REVIEW:
Movie lovers all over the world were thrown into a funk when, after completing his breathtaking Three Colors trilogy in 1994, writer-director Krzysztof Kieslowski announced his retirement from moviemaking, wryly stating that from then on, he was going to sit on his porch and smoke cigarettes. Movie lovers were much cheered soon after, though, when Kieslowski's muse returned, and the director started working on another trilogy-this one founded on the concepts of heaven, hell, and purgatory. Alas, Kieslowski had smoked too many cigarettes; a cardiac arrest claimed him in 1996. He and collaborator Krzyszt of Piesiewicz left behind a screenplay for this film; the directing honors went to Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run fame.
In Heaven, Cate Blanchett plays an Englishwoman living in Italy who seems, at the outset, to be not only a terrorist but an incredibly inept one. We learn her story after she is imprisoned; her testimony touches the heart of her interpreter, a young policeman (Giovanni Ribisi), who helps her plot an escape. As they take it on the lam, the couple seem to become two halves of the same person; the movie's title only makes sense at the very end. While Heaven is filled with beguiling moments, Kieslowski and Piesiewicz's scenario would seem to call for a more consistently poetic approach than the talented Tykwer can muster. As a tribute to a departed master, the movie is touching, but viewers unfamiliar with its real-life backstory may be severely underwhelmed.
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Heaven
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, and James Lloyd
Directed by: Tom Tykwer
(Miramax, March 15)
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Copyright © 2008 Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc.