A believer in coincidence might say that it could be a coincidence that every movie I've seen involving Cate Blanchett has been very, very enjoyable. I, on the other hand, consider it to be a matter of her great performances [along with those of her fellow actors, of course]. But she is the one common denominator. Whether it be drama, comedy, period pieces or whatever, you can always count on an outstanding performance from this lady. And Heaven is no exception. I can't quite label her the "Best Actress" of her generation but she's certainly in the top 3, in my opinion. And, as is usually the case, a fine performance by Giovanni Ribisi [her co-star in another movie, The Gift]. I rated this movie as a 10. Check it out and see if you agree and, even if you don't, you won't be disappointed.

In Turin, Italy, Philippa Paccard (Cate Blanchett) places a bomb in the office of a businessman who she suspects to be the head of a drug cartel. Her students have been dying from the drugs but the police is unresponsive. The plan goes wrong and four innocent people including two little girls are killed. In the interrogation, Philippa insists on English and Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi) offers to translate. He falls in love with her.

First, let me praise the beautiful camera work. 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.

The love affair between Cate and Giovanni is not credible. They lack any passion. It's an automatic romance where he falls head over heels from across the interrogation room. I don't believe it as a romance and it's too slow to be a thriller.

Philippa (Cate Blanchett) is a British English teacher living in Italy, who kills four innocents persons when she planted a bomb with timer in the garbage can in the office of a drug dealer. Unfortunately, the fifty years old cleaning woman removed the can from the office and brought into a elevator, where a father and two child daughters were with him, on the exact moment of the activation. Philippa is arrested and along the interrogatory, where many police officers participate, including the corrupt policeman Major Pini, she is helped by Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi),the officer responsible for the translation, to escape from the jail. Filippo is in love with her since she was his brother's teacher. Before leaving the building, she kills the drug dealer in the office of Major Pini and then they escape from the police station to the country. With the police chasing them, they reach a farm of a friend of Phillipa, where they are trapped.

This slow movie has characters not well developed and the story goes nowhere, with no conclusive end. Based on the name of the film ('Heaven'),the fact that Filippo has the same name of Philippa, he was born on the day of her holy communion, and the helicopter scene, one possible conclusion is that Filippo is her guard angel and has fallen in love with her. But anyway, Philippa killed four innocent persons just because she wanted to eliminate a drug dealer, and why should she have a redemption in the end of the story? The screenplay has many flaws, and although having the presence of Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi and beautiful locations in Italy, this movie does not work. In my opinion, it is overrated in IMDb. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): 'Paraíso' ('Heaven')