The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
92%RT Audience Score: 86%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 2 Oscars
34 wins & 57 nominations total
Director Atom Egoyan examines tragedy and its aftermath with intelligence and empathy.
The Sweet Hereafter is a film that will leave you feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck, but in a good way. It’s a delicate and touching story that navigates the aftermath of tragedy with a gentle, but unsentimental eye. Egoyan’s shuffling of the chronological deck allows us to see what once was in this town, both in its light and its darkness, and how none of it will ever be the same. It’s a film that cuts to the bone and stays with you long after the credits have finished rolling. Just make sure you have some tissues handy.
Production Company(ies)
New Line Cinema, Wing Nut Films, The Saul Zaentz Company,
Distributor
Fine Line Features, New Line Home Video [us]
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Stouffville, Ontario, Canada
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for sexuality and some language
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 50m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 4, 1997 Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 26, 1998
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Bruce Greenwood, Tom McCamus, Arsinée Khanjian, Alberta Watson, directed by Atom Egoyan, written by Russell Banks, produced by Camelia Frieberg and Atom Egoyan, drama, R rating, tragedy, aftermath, school bus accident, class-action suit, loss of innocence, big-city lawyer, small mountain community, box office gross of $4.4M, reviewed by David Ansen, Jason Bailey, Owen Gleiberman, Jeff Strickler, David Wood, Kenneth Turan, CJ Sheu, Brandon Judell, Katherine Monk, Bryant Frazer, Michael Dequina, Dolby Digital, 35mm, Scope (2.35:1)
Worldwide gross: $3,263,585
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,083,586
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,116
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 663,423
US/Canada gross: $3,263,585
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,083,586
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,753
US/Canada opening weekend: $31,149
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $58,064
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,143
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): CA$5,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Sarah Polley – Nicole
Bruce Greenwood – Billy
Tom McCamus – Sam
Arsinée Khanjian – Wanda
Alberta Watson – Risa
Director(s)
Atom Egoyan
Writer(s)
Russell Banks, Atom Egoyan
Producer(s)
Camelia Frieberg, Atom Egoyan
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
34 wins & 57 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (59) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (1)
There’s a mesmerizing clarity to The Sweet Hereafter’: you’re moved by it, but you never feel the filmmaker is milking your emotions.
March 5, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
That’s the true power of Egoyan’s film – how in shuffling the chronological deck, we see what once was in this town, both in its light and its darkness, and how none of it will ever be the same, no matter what Mitchell Stevens says.
December 15, 2017
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
September 7, 2011 | Rating: A
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
A delicate and touching story.
November 6, 2002 | Rating: 4/5
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
TOP CRITIC
…Egoyan looks at the essence of guilt and the complexity of human relationships in all their rich variety.
April 17, 2001 | Rating: 4/5
David Wood
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
Though this is Egoyan’s first adaptation, The Sweet Hereafter could serve as a model for how to do it right.
February 14, 2001 | Rating: 4.5/5
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Atom Egoyan doesn’t handle nuance well, coating the film in a blanket of indistinct subtlety. Properly dissected, one can see the sublime film that could’ve been.
July 1, 2020
CJ Sheu
Review Film Review
Egoyan’s most successful film to date.
March 17, 2017
Brandon Judell
Huffington Post
A film that touches on the essence of love by throwing us into the abyss of loss, The Sweet Hereafter marks the apex of the English-Canadian film tradition as it navigates the empty space left in the wake of tragedy with a gentle, but unsentimental eye.
November 16, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Katherine Monk
Ex-Press.com
In its unsparing depiction of the loneliness and despair that afflicts the tragedy-wracked town of Sam Dent, The Sweet Hereafter is one of the coldest movies ever made.
August 3, 2012 | Rating: 4/4
Bryant Frazer
Film Freak Central
Cuts to the bone and stays there long after its end credits have finished rolling.
March 8, 2009 | Rating: 4/4
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com
…intelligent, stately paced film
January 29, 2005 | Rating: A
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette…
Plot
A small community is torn apart by a tragic accident which kills most of the town’s children. A lawyer visits the victims’ parents in order to profit from the tragedy by stirring up their anger and launching a class action suit against anyone they can blame. The community is paralyzed by its anger and cannot let go. All but one young girl, left in a wheelchair after the accident, who finds the courage to lead the way toward healing.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Ian Holm stars as Mitchell in The Sweet Hereafter, a big-city lawyer who arrives in a small mountain community in Canada to help the survivors’ and victims’ families prepare a class-action suit after a devastating school bus accident.
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