The trailer for the Indie movie “Snow Cake” caught my attention for more than the intense performance by Alan Rickman.

Movie Blurb:
“Alex Hughes, recently freed from prison, begrudgingly picks up a vivacious 19-year-old hitchhiker, Vivienne, while driving through Ontario. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly. Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, Alex is drawn to seek out Vivienne’s mother, to talk to her in person about the fate of her daughter”

What the blurb doesn’t describe is Vivienne’s mother, Linda Freeman, played by Sigourney Weaver, is autistic – the high-functioning kind. However the more you watch Freeman in the trailer, the more apparent it becomes.

I first realized something was different about Vivienne’s mother the first time Hughes, Rickman’s character, meets her.

This is the moment he is trying to explain the fate of Vivienne. She opens the door and he says, “I’m so sorry.”

“Okay,” Freeman says and then swiftly shuts the door.


In another scene Freeman is interacting with what appears to be neighbors.

The neighborly lady says, “You must feel so awful for losing your child.”

Weaver’s character says, “I didn’t lose her, she’s dead.”

At this point I went, “Oooohh!” Freeman’s very literal interpretation “lose” reminded me of my son Jay and his many literal interpretations in the past.

While this movie seems very dark and emotion-laden, the trailer did show a humorous moment where Hughes and Freeman are having an argument.

She says, “You are a very selfish man.”

Hughes says, “No I’m not, you’re just unreasonable.”

She retorts, “I’m autistic.”

Without pausing Hughes says, “That’s the same thing.”


The last line had me laughing out loud.

I haven’t watched the movie, but I’m going to rent it soon. It’ll be interesting to see how Weaver portrays her character and how the rest of the characters interact with her. If you've seen it, let me know your thoughts!

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