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Plot synopsis:
Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist) is a successful and renowned international conductor whose life aspiration is to create music that will open people's hearts. His own heart, however, is in bad shape. After suffering a heart attack on stage at the end of a performance, he retires indefinitely to Norrland in the far north of Sweden, to the village where he endured a terrible childhood of bullying.
Daniel buys the old elementary school in the village, and soon after is asked to come along one Thursday night and listen to the local choir. He is only asked to listen, and maybe offer some helpful advice, but their intentions of persuading him to help are obvious. He eventually agrees to help, albeit reluctantly. Daniel approaches the parish minister to seek for the position of cantor. He starts helping the choir grow and develop, rediscovering his own joy in music.
Almost immediately, Lena (Frida Hallgren), an attractive young girl in the choir, catches his attention. As they grow closer and fall in love, he realises that he is surrounded by the villagers' personal problems. Inger (Ingela Olsson) is married to the respected minister, Stig (Niklas Falk), but has failed to develop a loving sexual relationship with her husband. Siv (Ylva Lööf) is so obsessed with morality that she cannot enjoy herself. Arne (Lennart Jähkel) is so ambitious for the choir's success that he obsesses over tiny mistakes, failing to see that he is making bigger mistakes himself. Tore (André Sjöberg) is mentally handicapped and shunned but is eventually included in the choir; Holmfrid (Mikhael Rahm) has put up with being called "Fatso" by Arne since childhood and eventually stands up to him. Gabriella (Helen Sjöholm) is beaten and abused by her husband, Connie (Per Morberg), a fact that is known and ignored by the whole village. She eventually finds the strength to leave him, as the whole village finds its strength to help her. Connie himself turns out to be the bully who was at school with Daniel and drove him from the village. He blames the choir and Daniel for his wife's decision and beats him up. This lands Connie in jail. The minister, Stig, is jealous of the choir's success and tries to close it down. His failure precipitates his eventual nervous breakdown. The heart of each member of the choir starts to open, as it has always been Daniel's dream.
The choir is accepted into the annual "Let the Peoples Sing" competition (Arne has decided to register the choir without previous notice), and they journey to Innsbruck, Austria, to perform. Lena fears Daniel will leave her for his sophisticated friends from the music world, when she see their kissing and hugging him. He dares at last to tell her he loves her and then they make love. On the day of the competition, the choir is ready on stage but Daniel is nowhere to be seen. His heart has been affected by his anxiety, and he has another heart attack. Daniel staggers into the restroom, unsure of how to handle the situation, then stumbles and hits his head on the pipe below a sink, causing him to bleed severely. He lies helplessly on the tile, blood gushing from his head, listening to the choir harmonising over the loudspeakers. The audience in the auditorium is enchanted and sings along. Daniel smiles to himself and turns suddenly serious, thus leaving the viewer to decide whether he lives or dies, completely fulfilled by reaching his goal.
The final scene shows Daniel rushing towards his younger self within the wheat fields as he embraces his life's goal, to "create music that will open a person's heart".

Tags: violence, feel-good, romantic, flashback

Review:
A famous conductor, forced to retire by illness, returns to the small village of his birth to become the leader of the church choir, and finally find fulfillment in his music.
Firstly, small films about strangers bringing new life to rural Christian communities provide plenty of scope for the exposure of hypocrisy while at the same time allowing repressed characters to break out of their hairshirts.
But it is a formula with life left in it yet, and this seems to be because people need positive- message films that evoke a sense of community almost in spite of themselves.The stranger is burned-out maestro Daniel Daréus on a quest for self-rediscovery.
I am not going to spoil the contents to anyone, who has not yet watched this humble masterpiece by Kay Pollak.A world famous conductor brilliantly played by Michael Nyqvist seeks peace from stress by moving back to his childhood village.
The villagers, who has followed the genius in silence, are slowly tempting him to share of his greatness.Each role in this movie, has a very specific purpose and shows a remarkable potential in each of the actors playing their own chord in short but precise words, a symphony of love.Not love in the sense of relationship, but in the tone of the spirit deeply buried within each of the characters, each revealing their own present story, their needs, their skeletons, desires and much more.I shall not forget to mention, the two main parts played by Frida Hallgren and Michael Nyqvist, whose dramas are played in unforgettable harmonies of emotional feedback.
