The Snowman (2017)

Directed by: Tomas Alfredson | 119 minutes | drama, crime, horror, thriller | Actors: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jonas Karlsson, Michael Yates, Ronan Vibert, JK Simmons, Val Kilmer, David Dencik, Toby Jones, Genevieve O’Reilly, James D’Arcy, Jeté Laurence, Adrian Dunbar, Chloë Sevigny , Jakob Oftebro, Leonard Samuelsson Heinemann, Sofia Helin, Peter Dalle

A good thriller is like a rollercoaster ride. None other than The Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, made that comparison regularly throughout his six-decade career. He liked to describe how people would scream as they rushed down or through loops and corkscrews. The thrill and adrenaline they felt during the ride would erupt into bursts of laughter as soon as their cart came to a stop again. “Some people want to be entertained that way,” he said. “And I’m just a fellow who builds the roller coasters.” On the release of ‘The Snowman’, the 2007 literary thriller by Norwegian author Jo Nesbø, Thomas Kaufmann, book critic at The Washington Independent, once again used Hitchcock’s equation: “’The Snowman’ is a ‘first class roller-coaster’. ride’.” The book is part of a series of thrillers about the genius Norwegian detective Harry Hole, chief detective of a specialized crime unit and a man with many problems. He smokes and drinks heavily and his alcohol addiction in particular regularly brings him into conflict with his colleagues and supervisors. He doesn’t have many friends either. In many ways, Hole is a stereotypically petulant Scandinavian police officer, similar to Henning Mankell’s creation Kurt Wallander. Interesting ‘food’ for film makers! Why exactly ‘The Snowman’, the seventh (!) book in the series, was chosen for the first cinematic encounter with Harry Hole, is a mystery.

Initially, Martin Scorsese was hired to direct the film adaptation of ‘The Snowman’ (2017) (he is involved as an executive producer in the final product), as well as the names of Norwegian Morten Tyldum (‘The Imitation Game’, 2014) and the Icelandic Baltasar Kormákur (‘A Little Trip to Heaven’, 2005) fell before the Swede Tomas Alfredson finally took over the direction. We still know Alfredson from his excellent, multi-award winning horror film ‘Let the Right One in’ (2008) and the equally successful stylish book adaptation ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ from 2011. A man who could break a pot. When renowned actors such as Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chloë Sevingny, JK Simmons and Toby Jones were brought in to star in the film, expectations were high. A talented director, a renowned cast and a bestseller as a basis; what could go wrong with the movie adaptation of ‘The Snowman’, you might think? So a lot. It can’t be because of the complexity of the story; Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) has to deal with the disappearance of a woman during the first snowfall of winter in ‘The Snowman’. As he digs into the case, he discovers more and more signs that an elusive serial killer who has struck in the past is back on the run. The killer leaves a terrifying snowman at the crime scene. With the help of a brilliant new colleague Katrine (Rebecca Ferguson), Hole links cases from decades ago to this grisly new case. They must track down the unscrupulous culprit before it snows again and he strikes again.

It is mainly due to the elaboration that ‘The Snowman’ does not come into its own at all. Alfredson, who publicly distanced himself from the final product, gave an explanation as to why his film did not turn out as he hoped. There was a beautiful screenplay by Peter Straughan (‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’), Hossein Amini (‘Drive’, 2011) and Søren Sveistrup (known from the Danish TV series “The Killing”), but too little time was set aside for the recordings in Norway. “We didn’t have the complete screenplay with us and when we wanted to start editing, we found that we were missing a lot of scenes. It’s like making a jigsaw puzzle and some crucial pieces are missing, so you don’t see the whole picture,” Alfredson said in an interview with Norwegian radio station NRK. The brilliant editor Thelma Schoonmaker – who has worked extensively with Martin Scorsese and has won dozens of awards, including three Oscars – was rushed in to save what could be saved, but to no avail. ‘The Snowman’ is a story-wise chaos; full of blanks and subplots that are never worked out, an incoherent whole that offers the viewer little room for anything to hold on to, characters that are not sufficiently introduced. With so much talent on board, you can expect at least one person to emerge who manages to escape the malaise, but the cast seems to be playing routine. Fassbender does his best, but since no one bothers to introduce his character in a decent way, his Harry Hole gets no further than a sullen man peering thoughtfully into the Norwegian landscapes. The beautifully filmed Norwegian landscapes, that is. Because content may have a lot to do with ‘The Snowman’, but visually the film does live up to expectations.

‘The Snowman’ looks like a rush job, without passion and dedication. Jo Nesbø’s story deserves better. There you have it; even if on paper all the figures are in the right place, practice can paint a completely different picture. ‘The Snowman’ ranks high on the list when it comes to disappointment of the year!