This movie is so bad! Julia Ormond is so beautiful it's like sweet agony to watch her slink around in fabulous clothes, at least in the first few scenes. But then the plot begins to fall apart, and really, there is nothing going on.

The story starts out fairly logical, a little boy fell off a roof -- was he pushed? But soon stunning Smilla is babbling about meteorites and worms from outer space and corporate bad guys who all look like Richard Harris, old and ugly and with one foot in the grave. You will laugh and laugh if you wait through the end to see what they really want you to believe happened to the little boy. (SPOILER AHEAD) Uh, gee, Richard Harris, 80 years old and drunk, chasing a six year old boy up six flights of stairs? How about no, Richard lurches out of his limo falls face down in the gutter and dies on the spot?

What makes it even more laughable is the stupid reasons given for the great Meteor Hunt, which is a laughable premise to begin with. In actual, scientific fact, there is no reason a meteorite might not contain precious metals like platinum or gold. This has been known to occur. But no, THIS meteorite is filled with killer worms that eat people's brains! And so of course the Sinister Corporation must move heaven and earth to get the worms, and use them to . . . to . . . uh, they don't quite explain!

The plot makes no sense, but Smilla looks lovely in her cute little couture outfits. You'd never know she was a rebel, the way she's such a fashion junkie. And what's the deal with the way she's always tormenting her father's luscious young trophy wife? I wanted Smilla and Benja to stop arguing and have some steamy lesbian sex, with 90 year old Richard Harris watching through the window and his breath fogging up the glass!

When the movie is set in Denmark, early on, it's okay. But the plot gets less and less believable as Smilla, the stunning beauty, stows away on a tramp steamer bound for Greenland. The crew doesn't notice they have a lovely stowaway, and when they do see her lurking about they sort of shrug it off.

Gee, sailors must have changed a lot!

The movie really touched me because I have a five year old who has some similarity with the boy in the movie in terms of the innocence and expressions of the boy. I found myself upset at the unfairness of the situation. The first half of the film was very good but I was not wholly satisfied with the story. However, the leading actress was incredibly beautiful in all aspects, and it is ironic that although she was lost in a sense she seemed to know that which is important in life. I liked very much the way in which her motherly instincts became projected to care for the boy more so than the real mother. It was a human story that touched me. The things that matter in life have no price. The story seemed true in spite of the more incredible story that was transcended by emotion.

I am a longtime fan of Julia Ormond. She is excellent in the short list of movies she's been in: Legends of the Fall, First Knight, Sabrina, and then this movie. I wish she would appear in more movies!! What happened to you, Julia?

The film concerns an intelligent woman, Smilla Jaspersen, who investigates the mysterious death of her neighbor friend, Isaiah, who is a young boy. Smilla is suspicious about the way the investigation of the boy's death is going and she tries to find out who's responsible for the boy's death and how Greenville Mining Company is involved.

I have not read the book like some of the other reviewers have, so I cannot judge this movie based on the novel. I'd like to analyze this movie as a fan of Julia and as a movie buff of mystery/suspense films.

The Good:

1) Julia Ormond's portrayal of Smilla Jaspersen is outstanding and the redeeming factor of this film. Julia does an excellent job of portraying the multi-faceted sides of Smilla. We see her rude and cold demeanor and yet we also see her tenderness and love for the boy and his mother. We see her alienation and emotional detachment and yet we see her yearning for love and affection. We see her as a frightened woman when threatened by the bad guys, yet we see her courage and determination in pursuing this case to the end. Smilla is a woman of fierce determination and courage. She will get to the end of investigating this mystery and if there is foul-play or cover-up involved, she'll make sure the bad guys pay for what they've done. And what's more, she knows everything about snow -- falling snow, tracking snow, snow for building igloos, etc. hence, the title of this movie & novel.

2) Smilla's comical relationship with her dad and her dad's young girlfriend. Some of the most memorable and comical scenes are when Smilla is around her physician dad and his young girlfriend. Smilla loves and respects her dad but totally hates his girlfriend, who seems slightly younger than Smilla herself. I loved the verbal "sword duels" between Smilla and Benja, the girlfriend. Here are two women who absolutely despise and hate each other, and yet they are emotionally attached to the same man. I enjoyed the scenes when the two women were together.

3) The tender moments when Smilla is with the boy, Isaiah. Here, we see the tender side of Smilla. Despite her coldness, she is drawn emotionally to the boy and takes on the role of a surrogate mother and protector of the boy. These scenes were touching and moving.

4) The great lines: Smilla to Elsa Lubing: "The way you have a sense of God, I have a sense of snow"; The verbal jabs by Smilla to the hated girlfriend of her dad.

