How sad is this?

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I would have to recommend this movie for at least a watch once if you are able, I did and in a way I enjoyed it, however I don't think I will ever get around to watching it again.The story is interesting and something I would like to revisit again and the actresses playing the main roles did a great job whoever I feel the movie held a slow pace seeming to move along at little more than a crawl. I feel a lot of this had to deal with the fact that there was very little dialogue, kept mostly only for a few select scenes. The actresses however did a fine job, able to make up for the slow feeling of the movie, you could feel their confusion at what was transpiring.I do feel though that the emotions of the girls where not fully explained though leaving a lot of room where the movie could have explored exactly what the girls were going through.

Based on an iconic book which appeared in the early sixties, by Norwegian national treasure Tarjei Vesaas, Per Blom's film shows how the swiftly developing relationship between two recently met pre-adolescent girls, Siss (a local girl) and the more introvert Unn (a newcomer) culminates in their deciding, in Unn's bedroom and at her suggestion, to undress in the spirit of mutual curiosity. Unn wants to know if she looks odd in some way, and confesses she harbours a secret so grave that she may be damned, but Siss cannot discern how Unn is particularly unusual. As time creaks by, the girls become uncomfortable at their own nudity and the scene ends in awkwardness. Then we see Siss quickly running home through the darkness.The next day, to postpone her own inevitable embarrassment, Siss avoids meeting Unn at school by going off alone to look at a frozen waterfall. She wanders awestruck around the massive icy structure, passing from one great vaulted chamber to the next, but at length gets lost inside and falls victim to the numbing cold. Finally, she dies of hypothermia, her new friend's name on her lips at the end. Search parties seek the lost girl in vain on the snow-covered hills into the darkness, while Unn seems perplexed then struck dumb by the unexplained disappearance of Siss. We see her alone in the school yard and, in a scene of calculated longeur, lying naked in the bath. The fate of Siss, while only an indirect consequence of the episode between the girls, leads to Unn being emotionally isolated in a way that parallels Siss's loneliness on first arriving in the district.I saw this film on British TV soon after its release in the late eighties, when Blom was being feted internationally. Twenty four years had elapsed since the book's publication and the very unworldliness ('innocence' is perhaps too charged a word) at the centre of the story was already out of step with the cynical knowingness then hardening into political correctness here in the UK. It was a bold decision to show it then outside of art house cinemas, I imagine, and a TV showing today would seem highly unlikely as the key scene, a commonplace in the lives of many children and hardly shocking in itself, would seem unpalatable in today's more censorious climate.A touching, poignant movie in which subtitles are often superfluous, but with much more to say for itself than this brief synopsis can convey. Well worth a look if you ever get the chance.

This film might not be to everyone's taste, it is slow moving but like all good things it is worth seeing for the visual impact of the scenery alone. The film revolves primarily around two girls and their interaction between each other and their community. One girl(Unn) is set apart from the rest of her peer group, a loner who is befriended by Siss. As the story unfolds you gain an insight into Unn's character, after sharing a secret with Siss, instead of going to school the next morning Unn wanders off into the snow and disappears. I won't give away the ending of the film, but it is beautifully shot, there are a lot of allegorical references, and the continuity is superb. definitely one for your collection

This film don't look like anything else. It is very slow moving, almost boring, and most of the pictures are close-ups of not very expressive faces. It's set in a very cold and very remote Norwegian mountain area in the thirties - not the most amusing place in the world. But very decent indeed. And then something starts sparkling. The two 12 year old girls meets a frosty evening, it is the first time that the kind and completely ordinary Siss visits the outsider Unn, who lives alone with her aunt. Unn shows to be an outsider indeed, having her room decorated by posters of pin-up girls , and soon suggest, that they take off their clothes. After doing that, Unn cries and admits, that she will not be let into Heaven, when she dies.Siss promise to keep Unns special feelings a secret. The very next day Unn dies in the big ice palace (a frozen waterfall in the nearby river)- nobody knows, if it was an accident or suicide, but Siss is left with feelings of guilt. What she really thinks, and what other people think, is not quite obvious. But this strange film is fascinating in its own odd way. There is some nudity and scary scenes, but that won't offend any minors, because they would be bored away long before it starts.