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The House of the Spirits (1993)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
3/15
3/15:
The House of the Spirits is a sweeping epic about Esteban Trueba's family that spans four generations.
Although the film is absorbing to watch and has a multitude of layers, it's beset by many problems. First of all, I'm
confused in regard to the setting of the story. Is it in Mexico? Or Spain? Or somewhere in South America? It's not clear
because I'll like to know the historical circumstances that are responsible for the political forces causing the
family's strife. Eventually, after some research, it's Chile (like I would guess).
I can't help but feel dismayed by the casting choices. It's why I brought up my confusion about where the story took place
because the lead cast is made up of white thespians who don't speak Spanish and are too American to play Latinos.
Therefore, more than half of the cast shouldn't be in the movie.
Starting with Meryl Streep, she's overage to play somebody in her twenties. It's more suitable to have a look-alike
in her place to take care of this phase, and then she can take over during the rest of the film. Otherwise, she's
okay but doesn't do much for me. Ditto for Glenn Close. But she is somewhat terrible as the spinster and it's hard to say if
her character should've been younger or a much older woman.
Winona Ryder has never been a good actress, and there aren't many performances in her career that stand out. Her looks are
what got her parts in Hollywood. Winona Ryder isn't convincing in The House of the Spirits for a minute. Her
role should've gone to somebody else who's actually Latina and, more importantly, believable. Additionally, based on her
clothes, she looks modern which adds more to my confusion whether or not the movie takes place in California.
Antonio Banderas is a proven poor actor, but he should've been good here by playing a strictly Spanish-speaking character.
It's unrealistic for him, as a union organizer, to address the peasants in English. He's also underdeveloped, being
neither mysterious nor compelling enough to be a serious threat to Esteban. So, I'm disappointed.
Vincent Gallo does a good job of playing the second most interesting character behind Esteban. Unfortunately, he doesn't have
enough screen time to serve his own dish of irony. I want to see him come to a full circle and make his father
pay for the rape of his mother. This almost never materializes because he ends up torturing his half-sister which doesn't feel
like a payback.
Finally, we come to the best of the show: Jeremy Irons. I like his performance as the highly moralistic yet
hypocritical Esteban due to his huge super-ego, and he's the only one who has any depth. He put in a lot
of work into his character who's a hybrid between Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights and Charles Foster Kane of
Citizen Kane. That's why everybody else, acting-wise, struggled to keep up with him. There's not much of chemistry
among them, either.
The biggest problem of the entire film is lack of depth. Most players don't show appropriate emotions when reacting
to certain situations. Instead, they have an unconvincing expression which is a blank face.
There's no gist to make a point of why things happen even though there's a short explanation at the end, but the
movie is so long that I've stopped caring anymore which is the other trouble.
To my surprise, there's a scene of the granddaughter eating Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner. Also, the film can do
without telekinesis and clairvoyance because they don't contribute much to the story overall. Clara's ability to make
prognostications is confusing many times. The reason why I'm bringing it up is that she should instead take advantage of
her powers to prevent bad things to happen. Yet she lets them anyway. Hence, it's a pointless aspect.
All in all, Como agua para chocolate got everything right, making for
a suitable replacement for The House of the Spirits.