Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

The House of the Spirits Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 1, 2024

How could a film with a cast featuring Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave, Maria Conchita Alonso, Winona Ryder and Armin Mueller-Stahl fail to be a visceral viewing experience? Well, either fortunately or unfortunately depending upon how you look at it, there's only one example with this particular concatenation of marquee names to base opinions on, and despite some of the starriest casting imaginable, The House of the Spirits is a decidedly lackluster affair. Considerable newsprint and/or bandwidth at the time of this film's release decried the kind of "cultural appropriation" the largely Anglo cast exemplified in a story set in Chile and written by one of the most legendary Chilean authors of all time, Isabel Allende. That may be even more of an issue for some in these heightened PC times, but what may really afflict the film is a glacial pace that moves through a series of vignettes without ever developing much emotional momentum. This is an absolutely gorgeous film to view, but it's frankly kind of deadly dull a lot of the time.

The House of the Spirits documents 50 years of a family's roiling history, with an emphasis on relatively saintly if at times emotionally unbalanced women and absolutely dastardly, hateful men. Esteban (Jeremy Irons) and Clara (Meryl Streep) marry, but only after some prefatory scenes that establish Clara's telekinetic and other "supernatural" powers as a child, and, later, the first of several horrifyingly misogynistic moments where Esteban rapes a woman, leading down the road to a kind of fractious internecine conflict that is almost Biblical in an Abraham - Sarah - Hagar kind of way.

Esteban's sister Ferula (Glenn Close) and daughter Blanca (Winona Ryder) are also central to the story, but the story itself is diffuse and strangely never builds to the kind of catharsis one might assume would result from an ending that, not to mix cinematic genres too liberally, reunites a couple, one newly deceased, the other dead "for a while", as spirits, in much the same way the arguably more moving The Ghost and Mrs. Muir does. The entire cast seems kind of awash in this material at times, and it may at least be instructive to see so many legends struggling to find their footing in material that seems positively foreign to their inherent strengths. Pay attention, for example, to a relatively early scene between Streep and Close in an elegant dining establishment, where they both are obviously trying very hard to make sometimes clunky dialogue sound natural. The film's political subtext, while interesting, may at least partially elude those not conversant with Chile's history.

The House of the Spirits Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The House of the Spirits is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. The back cover of this release offers a generic "1080p high definition presentation by Paramount Pictures" as its sole technical data point. While there are moments here that look a bit sharpened, giving the film a somewhat digital appearance, a lot of the presentation is more naturally filmic looking, with a really beautifully suffused and burnished palette, and some appealing detail levels on the huge variety of props, sets and costumes that fill this sprawling multi decade tale. There is some noticeable age related wear and tear that crops up. Grain can occasionally be slightly grimy looking against brighter skies (especially in some of the wide vistas offered), but resolves naturally. My score is 3.75.

The House of the Spirits Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The House of the Spirits features LPCM 2.0 audio. Hans Zimmer's elegiac string suffused score is one of the standouts of this production, and it receives a nicely full bodied accounting here. The film's emphasis on a number of outdoor locations also provides some good background ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The House of the Spirits Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• European Cut (2:26:37) comes with the following prefatory information:

  The House of the Spirits premiered in Germany with a 146 minute theatrical cut which was also released in other European countries. The U.S. cut was edited to become a 132 minute version. Aside from the extedned running time, the European cut also has a unique presentation of the film's opening, and some other scenes use alternative edits. The cut presented here is the German master, with opening titles in German language. The audio is presented in English.

  Note: The U.S. cut runs 2:12:44.


• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Scott Harrison gives some good background information and also addresses some of the differences between the two cuts.


• Beginning with Bille (HD; 11:03) is an interview with First Assistant Director Guy Travers.

The keepcase insert features an inner print and packaging features a slipbox.

The House of the Spirits Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Allende's multi-generational approach toward storytelling may remind some of another noted female author, namely Edna Ferber as she did in efforts like Come and Get It, which also featured a cross generational story of star-crossed romance(s). But there simply may be too much story here despite the film's plodding length, and the kind of odd balancing act (or imbalancing act, as the case may be) the film tries to pull off vis a vis concentrating on Esteban and Clara and/or Blanca and her main squeeze Pedro (Antonio Banderas) gives the film a disjunctive feeling that is only reinforced by the vignette driven structure. Visuals are absolutely gorgeous a lot of the time, though, and the good news is technical merits are generally solid and the supplements enjoyable for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.