El techo de cristal

It's difficult to label "El techo de cristal" (The glass ceiling). Those who are looking for a giallo will be disappointed. A good example of a Spanish giallo can be given by "Los ojos azules de la muñeca rota" (The blue eyes of the broken doll). "The glass ceiling" is much more a psychological thriller.

The film takes place in the country. Pigs, cows, dogs and horses are part of the background of the film. Martha's husband goes out on a business trip. Martha (Carmen Sevilla) is left alone in the house and her imagination starts to work. She's got a neighbor, Julie (Patty Shepard), who lives in the apartment above her. Julie is also alone because her husband is out, presumably for business reasons. And there's Richard (Dean Selmier). He's a sculptor and passes most of his time in his studio working on his creations, but that doesn't stop him from being a down-to-earth man. And finally to complete the picture, there's Rosa (Emma Cohen). She delivers milk bottles for the people living there. These people will become entangled in a complex spider's web.

On the surface everything seems normal, but there's more to it than it meets the eye. Martha sometimes hears Julie's steps above her. She begins to suspect that Julie killed her own (Julie's) husband. Julie's explanation for the absence of her husband had not convinced Martha. Is this suspicion grounded in some reality or is this is just the overheated imagination of a woman left alone? Anyway right from the beginning, it's clear for us, the viewers, that someone is watching everything and taking pictures. Sometimes the image briefly freezes into a still and we hear the click of a camera. Martha has caught wind of something. But she hasn't got the whole picture and that's very dangerous.

"The glass ceiling" is a sensitive portrayal of rural life. It has a feeling of reality, but it's not a surface reality, it goes deeper than that - lyricism, subtle irony and suspense.

The camera work is free and creative, the acting overall is good and very natural, and particularly Carmen Sevilla (Martha), Patty Shepard (Julie), Dean Selmier (Richard) and Emma Cohen (Rosa) excel. The soundtrack is also very good and helps to stress the emotions of the characters and the beauty of the landscape.

Eloy de la Iglesia shows himself to be a director with a strong personality. Though "El techo de cristal" is a sensual film (it features three beautiful women - Patty Shepard, Carmen Sevilla and Emma Cohen), it hasn't the sleaze or gore factors existent in other films of the genre. For me, this is not a drawback (even if I like sleaze and gore). Highly recommended.

Another excellent offering from De La Iglesia, this is even more of a slow-burning thriller than THE CANNIBAL MAN (1972) but the scenario it conveys of place, characters and situations holds one's attention, even if there is a definite slackening during the last act (picking things up again with a stunning climax that not only marries the REAR WINDOW {1954}-inspired proceedings up to that point to a STRANGERS ON A TRAIN {1951}-type twist but also takes care to produce one additional ace for the finale!) and which now seems to be something of a directorial trait.

The GLASS CEILING, in fact, is confidently Hitchcockian but also presenting concerns that obviously interested the film-maker, such as what sort of mischief may be going on within the walls of a house (which, in this case, is amplified by making the central setting a condominium). However, the script merely uses fanciful conjecture as a means to an end, which is another character study of a lonely figure (here leading lady Carmen Sevilla, and for which performance she won the Cinema Writers Circle award) whose grip on reality is quickly fading (depicted via a notable dream sequence) and how the people she comes into contact with react to this (there is even a disturbing subtext, which one hopes is not quite true, of landowning studs and horny errand-boys preying on such abandoned wives!). Still, unlike THE CANNIBAL MAN, the protagonist is now a victim who soon finds that she cannot really trust anyone, not even family, preferring to keep company with her amiable white cat (which, unfortunately, comes to a sticky end).

Once again, the cast includes lovely Emma Cohen: at first, I thought she would have an even lesser role than in CANNIBAL, since her name is much further down the cast list this time around, but also because she plays the unflattering part of a farmer's daughter delivering milk to the various tenants – however, enamored of the landlord, she also frequently pays him visits at the condominium's back-yard, where he conducts his extracurricular activity of sculpting. Though he certainly does not discourage her attentions (even accepting to be fed – and playfully sprayed in – milk by her directly from a cow's teat!), the man really favors Sevilla (to the point of taking the latter horse-riding in order to alleviate her ennui), so that Cohen is cross when a sculpture he has made of her luscious body (voyeuristically caught by camera while the girl is sleeping in the nude, one more of the landlord's hobbies, which he also directs at Sevilla and another pivotal female character, thus linking the film to the remarkable "Cannibal" flick I watched at the very start of this "Halloween Challenge", WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH {1974}) actually sports SevIlla's head!

