The House of the Spirits Reviews

Since there was a really good cast, I was really eager to check it out and I definitely had some pretty high expectations. Unfortunately, I thought it was one of the most misguided book adaptations I have ever seen. Indeed, this book was the debut novel by Isabel Allende and, eventually, this novel was critically acclaimed around the world, and catapulted Allende to literary stardom. However, like I said before, this adaptation was not really satisfying. Indeed, even though the plot takes place in Chile, the director, Bille August was Danish, and except for Antonio Banderas, the cast was composed of American, English and Germans actors to portray Latin American characters. I mean, the cast was pretty impressive (Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl) but they should have chosen some maybe less known actors but at least coming from Latin America. Anyway, this movie was eventually a flop and I can't say it deserved better. Still, the story really had some potential and I always had a weak spot for those movies describing a familly through four generations. To conclude, even though the whole thing is rather half-baked, I still think it is a decent drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.