Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- tense
- eerie
- melancholic
- winter night
- snowy weekend
What critics said
Critics broadly admired the atmospheric setting, elegant visual style, and Julia Ormond's performance, while finding the conspiracy increasingly implausible and the ending far-fetched.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Smilla interprets the dead boy's tracks and fear of heights while the investigation moves from snowy Copenhagen toward the frozen north.
Smilla's Inuit background shapes her understanding of snow and places her between Danish society and Greenlandic experience.
Smilla's murder investigation exposes concealed information involving doctors, researchers, and powerful organizations.
Smilla's remoteness, expertise, and refusal to accept the official explanation drive her pursuit of the boy's death.
Films like Smilla's Sense of Snow, and why
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
atmospheric conspiracy thriller with an isolated protagonist and wintry northern setting
The Name of the Rose
literary mystery driven by a determined investigator uncovering institutional conspiracy
The Snowman
stylish, morally serious thriller combining murder investigation with remote landscapes and escalating danger
Movie Details
- Director
- Bille August
- Release Date
- 1997-02-28
- Runtime
- 121 min
- Rating
- 6.4 / 10 (274)
Cast
- Julia Ormond
- Gabriel Byrne
- Richard Harris
- Jim Broadbent
- Tom Wilkinson
- Robert Loggia
- Vanessa Redgrave
- Bob Peck
- David Hayman
- Peter Capaldi
Common questions
- What is Smilla's Sense of Snow about?
- A fiercely independent woman follows a dead child's footprints from Copenhagen into a lethal conspiracy buried beneath snow and ice.
- What is Smilla's Sense of Snow like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Smilla's Sense of Snow as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Smilla's Sense of Snow violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Smilla's Sense of Snow as moderate.
- What did critics think of Smilla's Sense of Snow?
- Critics broadly admired the atmospheric setting, elegant visual style, and Julia Ormond's performance, while finding the conspiracy increasingly implausible and the ending far-fetched.
- Which films are like Smilla's Sense of Snow?
- Films with a similar feel include The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Name of the Rose, and The Snowman.
- How long is Smilla's Sense of Snow?
- Smilla's Sense of Snow runs 121 minutes.
