Heaven (2002) - Synopsis
The raw emotions, deadly choices and mysterious impulses that surround the search for a state of grace come to the fore in Heaven (2001), the last film written by the late master filmmaker Krysztof Kieslowski and writing partner Kryzsztof Piesiewicz (the makers of "Blue," "White" and "Red.") Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run (1998)," "Winter Sleepers," "The Princess and the Warrior") directs, bringing his intense visual energy to the taut, lyrical, multi-layered story of an ordinary woman who takes divine justice into her own hands.
Academy Award nominee Cate Blanchett ("Elizabeth (1998)," "Talented Mr. Ripley, The (1999)") stars as Philippa, a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, who has seen many friends, including her husband, fall victim to drug overdoses. Philippa has repeatedly contacted the police with information about Turin’s biggest drug dealer but, complicit in his dealings, they have completely ignored her. So Philippa decides to dole out her own form of justice with a home-made bomb – setting her off on a journey that moves through retribution and redemption, innocence and crime, hope and desire as she goes from young widow to fugitive on the run.
When Philippa’s plans go horrifically wrong, and she is taken into custody, she feels she has little left to live for . . . until she meets Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), a young police officer. Deeply drawn to Philippa, Filippo becomes her mysterious soulmate and unexpected partner on the lam, as both search for a brief, radiant idyll in a corrupt world. This is a luminous and haunting love story layered, in the tradition of Kieslowski, over a probing exploration of the modern world and its moral choices.
