Snow Cake stars Alan Rickman as Alex, a man who picks up a hitchhiker then gets immersed in that person’s life. Sigourney Weaver plays the hitchhiker’s mom, Linda, and Carrie-Anne Moss plays the neighbor, Maggie. Battlestar Galactica’s Callum Keith Rennie plays the man who brings them all together.
I wanted to watch Snow Cake because of the cast, and one of the characters is autistic. The cast makes the melodramatic narrative more palatable than a lesser group of actors would. The story feels as if it is a novel that I would read in high school and find amazing, but now I would find incredibly unrealistic. If I did not like watching these people act, I would interrogate the ridiculousness of the film more, but I accept events as they unfold because if Rickman crossed my path, I would probably hitch a ride with him, let him hang out in my house, do favors for me, etc. Because he plays Alex, I am willing to overlook the tenuous profile of this character.
Snow Cake cannot convince me that Alex existed before the cataclysmic event that put him on the road to encounter these people. What does he do for a living? Yes, he is British, but where does he live normally? People of a certain age manage to accrue a history, acquaintances, etc. You cannot rent a car without a credit card. How was he able to travel so quickly after that event? Alex is a Rube Goldbergian character. Alex seems to exist to tie together a cast of women characters, interact and observe them, but will evaporate after he leaves them or after the original purpose of his trip is over.
Alex is not the only character who seems to exist to bear witness or bring characters together. The hitchhiker’s plight only seems to unfold to provide an opportunity to Alex to reflect on his offscreen story and get a second chance to make the right choice instead of simply being a movie about that offscreen story. The hitchhiker is a manic pixie dream daughter. Why not make one movie about Alex’s wrong turn in life and another about an autistic woman? It means both stories lean upon the other without the confidence to stand on their own. The only gender subversion is that the man shows the emotions that the autistic woman cannot.
Snow Cake seemed to want to make the autistic character into the protagonist but lacked the confidence to do it, so the story went with a normal, relatable, male protagonist instead. The writer seemed to be unable to find an entry point as a dramatic excuse to enter the autist’s life and watch a complete story if it elected to use a more quotidian character study of an autist and her caretaker, so it elected for melodrama. For me, the movie’s most riveting visual moment is when Linda and Maggie make silent eye contact, and their relationship changes dramatically out of necessity and a begrudging, resentful kindness. I caught a glimpse of the movie that I wanted to see, and I’m sorry that the movie ends at this point because it was an otherwise drab, colorless film out of necessity to create the winter landscape that Linda loves.
Snow Cake advertises the autist as high functioning, but it was made in 2006 when a lot was still unknown about women with autism so while this movie is not Rain Man, it is not Tik Tok either so the definition of high function is going to vary depending on what preconceptions a viewer brings to the viewing. Is it a fair depiction of autism? I do not know. Probably, but the writer modeled the character after her young son while the actor used an autistic woman as her muse. The film is not in complete alignment with its desire to depict women with autism on screen, but filmmakers must begin somewhere.
Snow Cake’s most problematic issue seems to be internalized misogyny. All the women in the autist’s community are depicted as not seeing her as a complete human being and do not respect her choices whereas Alex is the sympathetic outsider yet Alex constantly transgresses the autist’s boundaries and pushes her to obey rituals which will violate them further and cause her mental distress, but somehow his actions are depicted as benevolent, not officious or invasive as the provincial women. There is one scene in which Alex touches every object on a shelf. Dude! I do not touch every object when I’m dusting. It is played for laughs. The filmmakers’ idea of humor seems insensitive. The exception is the autist’s family. I am concerned that people will leave this movie believing that violating an autist’s boundaries is not as harmful as it is, and it will encourage then to fit in. An incompetent man is endearing. An incompetent woman is hostile.
The exception to these frumpy, busy bodies is Maggie, who is primarily defined by her sexuality. Moss deserves an Oscar for emotionally navigating a scene that does not end in hostility after being treated like a sex worker. She is another character who seems to exist for men to have a masculinity dance off over then somehow, she gets saddled with the female tax of caretaker even though she is single and has no dependents. In this world, the pretzels that the plot twists itself in to make that happen is quite impressive.
I am not going to worry too much because it is not easy to find Snow Cake. It cannot be streamed so I got the DVD from my library. If your library does not have it, you can buy it for $9.39 on Amazon, which seems like a lot of money for a mediocre movie. I love Rickman and Weaver, but I would not do it even as the finite supply of unwatched Rickman movies diminishes. It is not the kind of movie that you are going to watch repeatedly, and after watching it, you may be vaguely embarrassed to have it on your shelf. It just is not worth it. Most people enjoyed Snow Cake if user reviews on IMDb are any indication. The movie’s lack of availability is because it is a British Canadian production. The writer and director usually work on television series that I do not recognize, and I will not be investigating any further. I do not feel as if I wasted my time, but if you are not a fan of the actors, you may want to avoid this film.
