Heaven (2002)
From the Director of Run Lola Run.....
The star power of Cate Blanchett (The Shipping News, The Lord Of The Rings) and Giovanni Ribisi (Gone In 60 Seconds, Boiler Room) propels this luminous and intensely haunting motion picture from the acclaimed director of Run Lola Run and Winter Sleepers! Philippa (Blanchett), a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, has watched helplessly as her husband and friends have fallen victim to drug overdoses. To compound her desperation, the police - who are complicit in the actions of Turin's biggest drug dealer - have completely ignored Philippa's repeated offers of information. So, with the unexpected help of a sympathetic police officer (Ribisi), Philippa feels she has nothing to lose by taking divine justice into her own hands! A probing exploration of the modern world an its moral choices -- you'll be mesmerized by Philippa's transformation from grieving widow to wanted fugitive on a journey through retribution and redemption, innocence and crime!
Member Reviews
An Okay Movie - lorbar
I enjoyed this movie. Very slow, but interesting. The acting is pretty good considering the cast. There escape was brilliant. I would have never thought it would end the way it did. A love story and to some degree a thriller. I am glad she finally got the intended target, but it was too bad that others had to die for her to get her revenge.Poetic nonsense - Plet
A curious film, beautifully shot, probably allegoric about Filippo and Philippa, born the same day and seemingly destined to meet, interact and finally to die together with their ascent to ‘Heaven’ in a helicopter after some mind stretching unbelievable situations that one has to ignore to allow the poetry seep in. Giovanni is a sweet looking boy but I tired of his open innocent gaze. Super shots of Italian country side and house tops worthy of a travel film but for me in the end intellectually unsatisfying."Heaven" Is Cinematic Hell - CharleyJames
Philippa is a British schoolteacher in Turin, Italy, who tries to avenge her dead husband by killing his drug dealer. She leaves a bomb in a wastebasket in the dealer's office, but fate transports the device into an elevator carrying a father, his two daughters and a cleaning woman. After her arrest, Philippa learns of her mistake and sheds a couple of tears that are tenderly if somewhat hastily wiped away by a carabiniere, Filippo. Instantly smitten, Filippo arranges for Philippa's escape from the police that for its sheer comic ineptitude is matched only by the Keystone Kops.
Heaven doesn't have the courage of its conceit, only an abundance of bad ideas and worse taste. After she's arrested, Philippa says she was not only trying to avenge her husband's death, she was also going after a dealer who sold drugs to children. That's dubious logic even for a sociopath. What makes it worse is that because the film is more interested in making Philippa likable than in exploring moral ambiguity and the distance between chance and choice, it doesn't just try to excuse her violence with appeals to vigilante justice, it shapes her into a romantic heroine. The transformation is offensive and becomes more ridiculous with every scene.
The irony is that Heaven feels most plausible in its quieter opening scenes, with Philippa setting the bomb, then marching to the dealer's skyscraper office. The resolve etched in her face seems as lethal as the bomb in her satchel and every bit as mysterious. She isn't doing much talking at this point, just exchanging words with the dealer's assistant, whom she saves from death, and the police, whom she calls to declare her guilt. The scenes have a tough, tingly authenticity: You're watching a killer at work and she doesn't look sorry. Then the bomb explodes, the director's credit materializes, and Heaven begins its agonizing journey straight to cinematic hell.
Member Reviews
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An Okay Movie - lorbar
I enjoyed this movie. Very slow, but interesting. The acting is pretty good considering the cast. There escape was brilliant. I would have never thought it would end the way it did. A love story and to some degree a thriller. I am glad she finally got the ...Poetic nonsense - Plet
A curious film, beautifully shot, probably allegoric about Filippo and Philippa, born the same day and seemingly destined to meet, interact and finally to die together with their ascent to ‘Heaven’ in a helicopter after some mind stretching unbelievable situations ..."Heaven" Is Cinematic Hell - CharleyJames
Philippa is a British schoolteacher in Turin, Italy, who tries to avenge her dead husband by killing his drug dealer. She leaves a bomb in a wastebasket in the dealer's office, but fate transports the device into an elevator carrying a father, his two daughters ...