The House of the Spirits
THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (15)
D: Billie August
Neue Constantin/Spring Creek (Bernd
Eichinger)
Germany/Denmark 1993
138 mins
Drama
W: Billie August [based on the novel by Isabel
Allende]
DP: Jörgen Persson
Ed: Janus Billeskov Jansen
Mus: Hans Zimmer
PD: Anna Asp
Jeremy Irons (Esteban Trueba), Mery Streep (Clara del
Valle Trueba), Glenn Close (Ferula Trueba), Winona Ryder (Blanca Trueba), Antonio Banderas (Pedro Tercero Garcia)
Turgid, overlong, miscast period drama about a Chilean
family's rise to power against a background of political upheaval and their inevitable fall from grace.
Supposedly the book it was based on was rather well
received, but the film was a huge flop, and deservedly so. An embarrassment of performances from an otherwise very capable cast. Oscar-bait which fell well short of its
potential.
4/10
