Do you want to see ‘The Sweet Hereafter’?

Add to Netflix

The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

100

Average Rating: 8.9/10
Reviews Counted: 53
Fresh: 53 | Rotten: 0

Director Atom Egoyan examines tragedy and its aftermath with intelligence and empathy.

100

Average Rating: 8.7/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 0

Director Atom Egoyan examines tragedy and its aftermath with intelligence and empathy.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 9,593

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

Atom Egoyan's haunting adaptation of the Russell Banks novel The Sweet Hereafter was the Canadian filmmaker's most successful film to date, taking home a Special Grand Jury Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and scoring a pair of Academy Award nominations, including Best Director. Restructured to fit Egoyan's signature mosaic narrative style, the story concerns the cultural aftershocks which tear apart a small British Columbia town in the wake of a school-bus accident which leaves a number

R, 1 hr. 50 min.

Drama

Directed By: Atom Egoyan

Written By: Atom Egoyan

In Theaters: Nov 20, 1997 Wide

On DVD: May 26, 1998

Fine Line Features

The Sweet Hereafter Trailer & Photos

Cast

Ian Holm
Mitchell Stephens
Sarah Polley
Nicole Burnell
Bruce Greenwood
Billy Ansell
David Hemblen
Gabrielle Rose
Dolores Driscoll
Arsin�e Khanjian
Wanda Otto
Alberta Watson
Risa Walker
Maury Chaykin
Wendell Walker
Tom McCamus
Sam Burnell
Stephanie Morgenstern
Earl Pastko
Peter Donaldson
Caerthan Banks
Brooke Johnson

Critic Reviews for The Sweet Hereafter

All Critics (61) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (54) | Rotten (0) | DVD (9)

A delicate and touching story.

November 6, 2002 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

| Comment

Jeff Strickler

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan's most ambitious work to date, The Sweet Hereafter is a rich, complex meditation on the impact of a terrible tragedy on a small town.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Brendan Kelly

Variety

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 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

| Comment

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

As in Egoyan's Exotica and The Adjuster, past and present are intricately fused by the crisp editing, the mournful shadings of Mychael Danna's score and Paul Sarossy's austere wide-screen cinematography

January 1, 2000 Comment

John Hartl

Film.com

Top Critic

In a season of expertly adapted contemporary fiction (like "L.A. Confidential" and "The Ice Storm"), this fusion of Banks's and Egoyan's sensibilities stands as a particularly inspired mix.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Janet Maslin

New York Times

Top Critic

a new moral urgency seems to invigorate this film

January 1, 2000 Comment

Peter Brunette

Film.com

Top Critic

Cuts to the bone and stays there long after its end credits have finished rolling.

March 8, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com

| Comment

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

...intelligent, stately paced film

January 29, 2005 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

| Comment

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Molds the past, present, and future into a tapestry of the cyclical nature of human suffering.

October 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Cinematic Reflections

| Comment

Derek Smith

Cinematic Reflections Source: Cinematic Reflections

Based on Russell Banks' tragic novel about a town grieving for 14 children killed in a bus crash, easily makes my list of top 1997 films.

July 1, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

| Comment

Judith Egerton

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Visits the impossible contradictions of bereavement with clear-eyed compassion.

October 15, 2002 Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer

| Comment

Margaret A. McGurk

Cincinnati Enquirer

This isn't a "flick" or a "movie". This is a film.

August 4, 2002 Full Review | Comment

John Venable

Supercala.com

A stirring portrait of a community struggling to heal in the wake of a crisis.

June 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine

| Comment

Lael Loewenstein

Boxoffice Magazine

Explores the ways in which a tragedy enhances rather than diminishes a town's sense of community.

March 1, 2002 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice

| Comment (1)

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality and Practice

Una obra exquisita.

August 31, 2001 Full Review Source: Cinenganos

| Comment

Alex Ramirez

Cinenganos

...Egoyan looks at the essence of guilt and the complexity of human relationships in all their rich variety.

April 17, 2001 Full Review Source: BBC

| Comment

David Wood

BBC

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Sweet Hereafter

View All

A smart moral and sociological exploration, much more subtle than I've come to expect from Atom Egoyan, but I suppose I wanted more...it's pretty bland visually. It doesn't read low-budget by any means, but it sure as hell looks like it.

May 24, 2011

Drew Smith

Super Reviewer

Quiet and solemn this work by Atom Egoyan is so beautiful and moving that I found myself gasping as the roots of a small town are ripped asunder by an unfortunate accident. Must see.

June 18, 2011

moon rivers

Super Reviewer

The Sweet Hereafter Quotes

View All

1. Nicole Burnell: We're all citizens of a different town now. A place with its own special rules and its own special laws. A town of people living in the sweet hereafter. Where waters gushed and fruit trees grew, and flowers put forth a fairer hue, and everything was strange and new.
– Submitted by Chad E (24 days ago)
1. Mitchell Stephens: Something's happening that's taking our children away.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)
1. Mitchell Stephens: Well, enough rage and helplessness and your love turns to something else.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)