From the glitter of fame to the school of of his youth, now empty and ready to be adapted as his new home after collapsing on stage, Daniel wants to start listening and is drawn into the lives of the simple, warm and rough people of the North.He wins the hearts with music and gains the capacity to love and be loved unconditionally.Don't go see it if you've been normed to Hollywood.
The characters were all fully developed, not bigger-than-life but just like the people we live among anywhere we are in the world, in Sweden, in Turkey or in America, all completely believable human beings with foibles and nobility.
There are some truly breathtaking moments of foreshadowing, and a quite gorgeous continuing circular composition of the story.The moment in the movie, when the main character achieves that feeling of being in heaven is the perfect ending to a truly brilliant yarn..
His music opens the hearts of the members of the choir, affecting their daily life: the slow Tore (André Sjöberg) has the chance to participate in the choir; Inger (Ingela Olsson), the wife of Stig, releases her repressed sexuality; Gabriella (Helen Sjöholm) takes an attitude against her abusive and violent husband; the gossiper and frustrated Siv (Ilva Lööf) opens her heart against Lena; the fat Holmfrid (Mikael Rahm) cries enough against the jokes of the businessman Arne (Lennart Jähkel); even Daniel starts loving people and Lena as the love of his life.
When they are invited to participate in an important contest in Vienna, Daniel finds his music opening the heart of people making his dream come true."Så Som I Himmelen" is a touching and sensitive movie, with a very beautiful story.
The performances are top-notch, supported by magnificent music score and at least two awesome moments: when Gabrielle sings her song in the concert, and certainly the last concert in Vienna with the audience, jury and everybody participating in the melody, and Daniel making his dream come true.
Further, like many European movies, the open conclusion indicates that Daniel actually died, at least in my interpretation, reaching peace with the success of his music.
He faces hostile husbands and an increasingly dubious pastor, but nothing except death is going to stop him.Despite the somewhat corny story, we get to know and like many of the characters, who come across as people rather than caricatures despite many of them being recognisable "types'.
I did wonder about the wife-beater being unpunished for so long  Sweden is one country in the world where such violence is pretty strongly discouraged (he was also a bit young to be one of the bullies of Daniel's youth) and the puritanical pastor with a secret passion for girlie magazines was a bit of a stereotype, but marvellously realised by Niklas Falk.Michael Nyqvist is simply wonderful as Daniel, the frail but driven musician, and there's some nice music as well.
A simple story: an international conductor rediscovers love and on the way touches the lives of those around him in a small Swedish community where he takes over the church choir.A beautiful, lyrical testament to the human spirit.
You will think about this film long after you've watched it.The central character, Daniel, lived as a child in a small village where he was constantly bullied.
Emotionally isolated, driven and passionate--always seeking for a perfection in music which he could not attain--Daniel destroys his health and is forced to retire.He returns, with no particular plans, to the sparse village where he lived as a child, and ends up becoming conductor of the local church choir.
Just as the character of Daniel Dareus evokes so many sentiments and long repressed feelings within the people around him, the movie does the same to its viewers: You walk out with your head abuzz and your heart feeling full.
This movie seemed to be a sure winner based on reviews, yet my husband and I were shocked at the terrible acting by Michael Nyquist, the overblown behavior as well as superficiality of all the characters, the presence of everyone's (sadly, it would seem) favorite paper tiger faux-Christian pastor stereotype, and an aimless wandering plot, not to mention the completely unrealistic cop-out ending.There are endless long shots of Daniel (Nyquist) simply staring, without any clue as to what he is thinking or feeling, and there is precious little spoken dialogue, even when he is accused irrationally and unjustly by town gossips.
Set somewhere in Norrland, Sweden, the plot revolves around a famous conductor (terribly played by Mikael Nyqvist) who returns to the village he grew up in to ponder his life, but soon finds himself in charge of the local church choir.
A world-class violinist & conductor retires to his home village in Sweden, & regains his love of life by accepting to direct the local church choir Daniel Dareus (Michael Nyqvist) is a temperamental but very successful conductor.
"I want to feel like I lived my life!" This overly used, ultra cliché line sang in the climax of Swedish director Kay Bollak's international favorite As It Is In Heaven is sometimes exactly what you need to hear when looking for a feel good movie, dare I say, classic chick flick.
