I'm finding that I frequently read comments here at IMDB for the same reason that I watch moments of trash or extremist religious television: just to rile myself and feel dizzy as my blood pressure rises. That's just how I react to idiocy, and when I read idiotic, IMDB comments, I not only rile myself and feel dizzy, but I fear for the well being of the world.
Granted, SNOW WHITE is not perfect; however, it is simultaneously faithful to the original Grimm story and a true original in terms of films that take a revisionist approach to conveying fairy tale narratives and motifs. I'd venture to guess that the people behind this film wouldn't bat an eyelash at the mention of Angela Carter's name, and are familiar with her short story collection, THE BLOODY CHAMBER. Also, by the way motifs and semiotics function in the mise-en-scene--the serpent in the trees and the moon over the forest--I'd bet that they studied Neil Jordan's THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, the film adaptation of Carter's Red Riding Hood revisions.
Let's get the three cardinal sins of the film out of the way first and swiftly: Sam Neil and a few other minor actors are not compelling; for all the attention to period (14th century?) and fairy-tale, Gothic detail, no attention seems to have been given to diction and dialects--in fact, one of the "dwarves" actually sounds like he is from the Bronx; and the direction is erratic with frequently obvious and cliché juxtapositions of images teaming with a certain awkwardness that creates a sometimes slow and slightly confusing first half.
Now, on to the three cardinal virtues of the film: Sigourney Weaver's interpretation of Claudia Hoffmann, the "evil queen" of the film, is grand, like an exceptional red wine breathing and progressing from a certain reserve to a full-blown expression of its true, deeper flavor. The final third of the film is delirious in its terrors and perversions with Weaver at the center of it all as a veritable and displaced Erzsebet Batori, the famous "Blood Countess" of 16th/17th c. Hungary.
The second virtue regards the producers' and director's respect for the source material. Certainly, the film is by no means slavish to the Grimms; but enough elements have been retained from the original tale to make this a thinking person's film and a relief for those who remember all too well the bit of poison apple left on Snow White's tongue and the wicked queen dancing in red hot, iron shoes (she doesn't exactly dance in iron shoes but, boy, does she do a hot dance!).
The third virtue is something of the inverse of one of the film's cardinal sins: the direction is erratic, though, in the second half of the film, all Hell, fury, pathology, and sex-death breaks loose in a torrent of fantastic, poetic, and ravishing images. Think of a blood drenched VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS meeting THE COMPANY OF WOLVES with a dash of Dreyer's VAMPYRE and the old Melusine legend thrown in and you'll be on the right track...sort of.
The images I most appreciate and will remember are those depicting Lilianne's ominous birth; the cabinet of fairies with its dreadful mirror; the little bird in the hour glass and the mine disaster; the horned goddess crone and her apples; the toppled statues and falling trees; the homunculus hand at a weird mother's breast; the dream in the coma; the stained-glass coffin; the "sleeping" castle of enchanted retainers referencing the charmed demesne of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY; the Janus-headed crucifix; the knive in the bleeding glass; and the evil's last, shard studded, harrowing death dance.
So pay no attention to those comments that read something like, "I was so bored...you call this a horror film?...like, uh, yeah, there's no plot...Like, oh-my-God! She meets this prince and falls happily in love. How stupid do you think I am? Like, oh-my-God!...Cheesy special effects, I mean, couldn't they afford computers?" You know which ones I'm talking about. Instead, let me get riled and rant for you. My blood pressure's used to it by now.
Granted, SNOW WHITE is not perfect; however, it is simultaneously faithful to the original Grimm story and a true original in terms of films that take a revisionist approach to conveying fairy tale narratives and motifs. I'd venture to guess that the people behind this film wouldn't bat an eyelash at the mention of Angela Carter's name, and are familiar with her short story collection, THE BLOODY CHAMBER. Also, by the way motifs and semiotics function in the mise-en-scene--the serpent in the trees and the moon over the forest--I'd bet that they studied Neil Jordan's THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, the film adaptation of Carter's Red Riding Hood revisions.
Let's get the three cardinal sins of the film out of the way first and swiftly: Sam Neil and a few other minor actors are not compelling; for all the attention to period (14th century?) and fairy-tale, Gothic detail, no attention seems to have been given to diction and dialects--in fact, one of the "dwarves" actually sounds like he is from the Bronx; and the direction is erratic with frequently obvious and cliché juxtapositions of images teaming with a certain awkwardness that creates a sometimes slow and slightly confusing first half.
Now, on to the three cardinal virtues of the film: Sigourney Weaver's interpretation of Claudia Hoffmann, the "evil queen" of the film, is grand, like an exceptional red wine breathing and progressing from a certain reserve to a full-blown expression of its true, deeper flavor. The final third of the film is delirious in its terrors and perversions with Weaver at the center of it all as a veritable and displaced Erzsebet Batori, the famous "Blood Countess" of 16th/17th c. Hungary.
The second virtue regards the producers' and director's respect for the source material. Certainly, the film is by no means slavish to the Grimms; but enough elements have been retained from the original tale to make this a thinking person's film and a relief for those who remember all too well the bit of poison apple left on Snow White's tongue and the wicked queen dancing in red hot, iron shoes (she doesn't exactly dance in iron shoes but, boy, does she do a hot dance!).
The third virtue is something of the inverse of one of the film's cardinal sins: the direction is erratic, though, in the second half of the film, all Hell, fury, pathology, and sex-death breaks loose in a torrent of fantastic, poetic, and ravishing images. Think of a blood drenched VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS meeting THE COMPANY OF WOLVES with a dash of Dreyer's VAMPYRE and the old Melusine legend thrown in and you'll be on the right track...sort of.
The images I most appreciate and will remember are those depicting Lilianne's ominous birth; the cabinet of fairies with its dreadful mirror; the little bird in the hour glass and the mine disaster; the horned goddess crone and her apples; the toppled statues and falling trees; the homunculus hand at a weird mother's breast; the dream in the coma; the stained-glass coffin; the "sleeping" castle of enchanted retainers referencing the charmed demesne of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY; the Janus-headed crucifix; the knive in the bleeding glass; and the evil's last, shard studded, harrowing death dance.
So pay no attention to those comments that read something like, "I was so bored...you call this a horror film?...like, uh, yeah, there's no plot...Like, oh-my-God! She meets this prince and falls happily in love. How stupid do you think I am? Like, oh-my-God!...Cheesy special effects, I mean, couldn't they afford computers?" You know which ones I'm talking about. Instead, let me get riled and rant for you. My blood pressure's used to it by now.