The House of the Spirits (1994)

Excellent but underrated film

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The House Of The Spirits would be be for the 18 crowd. I found this movie to be a tedious and rather pointless movie. To me, I saw little purpose in this movie. There are many actors and actresses which I love to see are in this movie. Stars such as Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, Vanessa Redgrave and Antonio Banderas are in this flick. The House Of Spirits is a long movie. I believe that 20 minutes could have been edited out. Yes, The House of the Spirits movie does give one insight as to how people in Chile live. I was disappointed to have so many of my favorite stars in a pointless film. This is definitely a movie to have on TV and play cards to or have another activity going on. If you don't have anything else to do but relax, watch it. I give The House Of the Spirits three thumbs up.

I had the pleasure of catching this movie on Netflix after almost 13+ years. I was only 14 the last time my cousin, sister and I had sat together one warm summer afternoon and watched this on HBO. After that I didn't remember the name of the movie, just knew enough to know that Meryl Streep was in it. The movie made a mark on my childhood, I was deeply engrossed by the mystical capabilities on Streep. Her poignance and courage in the movie paved the way for much of the artsy feeling I enjoyed. Years later I still love the movie, frankly because it brought back memories of my childhood and I got a chance to relive it all.

To capture the rich complexity and the intensity of a novel by Isabel Allende is not an easy task; however, it is one that Bille August attempts to do with the film version of Allende's "The House of Spirits." Jam-packed with a stunning cast, including Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and Winona Ryder, the film covers a span of around 70 years, giving us a glimpse of the different aspects of the family's life that shapes who they become as the film progresses. Although the acting is well done and the storyline enticing, I sometimes felt lost between the large jumps in time, as well as the various side stories that were only surfaced upon, such as that with the other son. I feel that in order to truly capture the complexity of Allende's novel, the film would have to be long enough to delve into each character and their respective stories with much more detail.

This should have been retitled "The House of the Wooden Spirits". It bears no resemblance to the wonderful spirit of the book, mainly because of the utterly hopeless performance of Jeremy Irons. He is stiff, speaks as if he has marbles in his mouth, and throughout the film plays only one role - "look at me the gruff, tough self made man" - but in a totally unconvincing and forced way. He has never been a good actor, but in this film he "under-excels" himself. And talk about a house with absolutely no spirit! Hopefully the location manager never got another job! One curious thing was that from Blanca's birth until I got bored with the film (ie when she leaves school), which in the film should have been about 17-18 years, nothing grew on the property. The grass didn't grow, no shrubs grew, and no trees. Isn't that curious to say the least or is it just one more example of Hollywood treating us as dumb a**es?