The House of the Spirits

The House of the Spirits is a generational tale of life among the ruling class in a South American country, as adapted from the Isabel Allende novel, but the political realities coexist very uneasily with the magical realism in this Bille August film. The star power alone (Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave, and Armin Mueller-Stahl) should have cranked it up a few notches, but that's not the case. Irons is appropriately cruel as the ambitious man who achieves wealth and makes everyone around him miserable and Streep is luminous, but it's slow and ponderous all the way. --Marshall Fine

Movie Details

Cast: Meryl Streep, Jan Niklas, Sarita Choudhury, Frank Baker
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 140 min
DVD Aspect Ratios: 2.35:1

International rating:

Europe: 15
Australia: M

DVD International release dates:
North America: Aug 14, 01

VHS International release dates:
North America: May 22, 01