The opening scenes of Snow Cake are awash with jittery camera-work; nauseating and difficult to watch, the shots are shaky and unsettled, but this is a misleading introduction to the movie's true content. As the film progresses, the camera slows its pace along with the story, and by the time the shaken Alex (Rickman) arrives at Linda's (Weaver) door, it has come to a halt. Whilst the spirited Vivienne (Hampshire) is onscreen, however, questioning and singing at a nonplussed Alex, the entire world vibrates with her energy. Once she is gone, leaving a devastated and destroyed Alex to pick up the pieces, the initial life and energy of the movie dies.

Alex is a man with secrets, who is taking in coffee at a truck stop when the bouncy Vivienne asks can she sit with him. His sad and lonely demeanour is slowly eroded by her chirpy nature, and he gives her a lift to her next destination. Unfortunately, tragedy intervenes in their travels, and he is faced with the terrible burden of mourning someone he never really knew. His desperation to understand these feelings drive him to finding her address, and turning up at her mother Linda's door. An autistic woman who is highly vocal and independent, Linda doesn't seem to fully understand that her daughter is dead, and Alex struggles to fill a gap in her life, and his own, through their exchanges. Through Linda's regimented life and childlike enjoyments, his rough exterior is cracked, and he discovers that his ability to feel has not died with Vivienne.

The almost superfluous under-story of Alex's physical relationship with Maggie (Moss) lends a romantic twist to the tale, and a sometimes-welcome escape from the madness of Linda's house. However, the real heart of this movie is Linda – an emotionally detached stranger in her own life, whose close relationship with her weird and wonderful daughter opened her up to feelings nobody thought she could have. The sensitive handling of autism, and its effects on both Linda, as an autistic person, and the family members who try to allow her the independence she needs, is staggering. Sigourney Weaver bravely tackles the subject, one which is sometimes mangled in movieland, and shows her immense talents as an actress extend beyond her own personal experiences. Rather than portray Linda as another Rain Man, Weaver injects her with personality, individuality and independence.

Rickman's capacity for portraying emotion and feeling knows no bounds, and he holds a hint of cynicism in his gaze that hugely expands Alex as a human being. Rather than drown us in sentimentality, Alex slowly unfolds his hurt and pain, pervading the story with his sorrowful past. Despite this, the focus is truly on Linda, a woman who has managed to find her place in a world not particularly sympathetic to difference.

The director (Marc Evans) found his movie feet with the abominable My Little Eye, but he excels here in understatement, allowing his actors to tell the tale – written by Angela Pall – a first-time writing credit. Apart from some ill-advised forays into over-emotionalism, the movie as a whole rings very true. Though perhaps too 'worthy' a movie for cinema audiences, it is sure to find it's place on the rental shelf, and will certainly deserve what attention it gets.

Rated 15A (see IFCO website for details)
Snow Cake is released on 8th September 2006.