Introduction to 'In a Glass Cage/Tras el Cristal' (dir. Agustí Villaronga, 1987) - European Horror Season - Session 3 (original) (raw)

Abstract

Klaus (Günter Meisner), a Nazi doctor who attempted suicide after physically abusing a number of children, is now dependable on an iron lung. When mysterious Angelo (David Sust) suddenly appears in the house, Klaus is forced to accept him as a personal carer under threat of blackmail. Tensions between Angelo and Klaus’s wife soon mount as we discover that the boy may have his own dark agenda. Although Villaronga’s masterpiece avoids easy categorization and its complex portrayal of conflicted psychologies should not be reduced to a negotiation of Spain’s reppression under Franco, it is possible to read the film as an exploration of the legacy of national trauma in Spanish cinema. It is also a beautifully shot film that manages to be both provocatively extreme and elegantly measured, and it includes a fantastic performance from Marisa Paredes.

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