Heaven (2002 film)
Encyclopedia
Heaven is a 2002
Film directed by Tom Tykwer
, starring Cate Blanchett
and Giovanni Ribisi
. Co-screenwriter Krzysztof Kieślowski
intended for it to be the first part of a trilogy (the second being Hell and the third having been slated to be titled Purgatory), but died before he could complete the project. The dialogue is mixed between Italian
and English
.
, Italy
. It opens with a prologue sequence showing the young Italian
Carabinieri
clerk Filippo (Ribisi) learning to fly a helicopter
using a flight simulator
. When he accidentally crashes the virtual helicopter by ascending too dramatically, his instructor tells him that "In a real helicopter, you can't just keep going up and up," prompting Filippo to ask, "How high can you go?" The film then cuts to Phillipa (Blanchett), who is preparing to plant a bomb in the downtown office of a high-ranking businessman. Although everything goes according to her plan, the trash can in which she places the bomb is emptied by a janitor immediately after she leaves and later explodes in an elevator, killing four people.
Philippa is tracked down by the Carabinieri, arrested, and brought to the station where Filippo works. When she is questioned, she reveals that she is an English
teacher at a local school where several students have recently died of drug-related causes. Discovering that they had all been supplied by the same local cartel, she had contacted the Carabinieri with the names of the drug ring leaders, begging them to intervene, but was repeatedly ignored. At her wits' end, she decided to kill the leader of the cartel, the businessman whose office she targeted. In the process of her interrogation, Filippo (who is translating her confession for his superiors) falls in love with Philippa and helps her escape from Carabinieri custody. After she kills the drug lord who was her original target, the pair become fugitives from the law and flee to the countryside, where they eventually find refuge with one of Philippa's friends and finally consummate their relationship. When the authorities raid the house where they are hiding, they steal a Carabinieri helicopter parked on the front lawn and escape by air. The officers on the ground fire repeatedly at them to no avail as the craft climbs higher and higher and finally disappears.
also sees a similarity to Tykwer's own Run Lola Run
and The Princess and the Warrior
. Though Heaven is "more thoughtful, proceeds more deliberately, than the mercurial haste" of Tykwer's own films, "it contains the same sort of defiant romanticism, in which a courageous woman tries to alter her fate by sheer willpower."
Alex Grant finds the film to be "an hommage to Italian painters of the C16th and C17th eras. European architecture has seldom played such a huge role in defining character and human interaction as Tykwer allows it to do here. Beings dwarfed and trapped by spaces both interior and exterior."
2002 in film
The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
Film directed by Tom Tykwer
Tom Tykwer
Tom Tykwer is a German film director, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing Run Lola Run , Heaven , Perfume: The Story of a Murderer , and The International ....
, starring Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
and Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi is an American actor. His film credits include Gone in 60 Seconds, Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, The Gift, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar...
. Co-screenwriter Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...
intended for it to be the first part of a trilogy (the second being Hell and the third having been slated to be titled Purgatory), but died before he could complete the project. The dialogue is mixed between Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Plot
The film is set in TurinTurin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It opens with a prologue sequence showing the young Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
clerk Filippo (Ribisi) learning to fly a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
using a flight simulator
Flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...
. When he accidentally crashes the virtual helicopter by ascending too dramatically, his instructor tells him that "In a real helicopter, you can't just keep going up and up," prompting Filippo to ask, "How high can you go?" The film then cuts to Phillipa (Blanchett), who is preparing to plant a bomb in the downtown office of a high-ranking businessman. Although everything goes according to her plan, the trash can in which she places the bomb is emptied by a janitor immediately after she leaves and later explodes in an elevator, killing four people.
Philippa is tracked down by the Carabinieri, arrested, and brought to the station where Filippo works. When she is questioned, she reveals that she is an English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
teacher at a local school where several students have recently died of drug-related causes. Discovering that they had all been supplied by the same local cartel, she had contacted the Carabinieri with the names of the drug ring leaders, begging them to intervene, but was repeatedly ignored. At her wits' end, she decided to kill the leader of the cartel, the businessman whose office she targeted. In the process of her interrogation, Filippo (who is translating her confession for his superiors) falls in love with Philippa and helps her escape from Carabinieri custody. After she kills the drug lord who was her original target, the pair become fugitives from the law and flee to the countryside, where they eventually find refuge with one of Philippa's friends and finally consummate their relationship. When the authorities raid the house where they are hiding, they steal a Carabinieri helicopter parked on the front lawn and escape by air. The officers on the ground fire repeatedly at them to no avail as the craft climbs higher and higher and finally disappears.
Critical reception
Though comparisons abound to Kieślowski's earlier films, Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
also sees a similarity to Tykwer's own Run Lola Run
Run Lola Run
Run Lola Run is a 1998 German crime thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni. The story follows a woman who needs to obtain 100,000 German marks in 20 minutes to save her boyfriend's life...
and The Princess and the Warrior
The Princess and the Warrior
The Princess and the Warrior is a 2000 German drama film written and directed by Tom Tykwer with Franka Potente, star of his previous movie Run Lola Run , in a leading role...
. Though Heaven is "more thoughtful, proceeds more deliberately, than the mercurial haste" of Tykwer's own films, "it contains the same sort of defiant romanticism, in which a courageous woman tries to alter her fate by sheer willpower."
Alex Grant finds the film to be "an hommage to Italian painters of the C16th and C17th eras. European architecture has seldom played such a huge role in defining character and human interaction as Tykwer allows it to do here. Beings dwarfed and trapped by spaces both interior and exterior."
External links
- Tykwer's Heaven, analysed in philosophical terms at the Galilean Library
- Heaven nthWORD Magazine Shorts