It's a tactfully acted film, beautifully shot in snowy widescreen, subtly scripted and directed with a rare touch.
Comment
01/01/00
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
100
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:52
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.8/10
Consensus: Director Atom Egoyan examines tragedy and its aftermath with intelligence and empathy.
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: A small Canadian town is torn apart by the appearance of an ambulance-chasing lawyer after a tragic accident involving a school bus killed many of the town's children. One key witness, however,... [More]
Starring: Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Maury Chaykin, Peter Donaldson
Director: Atom Egoyan
Reviews for The Sweet Hereafter
Top Critic...Egoyan looks at the essence of guilt and the complexity of human relationships in all their rich variety.
04/17/01
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/09/06
Top CriticEgoyan sways away from the obvious, eschewing easy tears for something more fiercely intelligent.
01/01/00
I can think of no other movie that has dared to analyze grief and its aftermath with such naked honesty and precision.
01/01/00
The movie has an impact that extends far beyond the walls of a movie theater - a quality shared by a distressingly few of today's releases.
01/01/00
The naked emotion of tragedy weighs on every frame...
01/01/00
Explores the ways in which a tragedy enhances rather than diminishes a town's sense of community.
03/01/02
Cuts to the bone and stays there long after its end credits have finished rolling.
03/08/09
The Sweet Hereafter is a spellbinding film, one which you will not be able to stop thinking about for days.
01/01/00
This is one of the best films of the year, an unflinching lament for the human condition.
01/01/00
Top CriticBased 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.
07/01/04
Egoyan jumps backward and forward in the narrative with a clever deliberacy that reveals bits and pieces of literal and metaphorical relationships all in their own time.
01/01/00
Ian Holm gives us a wrenching portrait of a self-contained man cracking at the seams.
01/01/00
A beautiful elegy about family and community, death and healing...
01/01/00
a film that has brains, heart and a soul
01/01/00
Despite the unhappiness of so many in the community even before the accident, The Sweet Hereafter shows graphically and yet in an understated, lyric tone, the ways in which the disaster has permanently changed the face of the backwater burg.
01/01/00
Latest News for The Sweet Hereafter
September 07, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: Where the Truth Lies
From Atom Egoyan, director of "Exotica," "The Sweet Hereafter," and "Ararat," comes Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman in the already... More...
August 22, 2005:
Egoyan's "Truth" May Lie with an NC-17
ThinkFilm, distributor of the new Atom Egoyan film "Where the Truth Lies," plans to appeal what they believe will be an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, says The Hollywood... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds