An Ambiguous Heaven (Heaven (DVD))

Member Name: JonathanS

Product:	Heaven (DVD)
Date:	25/02/03 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting performances, Visually interesting and original.

Disadvantages: Perhaps too ambiguous.

I said after seeing The Princess and the Warrior that director Tom Tykwer would be a name to look out for, and so I made sure to see this, his next film. In a departure for him, he directs not from his own script but from one written by famed Polish writer/director Krzysztof Kieslowski (and his regular writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz), who died before he could make it. This is also Tykwer's first film not set in Germany, instead being filmed in Italy, with dialogue in a mixture of Italian and English, making this a truly international film.

After a slightly surreal opening involving a helicopter simulator, the film becomes the story of an English woman, Philippa (Cate Blanchett), who tries to kill a businessman whom she believes to be a drug dealer with a bomb. Unknown to her at the time, the plan fails and instead innocent people are killed by the explosion. She tells the police she is responsible, and is arrested and interrogated, suspected of being a terrorist. When she learns of who actually died, she collapses, and a young policeman, Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), who has been acting as a translator comes to her aid, falling in love with her in the process. Despite her own desire to be punished for what she has done, he persuades her to escape, if only so she can try again to kill the man she tried to kill with the bomb.

Despite the explosions, prison escapes and going on the run, this is a slow, introspective, thoughtful film. There are themes of guilt, revenge, and of how two people can lose themselves within a relationship, as we see Philippa and Filippo becoming so close they virtually turn into each other. Although the pacing is slow Tom Tykwer's direction grabs your attention, from the superbly well filmed and almost unbearably tense opening, and holds it throughout, making the images on screen always interesting to look at. Superb performances especially by Blanchett, and a musical score featuring music by Arvo Part and the d
irector himself also enhance the quality of the film.

The core of the film will always be the story, and the story in Heaven is a difficult one. A degree of suspension of disbelief is required, there are parts that are unrealistic, such as the manner of the prison escape, and other major things that are never really explained, like why the son of a former chief of police would fall in love with a woman suspected of being a terrorist. These are leaps of faith required by the audience, and people unwilling to make such leaps will be left cold by the film. It is also a highly morally ambiguous film that leaves you wondering at the end just exactly what happened and what the message of the film is. Such ambiguity can be frustrating, but when the images in the film are so powerful and it keeps you thinking about it for some time after, it is often such ambiguity that makes for the most interesting films.

Heaven is very much an art-house film, and I still cannot decide if it works or not. I am, however, still thinking about it, and it certainly cements Tom Tykwer's reputation as one of the most skillful and interesting film directors around at the moment.

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