The Not-So-Good:

1) Unbelievable plot lines and "coincidences": How is it that Smilla always meets the Mechanic guy (played by Gabriel Byrne) at exactly the right moment when she is in danger and chased by the bad guys? How does he know exactly where Smilla is aboard the ship?

2) How did Smilla survive aboard the ship when she was chased by the bad guys? Did these guys suddenly give up their chase?
The scene when she hides from the bad guys in a wine cellar seems like a plot taken from the Nancy Drew novels.

3) The semi-James Bond-like ending. I won't give away too much except to say that I wish that what began in this movie with a very interesting character study of Smilla ended in a derivative Hollywood, semi-James Bond-like ending. Why can't movies stick with the character development of the main character without having to resort to a predictable, semi-action type ending?

4) No explanation of who the Mechanic guy is. The movie does not explain who this guy is, why he's there, and what side is he on? After watching the whole movie, I still don't understand this character.

I guess I will have to read the novel to answer some of these questions.

In any case, I recommend this movie based on the Julia Ormond's performance and the excellent first half of the movie, which focusses more on the character development of Smilla, Isaiah and her mother. If you can forgive the derivative second half and the ending, then you'll like this movie.

The book was very good but the movie version wasn't. Julia Ormond does her best acting (that's not saying much) as Smila. The audience needs to sympathize with Smila but she's so abrasive and self pitying it's hard to. Instead of returning to Greenland and her dead mother's Inuit culture she stays in Europe and sulks about it. Her only friend is an Inuit boy who was, she suspects, murdered. Her lonely task, for no-one, not even the boy's half witted mother seems to care about him, is to find out who did it and why.

Which leads me to the ending. It was one of the most unsatisfying, ubelievable resolutions I've ever seen in a movie. In all, Smila's Sense of Snow is a movie that could've been good but never quite makes the mark. Perhaps a different actress (Would it have been impossible to find a real Inuit or at least one who looked right?) Perhaps a more vigorous director, perhaps a better script and perhaps an ending that made a lick of sense could've saved this movie but none of that happened so we're left with a mess.

Even though the story falls off a little towards the end, I like this movie a lot. It has a cold, strange setting in Greenland and Copenhagen, a strong, fierce, independent heroine in Smilla Jasperson, a well-played second lead in Gabriel Byrne, and a story that, I think, is engrossing.

Smilla is woman who keeps to herself, trusts no one, and knows everything there is to know about the properties of snow. She's the daughter of an Inuit Greenlander and a Danish father. Her mother is dead; she's not close to her father; she's alienated from comfortable Danish society, but probably could never do well in Inuit Greenland. One day she comes home to her apartment in Copenhagen and finds that a young Inuit boy who lived in the building had fallen to his death. The police tell her that he had been playing on the roof and had accidently fallen. Smilla is instantly suspicious because she knew the eight-year-old was frightened of heights. Later, her reading of his prints in the snow convince her that he was running from something. Then she learns that there were puncture marks on his body. This sets up the story that involves an obsessive and ruthless scientist, a powerful company, a coverup and a huge scientific secret in Greenland.

One thing really makes this movie work for me, and that is Ormond's performance as Smilla. Ormond is a beautiful woman, but she's also a good actress. She nails the part as a person with many grievances and no particular reason to get close to anyone. She seldom smiles. Yet she does get close to the boy. Their gradual warming relationship, shown in flashback, is realistic and touching. Her relationship to the character played by Byrne is also intriguing. He lives in the same apartment house and for some time it's unclear what his role is. While Byrne's character is deeper than we think, in a test of wills Smilla is just as strong or stronger than he is. It's a nice concept.

The movie also features one of the most gripping opening sequences I've seen. In a vast, sunlit, silent ice field a single Inuit hunter holding a spear is standing motionless by an air hole waiting for a seal. His dogs are nearby. You see a streak of light descend in the far distance, hear a rumble, the dogs get restless. The hunter sees far away a great wave of snow and debris. He harnesses the dogs and takes off, trying to out race the gradually nearing line of disturbance that's moving toward him. The race is desperate and he doesn't make it.

But then there's the ending to deal with. It's not really a bad ending. It involves Smilla stowing away on a ship headed to Greenland, and then learning a sort of science fiction answer to the mystery. For me, it's always a bit of a letdown because the first three-quarters of the movie are so good. It doesn't keep me from watching the movie every year or so.

The other roles are played by very good actors, including Richard Harris, Tom Wilkinson, Bob Peck, Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent.

The DVD transfer is very good. And if you want to read an outstanding book as well as watch a good movie, pick up a copy of Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg.