it's hard to swallow all the information being thrown at you. It's subtlety done right. But it's done in such a precise and engrossing way that you can't look away. The flashforward/flashback is aptly used so that you always wonder what's coming next. The bus crash scene was one of the best filmed things I've seen in quite awhile. Loved the character of Billy but I was honestly hoping for more of a conclusion then what they gave me.
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| 2 |  |
KasperL | 80 86th |
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Mostly really well-handled portrayal of a grieving community, though on the verge of being too heavy-handed with its allegory now and then. Egoyan moves the film along very patiently. At times wonderfully poetic.
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| 2 |  |
ratedargh | 95 92nd |
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Every little detail worked for me. I've found Egoyan so cold and emotionally distant in Felicia's Journey and Speaking Parts, and while there certainly is an element of that here it is in the wake of such a massive tragedy that has sucked the collective joie du vivre from an entire community. It's exhausting, haunting, beautiful and ugly (on the underneath). Great use of the song "Courage."
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| 1 |  |
CCLZA | 90 95th |
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Egoyan avoids melodrama and it pays off. The film plays as a very subtle children's story that leaves you with a disturbing feeling of sadness and nostalgy, but at the same time a sense of faith.
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| 1 |  |
Nathan S | 4 74th |
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Like a puzzle, this film slowly reveals its great emotional complexity through non-linear structure. Fortunately, it avoids melodramatic sentiment throughout. Ian Holm's character is really interesting; a self-appointed public avenger whose cynicism eats away at himself and a small community.
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| 1 |  |
Quicky | 76 73rd |
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Great acting especially from Ian Holm, great cinematography (the many slowly panning shots work well!), great music,... The story itself doesn't satisfy me as much, but the tension really builds up well through the many flashbacks and -forwards.
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| 1 |  |
Vandelay1 | 71 79th |
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Good Movie
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| 1 |  |
TV+Film-Hub | 0 3rd |
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Just couldn't get interested in the film at all!
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| 1 |  |
Ocelot | 85 94th |
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How are people calling this melodramatic?
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| 1 |  |
overrated | 51 50th |
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What non-manipulative, non-melodramatic film were you guys watching?
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| 1 |  |
glumpy_99 | 87 76th |
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At times devastating drama, with a superb performance by Holm at the forefront, backed by equally fine work by the supporting cast (Polley is especially good). Egoyan's dreamy handling of the intense material ensures a light touch while never straying from the darker themes, and evokes a touching exploration of the effect a tragedy can have on a close knit community. Falters occasionally due to a slightly cold aloofness at its core, but remains mostly a terrific achievement.
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| 1 | damil | 80 90th |
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This was a pretty excellent film. The way in which it captured sadness and grief was quite beautiful and impressive. The performances were all good, with Ian Holm being particularly good. The non-linear storytelling was unobtrusive, which I appreciated. It was well-shot, engaging and had a palpable atmosphere, and I highly recommend it.
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| 1 |  |
deep_green | 70 62nd |
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Seems like it will be one of the most unwatchably bland movies ever (Ian Holm is... a lawyer). Gradually, it really grows into something that I remember from Exotica, this interesting range of vision (maybe comparable to Lonergan). Probably the setting put me off, definitely wish there was more in the way of neon brothel extravagances.
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| 1 |  |
joel-w-m | 3 5th |
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The non-linear narrative works as it moves between post- and pre-incident, leading you with baited breath to the breathtakingly traumatic moment, but as the convoluted scenes pile up (why is she making out with her dad?) it becomes just another irritation. The characters are never explained (all we get are long empty stares and confusing dialogue) so the emotions never sink in, and outside of that is just a bland plot (and pointless sub-story) about a lawyer trying to rally plaintiffs.
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| Average Percentile 68.24% from 1282 Ratings |  |