Ill-health forces a world-famous conductor to retire from the public eye. Arrogant and a loner, he returns to the small village of his childhood where he was mercilessly bullied.
Having collapsed on stage, Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist) reluctantly takes medical advice and retires to the distant north of Sweden and a small, remote village. Having changed his name following the death of his mother, Daréus is known only by current fame, not by any historical link. Asked to help with the choir, his reserve is slowly overcome by their determination. As the choir improves, Daréus falls for Lena (Frida Hallgren) and his standing in the village increases. But the local Pastor (Niklas Falk) struggles with the shift.
A feel good feature with its sense of purity and redemption, As It Is In Heaven is a sensitively told narrative directed by Kay Pollak. But it is also something of an overly melodramatic, unsubtle, saccharine-sweet narrative that whilst touching, would have benefitted from a little more grittiness and raw emotion.
Nominated for best foreign language film Oscar in 2005.
Rating: 63%
Director: Kay Pollak (Heaven on Earth, Children’s Island)
Writer: Kay Pollak (Heaven on Earth, Children’s Island)
Main cast: Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, John Wick), Frida Hallgren (Heaven on Earth, Sunny Side), Lennart Jähkel (Salmer fra kjøkkenet, Heaven on Earth)
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