The House of the Spirits

The film's biggest problem is its cast. Isabel Allende's novel is embedded in Chilean history; the leads are Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder and Antonio Banderas. Latin American actors appear well down the supporting cast, mostly as servants or victims. The production runs the same way: a Danish director, German, Portuguese and Danish money, shooting in Denmark, and American, British, Spanish and German performers playing Latin characters. Jeremy Irons aged down with a prosthetic nose and false teeth and presented as Latino draws the sharpest criticism. Latino actors in Los Angeles protested the film. The story covers three generations of a landowning family, their rise and their disintegration in the run-up to the 1973 coup. Bille August directed. It failed in the United States, took $55m in Europe and won four Robert awards, Denmark's equivalent of the Oscars. Who it is for: viewers who loved the novel, want to see these actors, and can knowingly set the casting aside. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the book's political weight. The film turns Chile into an unnamed country and reduces the coup to a family tragedy.