It follows the life of Daniel Daréus, (Michael Nyqvist) an extremely driven musician and conductor whose sole goal in life is to create music that opens the hearts of his listeners and changes lives.
But, of the two, "The Chorus" is a much better picture because it was written better and the ending made more sense and doesn't leave you angry.Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist) is a world famous director but he also has two problems--he tends to get very angry and he has a bad heart.
While there are a few comedic moments – as always in real life – most of this story centers upon the drama surrounding the psycho-social awakening of the central protagonist, Daniel Dareus (Michael Nyqvist), a violin maestro and concert conductor of international standing.The awakening specifically concerns Daniel's search for love, something he's been unable to achieve since his teens, when his mother died tragically as he watched – an episode that occurs in the first series of establishing scenes and voice-over.
In particular, the local church pastor asks him to help out the local choir.Initially demurring because he's shy of human contact, Daniel eventually agrees after meeting the woman who manages a local post office/convenience store, Lena (Frida Hallgren) and with whom he gradually builds a romantic relationship, a crucial step in his self-rehabilitation.
There, he comes in Dutch with the local church choir, that will change his life.I had no expectations when I saw this movie for the first time yesterday; I like watching foreign movies that are not English, and I've already seen a couple of Swedish movies in my life, but this one was the best so far.Where to start?
The choir members are all well-developed, interesting characters with their own story each.This movie tells a story, a beautiful story, about music, love, pain, memories, death, about a man who devoted his life to music, and who tries to create a calm existence in the village where he was born, while trying to make peace with the past and with the way his life has been till then.
Glorious music, very funny interaction between village choir members and some startling drama allow this film to offer a genuine smörgåsbord of cinematic scenes that, in total, actually work very well.
Still, it's a good (though not great) movie, with its highest point about two-third into the movie, in fabulous Helen Sjoholm's fabulous performance of "Gabriella's Song", harmonized in the background by the entire choir.The love story is sweet and Frida Hallfren is such a darling.
As to "As it is in heaven", in the end, while this movie means different thing to different viewers (denouncing hypocrisy, realising one's potentials etc etc), it is to me the joy of harmonising, as any member of a choir will surely appreciate..
On many levels it addresses the most prevailing themes of humanity and yet it is entwined with the beauty and majesty of music.Superbly acted, cleverly crafted, something of a little masterpiece.Where fear prevails there is suspicion of even the most innocent circumstances and where repression of the most basic human needs take place there can only be mayhem.How love and the enduring commitment to feel joy wins the day and leads the viewer to a bittersweet conclusion.This is one to watch again and again and revel in each and every time..
2) The local pastor (Niklas Falk), who seems at times like he walked straight out of Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, is a stern priest who feels the choir members (including his wife) are having too much fun, and he's jealous that Nyqvist is more popular in town than he is.
There is no script, editing is really bad , characters are never developed, there are so many scenes missing that fail to explain and explore where the movie is going that I am really amazed about the fact that this film was even considered for an Oscar.
The promising starting point, the return of an ill and famous conductor to his village, is spoiled when the director insists in touch the audience with unnecessary flashbacks, proposing, since the beginning, some very bad characters -- the priest, the stupid man who harassed the musician in the school times -- who remain superficial and almost caricatured.
An internationally renowned conductor, Daniel Daréus, played by Michael Nyqvist, suffers a heart attack during a performance and returns to his native Swedish village to take stock of his life.
I lived in the north of Sweden and in the movie it didn't seem quite the type of behaviour you expect over there, even before the choir participants started getting influenced by Daniel.
Although pretty much the entire film is told from his point of view, we never get to know Daniel, the central character, not helped by the one-dimensional performance by Nyqvist.
An internationally renowned conductor returns to simple living in his home town in As It Is in Heaven, a generally well received Swedish drama film that I found to be over-sentimental and clichéd despite a fairly engaging story.
Directed in 2004 by Kay Pollak, the film follows former child music prodigy Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist) as he returns to the town of his childhood due to serious health concerns that have sidelined his career.
