In a Glass Cage

Agustin Villaronga's magnificent feature debut premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986, where it was alternately cheered and denounced for its unflinching gaze into the abyss of human corruption, and the movie's extreme subject matter prompted its subsequent lapse into obscurity. However, Villaronga's subsequent works (including MOON CHILD [El Nino de la Luna, 1989] and THE SEA [El Mar, 1999]) have travelled the international festival circuit to great acclaim, leading to a belated reappraisal of IN A GLASS CAGE, his darkest, most harrowing movie to date. Ostensibly a slow-burning melodrama punctuated by a series of Hitchcockian/Argentoesque set-pieces (most notably a nerve-shredding sequence in which Almodovar favorite Marisa Paredes - here playing Meisner's harried wife - is stalked through the house by Sust when she becomes surplus to his requirements), the film asks profound questions about the monsters which lurk inside each and every one of us, and illustrates with startling clarity the cyclical nature of sexual abuse. Some viewers, especially parents of young children, will undoubtedly be horrified by some of the confrontational material included here, as Villaronga refuses to soft-peddle the horrors conjured by his nightmare scenario (the film's second murder is especially shocking, though there's very little on-screen gore). In a brief interview with the director included on this DVD, he explains how some of the more unpleasant scenes involving children were created by having them play a series of innocent 'games' which were then edited into the finished product, and there's a disclaimer in the closing credits (annoyingly untranslated on the DVD) which offers an unequivocal reassurance that none of the young actors were exposed to anything inappropriate during filming, and that a child psychologist was present during the recording of those sequences.

Beautifully played by a fearless cast (veterans Meisner and Paredes are appropriately subdued, whilst newcomer Sust makes a startling transition from handsome, fresh-faced innocent to strident Nazi demi-god, rampaging through Meisner's increasingly devastated home with newfound sexual maturity) and filmed with genuine skill by a top-notch production team, Villaronga's extraordinary film explores the wartime ghosts which continue to haunt the collective European consciousness. To his eternal credit, the director approaches his subject with deadly seriousness: Using numerous cutaways to photographs of children taken in concentration camps at the end of the Second World War, he deflects any suggestion of 'exploitation' by constantly reminding viewers of the historical truth which underpins his fictional drama. By turns haunting, horrific and deeply disturbing, IN A GLASS CAGE is an authentic masterpiece, one of the finest - and most difficult - movies to emerge from Spain during the 20th century. However, be warned: Not everyone will be swayed by the film's courage and audacity, and some viewers will be genuinely shocked by Villaronga's uncompromising approach to the material.

Cult Epics' DVD improves on an earlier VHS release by Cinevista, but is compromised by unavoidable technical drawbacks: The original negative appears to be caught up in some kind of litigation, so the distributors were forced to work from a PAL master, without anamorphic enhancement. Picture quality is fine overall, but the print is a little dark in places. Audio on the first pressing was marred by sync problems, which were plainly obvious on larger monitors, and while the second pressing eliminates most of these issues, the sound still drifts out of sync by a few frames during the movie's second half (cf. the kitchen scene at 81:17, for example). The optional English subtitles are excellent.

107m 3s [PAL master at 25fps; originally 111m 30s]
1.85:1 / Letterboxed
DVD Soundtrack: Mono 2.0
Theatrical soundtrack: Optical mono
Spanish with optional English subtitles
All regions

...A revenge cycle?

Quirky little tale about what goes around comes around [again and agin] ~ somewhat a sister to 'Salo" - a worthy sister, but the victims are pre-teen and the graphic violence is disturbing.

There are touches of 'Nosferatu' here and looks like Coppola borrowed the red flowing cloak [the crane shots of the protagonist in full steam] from this saga.

Faces are quite handsome and fairly entertaining - but not not not for the squeamish.

[Wonder just how they got away with this one .....]

'For a Lost Soldier' is similar yet more poignant.

Not forgetting "The Night Porter"

....somewhat a homage to "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" too .......