Critics reviews

No other film has stayed with me as long as Egoyan’s, like the taste of Proust’s proverbial madeleine or the very last kiss from a long-lost lover. The Sweet Hereafter lingers like a scar or a melancholic song that just refuses to go away years after you first heard it.

Although it is often very tough to watch, “The Sweet Hereafter” is superlative in its uncompromising but undeniably compassionate depiction of a bleak human condition. While coldly recognizing the devastating aspects of human loss, it ultimately comes to us as a sensitive and humane lament to muse on.

The Sweet Hereafter demonstrates Egoyan’s sophistication as a director. Through astounding character depth and analysis, realized through superb acting, an affective and unsettling assertion of the human condition results... uch more is presented than death and dying. At its core is the horror and pain of surviving, what comes after and what is left behind.

Egoyan's skill and ingenuity are unquestioned. But it wasn't only the landscape that sent a certain chill through me, Egoyan is intent on not exploiting this potentially deeply emotional situation in any way. He wants to work on our emotions through our intellect. And yet his material here is so explosively emotional

Though adapted from someone else's work, it's amazing the degree to which The Sweet Hereafter works as a summary of Egoyan's concerns. The examination of loss and recovery from Exotica is taken on again, while the only superficially banal role played by official figures, best seen in The Adjuster, makes an appearance as well. It's all presented in a detached style that's ultimately much more moving and truthful than any heartstring-slashing weeper. This may be Egoyan's best work yet, and it's surely one of the best films of the year.

As usual Egoyan looks at the essence of guilt and the complexity of human relationships in all their rich variety. Familial conflicts are similarly explored with intelligence and sensitivity with the actions of those lacking in morality placed under the director's metaphorical microscope.

Egoyan's adaptation of Russell Banks' novel stands as one of his most conventional works but it's no less rewarding for it. As usual Egoyan looks at the essence of guilt and the complexity of human relationships in all their rich variety. Familial conflicts are similarly explored with intelligence and sensitivity with the actions of those lacking in morality placed under the director's metaphorical microscope.

Beautifully performed, edited and shot (the crash itself is extraordinarily effective), the film is certainly sensitive in its treatment of grief, guilt and anger, and strong on atmosphere. Whether it finally offers any fresh insights into how a community is changed by such a tragedy is less certain.

I can think of no other movie that has dared to analyze grief and its aftermath with such naked honesty and precision, a film whose here and now so totally rebukes the notion of a sweet hereafter. With a clarity of purpose and vision, Egoyan casts his line as though he were an ice fisherman determined to plumb the unyielding surface fissures to find some life that bites back from the underside of the cold, impenetrable Canadian frost.

The movie is of the mode called postmodernism, which no one understands but everyone recognizes. To borrow from Kurt Vonnegut, its story has come unstuck in time, and though the narrative materials are eventually clarified, we seem to drift for a period between now and then, here and there.

Ultimately, "The Sweet Hereafter" is a lament for families and communities -- whether lost to drugs, to road accidents or, more often, to the empty distractions of modern life. And yet "The Sweet Hereafter" is more consoling than mournful, more optimistic than despairing. Egoyan's voice is so clear and loving, his vision so forgiving and his film so intelligent that you come away refreshed.

This is one of the best films of the year, an unflinching lament for the human condition. Yes, it is told out of sequence, but not as a gimmick: In a way, Egoyan has constructed this film in the simplest possible way. It isn't about the beginning and end of the plot, but about the beginning and end of the emotions.