Brilliant movie. It had good, directing, acting, plot, cinematography, music, in fact it had the lot.

Utterly perfect film.

Let me praise the beautiful camera work. I got mush pleasure watching it with boxxy software. Italy looks beautiful through the lens here. It was definitely made by a great film maker. Some may say the pace is irrelevant. It isn't. The central story of intrigue and suspense is completely supplanted. Every time the camera takes the extra 2 or 3 seconds on a beautiful shot is like a 2 or 3 seconds commercial. In a very short order, the movie can ground to a halt and disrupting any flow it may achieve. This is half a film with a lot of fillers. It needs an editor, and a more meaty 3rd act.

Heaven is a soul searching experience about revenge and the heavy price it extracts. But it also strives to suave the wound through an exercise of love and loyalty.

Blanchett is riveting.

"Heaven" was supposed to be a part of something bigger. It was planned to be the beginning of an ambitious trilogy written and directed by Krzysztof Kie?lowski, whose "Three Colors" trio of the mid-1990s has been endlessly hailed by film snobs as some of the finest films ever made. "Heaven," predictably, would be continued by "Hell" and "Purgatory"- but before such high concept plans could be properly executed, Kie?lowski died in 1996 following unsuccessful open-heart surgery. He left behind screenplays for "Heaven" and "Hell," but it will never be known how he would have directed the individual pieces of material himself, or how "Purgatory," never to see the light of day, would have compared to its predecessors. But "Heaven" is not the kind of introduction that leaves us clamoring for more - whereas Kie?lowski's "Blue" was a gorgeously melancholic prelude to a trilogy of emotive masterpieces, "Heaven" bears the feeling of a half-planned experiment that rides high on mood and performance, struggling in its impact due to a fundamental lack of plot. Its cathexis is virile. But its storyline is contrived at best, hollow at worst, and the preposterous relationship portrayed between its leading characters inspires more mystification than empathy. "Heaven's" misconceptions, though, have nothing to do with its actors, who manage to emote persuasively in a movie that belittles them. It stars Cate Blanchett as Philippa, a British schoolteacher in Italy whose inherent good nature has been aggravated by the recent death of her husband. Knowing that it is the result of dealings with a local, powerful drug dealer - many of her young students have met similarly dire fates - Philippa has since done everything she can to kickstart a police investigation in the matter. But it's been a year of letters and calls to the government without any response; the law could be doing something, but are blatantly ignoring the truth. Philippa suspects they could be a part of the problem, too. Distraught and unsure of what else to do, she turns to the drastic and plants a bomb in the high rise office of the dealer, whose entrepreneurial status has made him basically impervious to her accusations. But the plan goes awry when the explosion instead kills a quartet of innocents, leaving the predator unhurt and Philippa accused of murder and assumed to be affiliated with a terrorist organization. During the interrogation process, though, she catches the eye of Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), a young officer/translator who sympathizes with her claims. From there does "Heaven" lose its potential, surrendering to the stakes of a preposterous romance and morphing into a political thriller that doesn't have the hubris to lead us to a satisfyingly ferocious conclusion. In the ambit of a traditional movie, it would be unafraid to more thoroughly explore the issues of governmental corruption it so inauthentically attempts to characterize; it would also potentially ditch the hurried and incredulous romantic angle. But it's pretentious arthouse that I don't much care for and don't much care to take the time to praise. It likes itself more than it likes its audience, and without Kie?lowski's textured directorial eye to make it something other than arty fluff, I'd prefer you swim in the warm, exhilarating waters of his "Three Colors" trilogy than fly up to his supposed heaven. Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run") does his best replacing Kie?lowski in the director's chair, and Blanchett is an impressive successor to the Irene Jacob, Juliette Binoche type. But what a bother it is to walk through the inferior when the superior is as easy to access.

From Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer comes something slower paced but altogether similar in context and the nature of a strong female lead, and truly what better supporting actor could be garnered than Giovanni Ribisi?

a decent story that was enhanced by great performances,filming, and the aura of the movie.

Philippa: I don't want to escape punishment. I've killed four innocent people and I want to answer for that, but before I do, I want to kill him. "What Would You Risk For Love?" Heaven is a tough film to figure out for me. It's unique for sure, with major events happening at times you wouldn't expect them to. I never was able to fall in love with it, although I did thoroughly enjoy the whole film. It's wonderfully shot, the score is fantastic, and Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi are bother terrific.  A woman, Philippa, is a teacher living in Italy who recently lost her husband to a drug overdose. She gets fed up with law enforcement's lack of care her information about the drug dealer whose pushing large amount of drugs. So she decides to kill him. She tries to kill him with a bomb, but things don't go as planned and four innocent people die, while the drug kingpin still lives. To complicate things more, she is detained for the bombing.  This isn't a movie that really appeals to me too much, but I was able to find  quite a bit I liked and was able to take away from the film. I don't believe this to be a masterpiece or anything like that, but it is worth a viewing. If only for Care Blanchett, it deserves a look. 

didn't understand most of the dialogue since i didn't watch w/ english subtitles. but still understood the beauty of the film.

Love it. Unique and interesting.

Starts off with promise, but continues at a very quiet pace. Cate is, of course, great. And cute as a button bald.

A great film, dark, beautifully shot and well acted by a talented bunch of actors. A great experience for the senses.

It is very beautiful, although just for the sake of being beautiful. The story, although 'simple', is natural and makes sense compared to a lot of romances.

A different kind of love story, that's for sure. Well directed and Cate she speaka good da Italiano.

Photography, actors, storyline - everything get praise, but the music of the Estonian composer Arvo Part is not well known. His minimalistic modern classical music is used in this movie. He became a Christian and withdrew for months to an Estonian monastery and composed some of his music there. What a composer.

Philippa is in a hopeless situation. The drug dealers who have supplied drugs to her husband and students are supported by the Italian police who are questioning her. All seems lost until an young innocent translator helps her accomplish her goal.

late review......I barely remember it

Cate Blanchett in this great in this amazing film from the director that brought us Red, Blue and White. The cinematography is outstanding. To bad he died before the trilogy of Hell and Purgatory was completed.

Don't ask me what happened. Because I had no idea what was going on half the time. But I love the actors, it doesn't matter.