MovieChat Forums > Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) Discussion > She rappelled down the side of a moving ...

She rappelled down the side of a moving ship onto an ice field!

posted 17 years ago by SquirePM
5 replies | jump to latest

I just saw Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) for the first time. Wow! Not only is Julia Ormond a stunningly beautiful screen presence, she is compellingly intense throughout this mysterious thriller. But that's not why I'm adding this note to this board.

She, herself, beautiful star that she is, rappelled down the side of a moving ship at sea onto an ice field!

Sounds impossible? I agree completely. Get the movie and watch it for yourself. I watched the scene a dozen times after I'd finished the movie. The thing she's rappelling down could, in theory, be some kind of a prop, but if so it's huge and way out of line with the kind of budget on which this film was made. And it's definitely moving as she comes down it. And the surface onto which she rappels may be fake ice and snow, too, but you can see broken pieces of it moving to the friction of the ship as it passes. You can see that it's really her as she comes down, but the final proof comes when she disengages from the rope and turns fully toward the camera. And finally, there's an uncut pan back up to the ship as it sails away, and it just couldn't look more real. And this is 10 years ago, so it's not CGI, and frankly it couldn't be CGI even today.

As for the cinematography itself, take a minute to think about the masterful expertise involved in getting all this in perfect focus, perfect framing and perfect timing. How many takes do you think they got, with that big moving ship as the setting of the action?

I was so amazed and impressed by Julia Ormond's performance of this stunt, that I've promoted her to a whole higher level of respect and admiration. She's athletic, she's skilled and she's courageous as hell. I always respected her as a fine actress and as a treat to see in any scene, but WOW! She knocked my socks off in this film.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] haewatein 16 years ago

So anyone really know??

Please, I'd be very interested in an 100% bulletproof answer.

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[–] AlexWestborn 13 years ago

I can't give you a bulletproof answer, and who knows if you're even still interested after 2 years, but here's my take on that scene:

There's a prop involved, but it's not the ship, which is moored and standing still, while a platform, dressed as ice floe, is driven alongside on the pier in the opposite sirection the ship would go, probably on oval wheels to create the bobbing.
The camera is almost fixed horizontally and only pans down slightly and then back upwards, so you only see a very limited amount of ice, supporting this theory. There's also nothing breaking away from the ice, just some slight movement from loose pieces of ice lying on the platform and touching the ship.
It's also not moving very fast - you still need some good timing, but there's not all that much danger involved.

[–] haewatein 13 years ago

I'm always interested!
2 years later, 10 years later. I have time!

Thanks for the answer. I have to rewatch the scene now in some time (in 2 years, 10 years^^) to judge for myself but your explanation sounds plausible and realistic!

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[–] acg_imdb 12 years ago

My wife and I finally watched this on DVR last night, from a Fox satellite broadcast of last year, and I have to admit that that one shot was really mind-boggling, especially as it was presented almost as a throwaway shot: no tension-building music beforehand, no rapid cuts to cover up stunt rigging or camera trickery, it was just, "Well, time to go! Headin' over the side now! Bye!"

I found it a little difficult to believe simply on the basis of risking injury to your lead actor in a film that wasn't finished, but it was done so seamlessly that if special effects were involved, they had me totally fooled.

One option that might clear this up, one that was a lot less available back when the film came out, might be email or Twitter: It shouldn't be too difficult to find Julia Ormond on-line and simply ask her. :-)