The Snow Sister: Movie Review

A beautiful, artistic production with depressing themes.

I wanted to watch this because it looked like it was going to be a very nicely photographed movie. And it is. Almost every scene of this looks like a postcard; from the frozen fjords, to the most elaborately decorated house you can imagine, to – my personal favourite imagery – the community pool with its glass windows sitting upon a hill and the snow-lined road leading down to the village with streetlights illuminating the snow. Norwegians know how to make winter beautiful.		2024 Directed by: Cecilie A. Moslie Screenplay by: Siv Rajendram Eliassen Based on the book by Maja Lunde and Lisa Aisato Starring: Mudit Gupta, Celina Meyer Hovland
The problem is the story. Now this is based on an existing novel, The Snow Sister by Maja Lunde, so even though I accept that there is a sizeable audience who has appreciated this story, I still don’t how or who that audience is. Julian is a 10 or 11 year-old boy who is unable to celebrate Christmas and feels left out from his classmates, his family and the community at large. His older sister died earlier this year and his parents are still in mourning. Getting up and going to work is the most his parents are able to handle, they can’t even feed Julian or his younger sister or even make conversation around the house. His younger sister wants to decorate for Christmas, Julian just wants to feel something again. Julian then meets the – spunky (is the word the producers/writers want you to use) or spastic (the word I want to use), Hedvig, a curly red-head who loves Christmas. There is a major twist coming but not until near the end. For those who have read the story, they’ll know the twist. For those unfamiliar with the story, such as myself, I think the twist is both obvious and meant to be obvious. Every scene with Hedvig feels off, that something isn’t quite right, and there is a magical-like quality the infuses the atmosphere of the movie. That’s why I think (and hope) the twist is meant to be easily telegraphed far in the advance. If you’re not supposed to be able to predict it then it’s an even worse movie. The role of Hedwig is to teach Julian how to love Christmas again, and teach his parents how to love Christmas again. An actual line in the movie is that it’s Julian’s job and responsibility as a child to teach his parents how to move on and find the joy within the holidays. I’m sorry, but no, it is not Julian’s job or responsibility to teach his parents. He’s a child. It is absolutely his parents’ job and responsibility to a) feed, b) talk to and c) help their still living children navigate the holidays. The parents and other adults are what makes this story so awful. The parents are so depressed that they are unable to function, they can barely talk to their other kids and when they do, it’s only to yell at them for not grieving enough, or when Julian visits his sister’s grave, they yell at him for not grieving in the right way. The other adults don’t seem to understand why Julian is sad and don’t try to help. These parents need to go to therapy and then hopefully this story doesn’t need to exist at all. The title comes from one of Hedvig’s attempts to reconnect Julian with the holiday where they build a snow sister out of snow. The production design is just incredible, including the first snow sister scene and culminating in the final magical snow sister scene, everything is crafted and designed so beautifully; the colours and lighting throughout the movie fit everything perfectly. For everyone who knows and likes this story, then this is a fantastic production, the imagery just comes to life and it is a beautiful movie to look at. For everyone who doesn’t know this story, then be prepared for a whole lot of depression and the ultimate theme that magic is the only way to find Christmas again.

Want a different Christmas movie or just more holiday-themed movies? Holiday Movies


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