THE SNOWMAN
UK/US, 2017, 119 minutes, Colour.
Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jonas Karlsson, Michael Yates, J.K.Simmons, Val Kilmer, David Dencik, Toby Jones, Genevieve O' Reilly, James D' Arcy, Adrian Dunbar, Chloe Sevigny, Jakob Oftebro.
Directed by Tomas Alfredson.
Have you read Jo Nesbo’s novels? With his interestingly often-depressed police detective, Harry Hole? This reviewer has read a number of them including The Snowman. Unfortunately, this film version may not encourage readers to pursue Nesbo novels. For those who enjoy crime fiction, this would be a great pity.
Harry Hole (played by Michael Fassbender) comes from Norway, a lot of the action takes place in the capital, Oslo, as well is in the countryside as far out towards the fjords and is Bergen. Actually, one of the best features, is the photography of Norway in winter, snow and ice, a chill atmosphere.
In fact, the chill atmosphere applies to the whole film, the characters rather colder than might be expected, the serial killer’s murders gruesomely cold, and the climax of literally cold.
All this is a pity because there is great potential. There is an intriguing prologue concerning a young boy being tested by the local policeman on his knowledge of Norwegian history at the end of the war, his mother having an affair with the policeman, pursuing him by car and then skidding onto the ice and drowning, a snowman outside the house. The snowman serves as a motif during the series of killings.
The director himself, Tomas Alfredson, has gone on record that he is not satisfied with the film, with difficulties in production, in timing, in rectifying situations. Alfredson has a good cinema record including the John Le Carre adaptation, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy.
The plot is very convoluted and there are significant flashbacks to 9 years earlier, deaths in Bergen, the gruesome killing of the police inspector, Val Kilmer, and interviews with a husband whose wife has been killed. Meanwhile, in the present, a mother disappears and her husband is suspect. Then there is a warning that another woman has been killed – but she is still alive, and then killed. Some of this is sorted out but not always clearly, a complex motivation for the murders, of women who have children by different fathers, have been involved in abortions, victims of a righteous moralist with his own personal agenda and mother issues.
There is what seems to be an interesting subplot concerning a suspicious doctor, David Dencik, (who had been in Bergen nine years earlier) and a smug politician, J.K.Simmons, announcing that Oslo has won the Winter Games, harassing the new detective on the case, Rebecca Ferguson, but, after the death of the doctor, there is no more of the politician and his story. That would have been interesting.
And all the time, Harry Hole is investigating, travelling, interviewing. There is also the complication of his former girlfriend, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and her son who sees Harry as something of a father-figure. In the meantime, a respectable surgeon, has taken up with Charlotte Gainsbourg but not succeeding so well with the son.
The new partner also has a tendency to go out on her own, not always informing Harry, which leads to some rather grim conclusions.
More deaths. More mystery. More snowman. And a climax out in the snow, in a secluded hut – and the revelation of the killer whom we might not have suspected. But, whether there were enough clues, whether there was enough in the screenplay to keep audience attention and focus, it is a rather confusing murder mystery and detection drama.
1. The popularity of the novels by Jo Nesbo? The film versions? Crime, detection, Harry Hole, the Norwegian settings?
2. The adaptation for the screen, the complex plot, clues, flashbacks, the characters and situations, information? How successful a screenplay in dramatising the crime and detection? How confused?
3. A cold climate, the seasons, snow and ice, in the countryside, the frozen lakes, in the city, clearing the snow? The title, the variety of snowmen, for their eyes and mouth, the sticks? Symbolism?
4. The prologue, the boy, his studies, the history of Norway and the war, the dates, his not knowing, the policeman asking him questions, hitting him? The severity? His relationship with his mother? Her relationship with the policeman? His driving away, the mother in the car with the boy, pursuing him? Crashing onto the lake, the ice giving way, the boy getting out, the mother dying? His blaming her for abandoning him? The snowman? His memories? The credibility of the adult and his memories of his boyhood, his mind, the consequences and his murders?
5. The introduction to Harry Hole, Michael Fassbender, age, success of his career, skills, yet his drinking, his relationship with Rakel, leaving her, the boy, collapsing from drink, the influence of the authorities and discussions with them, the crime, his being present at investigations, interviews?
6. Katrine, the introduction to Harry, working with her, the bonding, the various interviews, yet his wariness? Her background in Bergen? Her interviews and pursuit of criminals?
7. The domestic sequence, the wife and her return home, her son, her husband and the discussions, his leaving the house? The night, suspicions? The disappearance? The investigations, the interview with the husband, her pregnancy? The inconsistencies in the story? Her going to the clinic? The discussions with the doctor? Audience suspicion of the husband?
8. Paternity themes, abortions, women and their not knowing the fathers of their child? The clinic? The emerging of medical and moral motivations?
9. The messages, the printing, the drawing of the snowman?
10. The announcing of the death of Sylvia, Harry and Katrine going to see her, her being alive? The news of her death? Meeting her twin sister, the discussions, the information? Pregnancy and abortion?
11. The flashbacks, going back nine years, to the city of Bergen? The police investigator, his drinking, investigations, his disappearance, his death? The husband and the disappearance of his wife? The place of the doctor? Of the politician? Suspicions, hypotheses? The emergence of information that Katrine was the detective’s daughter? Her motivation in investigation, revenge?
12. Rakel, her relationship with Harry, his moving away, for her benefit? Oleg, school, his mother, the doctor, his liking for Harry, Outings? Rakel taking up with the doctor, their life, the work of the doctor? Harry and his sense of failure, yet a father figure for the boy, his attitudes, agreeing to go to the camp, but forgetting, and the doctor making the excuses? Rakel, her being taken, her fears, the boy being taken? The revelation about the doctor?
13. Harry, the visits to Bergen, the interviews, with the husband whose wife had disappeared? Making the links?
14. The sinister doctor, with the shady politician, the links? Being interviewed, denials? His being shot? The snowman on his decapitated body?
15. The Olympic Games, the socials, the politician, smug, sexual interactions with Katrine? The confrontation? The announcement about the Games? The photos, the link? The
disappearance of this subplot from the film?
16. Rakel, the capture, being held in the hut, Harry travelling to the hut, the confrontation, saving Rakel? The boy? The doctor?
17. The film as a disappointment in terms of the novel, the adaptation, the characters, the crimes ans the motivation?