Generally acting shy and anti-social around others, he does not want to become involved with them but simply wants "to listen." However, once a local store owner invites him to choir practice, he decides to become the church cantor in order to direct the choir.As cantor, Daniel becomes directly involved in people's lives for the first time in his life.
The choir must come together and deal with all of these problems before a huge performance at a choir contest in Innsbruck, Austria, where Daniel plans to accomplish his lifelong goal: to create music that opens people's hearts.Daniel's goal is a perfect example of why this film did not connect with me.
A film that is well done should not need to rely on sentimental music in the background or overplayed emotions by the actors and actresses to make a feel-good scene.Not only are the plot and characters over-sentimental in this movie, they are also largely based on stereotypes and clichés.
The closest would probably be Siv, she makes you ask yourself if she indeed was in love with Daniel, but that's about it.But the movie is beautiful, set in rural Norrland, the music is absolutely amazing and the characters are lovable.
Had this movie been made in Hollywood her song would most likely have been sung toward the end, and it would have made her husband open his eyes and see the error of his ways, as well as making the other people in the village realise a thing or two.
This Academy Award nominated film, which is essentially the Swedish version of a Lifetime Original Movie with a domestic violence plot line to boot, follows renowned conductor Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist) as he returns to his childhood home in the north of Sweden after suffering a heart attack in the middle of one of his concerts.
Upon his return home, Daniel becomes the cantor for the local church choir and starts to bring the townspeople together though what he sees as the spiritual quality of music.
Towards the beginning of the film, it is shown how Daniel lives and breathes his music, which is the love of his life.
Nonetheless, Michael Nyqvist did a wonderful acting as Daniel Darius and his wide range of emotions, but even a good actor cannot save a movie like this one.
Despite the film's tired and overused plot line, it shines with complex, appealing characters and an exploration of both the relationships and the isolation the villagers feel among each other.The film takes off running, and within the first ten minutes, Daniel (played by a brooding yet charming Michael Nyqvist) experiences childhood bullying, watches his mother die, becomes a world famous conductor, and has a heart attack while conducting in Milan.
Daniel's passion to "create music that will open a person's heart" succeeds, and his arrival in the town triggers sweeping changes.The film works due to its vivid characterization of individual members of the choir and their journeys to self-discovery once Daniel enables them to learn how to truly listen to themselves and each other.
Please, is there really a village up north with a women abused by her husband AND a disabled boy outfrozen from society AND a girl, unhappy, going from stupid boyfriend to even more stupid boyfriends AND a minister, trapped in his believes with a troubled marriage AND AND AND Everybody had a freakin' problem How can you even consider to take this movie serious?The experience gets worse with Pollaks way of telling us the story in an over specific way so that I felt stupid there was absolutely NOTHING between the lines!But what really made me angry and think about the money I spend at the cinema-register was the ridiculous ending where the hole world, no mater what skin colour, religion or disabilities was joined in singing while the 'hero' and 'redeemer' is slowly dying after confessing his eternal lovePlease, give me a break.
One would expect a man in his position to have all the comforts of the world he left behind to be installed in his new abode, but no, Daniel puts up with the harsh winter in his own way.The local pastor, Stig, whose church has a small choir, comes calling to see if he can interest Daniel in helping, but the conductor has no desire to go back to music.
It is a film about people overcoming obstacles, learning to do what they love, and coming together over one thing, music.
Daniel succeeds in getting the small church choir there to sing the music of heaven, but at the same time destroys all the useful hierarchies.
There were several aspects of the movie that bothered me, most notably the one-dimensionality of the characters and the blatant emotional manipulation of the audience through music.As It Is In Heaven tells the story of Daniel, an overworked, middle-aged orchestra conductor and professional violin player who is forced to retire after suffering a heart attack.
He returns to the isolated Swedish village of his childhood where he ends up directing the local church choir and changing the way the town members think about music and themselves.I was not impressed with the character development in As It Is In Heaven.
I think some of the strengths of this film include the rural setting and beautiful scenery, the idea of a church choir bringing a community together and providing an outlet for people with a diverse set of problems, and the subtle love story.
In this scene, you can see the panic her husband feels as he sees both his wife and community moving away from him and toward Daniel who is introducing new ideas and ways of life to the small, isolated town.Overall, As It Is In Heaven is a very good movie, with a strong plot and great acting and directing.