‘The House of the Spirits’ arrives on the Berlinale, in collection and in Spanish: Latin American classics seduce the platforms | Cinema: premieres and critiques | EUROtoday

When the movie model of Isabel Allende’s novel was launched in 1993 The home of the spirits, The criticism was cruel. That concoction was not saved by the hand of its director, the double Palme d’Or winner Bille August, nor by a solid of stars (Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder and Antonio Banderas) who spoke in English. “And yet, it hurt us even more that the point of view of an eminently feminine novel changed and that it ended up focusing on the male protagonist.” Francisca Alegría and Fernanda Urrejola communicate. Beside him, Andrés Wood nods. They are the three showrunners of The home of the spirits, serial model in Spanish of Allende’s novel, of which Prime Video has offered the primary three chapters within the Berlinale Special Series.

The three Chilean filmmakers (Urrejola, additionally an actress, performs Blanca Trueba) spent 4 months in 2024 filming their imaginative and prescient of probably the most well-known ebook by Allende, government producer of the collection. Regarding whether or not there have been pink traces when beginning the work, they clarify that there have been some basic guidelines for the trio: “First, that the cast was made up of people with whom we wanted to work. Second, we had intimacy coordinators, which not only helped the performers to be comfortable, but the actors themselves could even decide during filming how they showed their bodies. No one was ever pressured. And third, we studied a lot how we filmed violence against women.”

Few readers will do not forget that The home of the spirits, In addition to being a household saga based mostly on magical realism and a portrait of the pitfalls of gaining political and social energy in Chile (though the place it takes place is rarely named), it’s a very violent ebook, as was the half century of South America that it describes. “In Chile, unfortunately,” Urrejola remembers, “we had a secret police that created new forms of torture, something very terrible. We reflected on how to make a digestible series, but without hiding what really happened. Therefore, how to show all that violence was a super important starting point, and one that we talked about a lot before even writing.”

Alegría and Urrejola undertook the undertaking, to which they later added Wood (Machuca, Spider). “It’s not just us, but the team leaders have also been fundamental,” says Wood. “In any case,” Alegría provides, “we have worked as showrunners American style: since we filmed by location, in the episodes that Andrés signs there are sequences of mine, and vice versa. And we’ve all been in everything.” At which point Wood bursts out laughing: “And we’re still in post-production on the last episodes.” The series, which has eight episodes, will premiere on April 29.

In the cast, along with the Chilean performers, there are also Mexican actors (Esteban Trueba, a wild male narrative engine, is brought to life by Alfredo Herrera), Argentinian actors (Dolores Fonzi plays Clara del Valle as an adult) and Spanish actors (Eduard Fernández, Maribel Verdú and, above all, Nicole Wallace, who Carla del Valle faces in most of the project). Urrejola begins: “We also considered the nationality of the cast. And we were clear that we were going to produce a Latin story. Furthermore, this is a novel that would not have had such a successful run if it had not been for Spain. It was Spain that opened the space for Isabel Allende, it was central for the world to have access to this story.” Alegría continues: “This commitment to a Latin cast helps us unify the Spanish-speaking audience. We combine a creative authorial perspective, and there is also an audience perspective.” And Wood concludes: “It has been a great privilege to make this series, to film in Chile with the Ibero-American team, speaking Spanish. In my previous films I had a team of different nationalities, and only for creative reasons, not co-production. I am always looking for new faces, to add freshness… I feel that it was a privilege to work with a casting so broad, and the Spanish made a tremendous contribution.” Alegría says as an epilogue to the reply: “We chose the actors according to what we thought was best for the character. Like Nicole Wallace, who has exceptional talent and perfect finesse for the character. Or Eduard Fernández, a giant, an overly generous performer.”

Assault on Latin American literature

In current years, platforms have explored Ibero-American literature of the growth and from later a long time: on Netflix they’ve tailored Pedro Paramo y One hundred years of solitude; and HBO, Like water for chocolate y The maelstrom, and on Prime Video now The home of the spirits. Could even be included right here The eternaluta Urrejola and Alegría level out: “I think they are born from respect for the authors, the language of their work and their locations. We have made small changes to Allende’s book, such as revealing from the beginning who the narrator is or interconnecting characters that do not intersect on the pages. We further emphasize the fact that one of the feminine weapons against heteropatriarchy is care; we investigate how women take care of each other and the rest. That nutritious element of the feminine world is what could save us from such a patriarchal society.”

And for this reason, the trio insists, we must not forget the initial objective of Isabel Allende’s writing: “It is important to recollect who she wrote the ebook for. The huge clue is who writes inside the novel: Alba. And she does so with a transparent dedication to the ladies in her household.”

The spirit house It belongs to magical realism, a gigantic Latin American contribution to world literature. “We thought loads about how one can seize it on display. How does it translate into photos?” reflects the trio. “When you wish to seize it actually on movie, it would not work. But you may give it a spin. And delve into its idiosyncrasies, how the interplay with the supernatural and ghosts is normalized for its characters. So the very first thing is that it have to be proven as regular for the surroundings. It has to really feel on a regular basis. The salt shakers do not need to fly like in Harry Potter, however they merely transfer. Magical realism is rooted within the on a regular basis. They are connections that need to do with the world and that the characters have. Once we assume its fundamental guidelines, we start our path to translate it.”