The House of the Spirits

The House of the Spirits , Isabel Allende's South American saga of passion and power-mongering, is as flat as the pampas themselves under Danish Bille August's direction.....And the movie, which misses the book's magic realism, is incredulously, laughably non-Latin..... ... Full Review

In her inspired, astonishing performance, Close provides a tantalizing hint of the power of the book -....and where August's earnest International Motion Picture Adaptation remains all too tethered to earth, weighted down by a surfeit of good intentions.....The cast is about as classy as a prestige movie can get:.... ... Full Review

The film lacks such a center..... ... Full Review

The House of the Spirits" is not rated but would easily get an R for considerable violence, gore, sex, nudity and some profanity. All of this holds the potential for exciting storytelling, but the film just plods along in an episodic manner ... Full Review

The story told in " The House of the Spirits " is a lusty, passionate Latin melodrama, filled with ghosts, magic, poison and romance. All of the characters have the right names, all of the necessary events occur, and indeed the very best local actors have been engaged. ... Full Review

Often, especially for very good or very bad movies, the changes will make little difference.....However, in the case of The House of the Spirits , which is a worthy effort as it stands, certain alterations (not all of which would have been simple to execute) might have transformed this into a devastating film..... ... Full Review

His dispirited "House" is stiff and superficial, an earnest, ambitious failure. House" is performed in English, but the acting is so unaccountably, embarrassingly stilted, it feels dubbed -- you keep looking for subtitles. ... Full Review

The viewer doesn't have to be familiar with the book, however, to realize the film's a pretentious failure. "The House of the Spirits," the film adaptation of Isabel Allende's venerated novel, makes short shrift of the book's bounties, shreds the plot, combines or eliminates characters, airbrushes the brutal parts -- then attempts to dignify the destruction with a crowd of prestigious stars, including Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas and Vanessa Redgrave. ... Full Review

The House of the Spirits engrosses the viewer all throughout.....August is a masterful director of smaller moments, one who picks up on the interpersonal gestures and the unspoken dialogue between characters.....Niece of the slain Chilean president, Allende's story weaves a 50-year-long family melodrama with magic realism....Glenn Close perfects the role of the repressed spinster twisted by the times and by popular ideology;.... ... Full Review