However, Cohen's character still vanishes from the proceedings well before the end – which serves to put at center-stage an attractive neighbor of Sevilla's, whom the latter suspects all through the picture of having committed foul play upon her invalid husband (whose body the heroine frantically suspects of being stashed either in the back-yard or the couple's own fridge!), even contriving to periodically check with the bus depot whether he was seen leaving town as his spouse claims.

The film takes place in a country building , where various tenants live . After her hubby (Fernando Cebrián) leaves the house for business issues , Marta (Carmen Sevilla) remains alone . She then hears rare noises above her and thinks about the woman called Julie (Patty Shepard) who lives there -also alone- has killed her own husband . Weird events happen and Marta begins investigating . There shows up Richard (Dean Selmier) , the bachelor landlord who dedicates himself his sculpture hobbies . There is also the ordinary depraved delivery young (Hugo Blanco) who delivers supermarket supplies for the tenants living there and the beautiful young girl Rosa (Emma Cohen) who falls for the allegedly down-to-earth Richard .

¨Glass ceiling¨ contains locked-room mysteries , eerie atmosphere , emotional thrills , suspense , brief nudism , and a little bit of gore . This is a highly mysterious and cerebral thriller , filled with plot twists , morbidity , disturbing scenes , including an unexpected denouement in its final part . Psychological mystery-thriller with Giallo and morbid elements , being surprisingly good and compellingly directed . It includes an enjoyable description about rural life including several farm animals , such as : Pigs, cows , dogs and horses , all of them are part of the background of this thrilling movie . The original as well entertaining premise , -in which Marta is left alone in the house and start occurring strange incidents- , is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . This picture belongs to a quartet of peculiar thriller films by Eloy De La Iglesia dealing with ¨Love and Death¨ , they are the followings : ¨Semana Del Asesino or Cannibal Man¨ , ¨Una Gota Sangre Para Seguir Amando or Clockwork terror¨ and ¨Nadie Oyo Gritar or No One Heard the Scream ¨ , being written by Antonio Fos and Eloy De La Iglesia himself . The cast is frankly good formed by notorious Spanish actors playing characters who will become entangled in a complex spider's cobweb . Stars Carmen Sevilla as the solitary , anxious woman whose husband is out and while her imagination begins to work creating a dark and corrupt world , Carmen gives one of the best interpretations of her long career ; her neighbor who lives in the apartment above her is well played by Patty Shepard , and the sculptor who spends most of his time in his studio working on his sculptures was nicely performed by Dean Selmier . And a very nice support cast such as Fernando Cebrián , Encarna Paso , Rafael Hernández , Emma Cohen and Hugo Blanco as the perverted deliverer . Evocative cinematography by Francisco Fraile who creates an ugly environment and restless atmosphere . Fraile was a fine cameraman , working for the best filmmakers as Vicente Aranda , Leon Klimovsky and Eloy De La Iglesia . Being shot on location in Cubas de la Sagra, Madrid, and Piedralaves, Ávila, Castilla y León, Spain.

The motion picture was professional and strangely directed by Eloy De La Iglesia in his fourth film , though containing some flaws and gaps . The movie achieved some prizes such as : Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1971 Won CEC Award Best Actress : Carmen Sevilla , and Fotogramas de Plata 1972 Best Spanish Movie Performer : Carmen Sevilla . Eloy Iglesia studied cinema in Paris at the IDHEC . He began working in cinema in 1966 , though he became famous in the years of the Spanish transition to the democracy with provoking films . Drugs, delinquency , terrorism and generational problems are the common subjects in his films . Iglesia was a prolific writer/filmmaker , after directing 21 films in 20 years (1966/1986) he stopped due to drug addiction , a problem that he seemed to control it until his early death at 62 . De La Iglesia is a good Spanish movies director , he began working in cinema in 1966 , though he became notorious in the years of the Spanish transition to democracy with shocking and polemic films as ¨El Pico 1 and 2¨ , ¨El Diputado¨, ¨The priest , ¨Clockwork terror¨ , ¨Los Placeres Ocultos¨ , ¨The other bedroom¨, ¨La Semana Del Asesino¨ , and finally ¨Bulgarian lovers¨ , among others . And ¨Turn of a Screw¨ in which Eloy Iglesia gives an unexpected academic and charming version , abandoning his ordinary provocation . Homosexuality , perversion , classes differences are the habitual subjects in his films , and specially dedicated to the underworld of heroin ; as well as the gay world . Passing of time hasn't had no mercy with most of Eloy's movies , but they represent a time and a way of life in the history of Spain ; and now they may seem a little bit ingenious . Eloy De La Iglesia chose young and natural actors to play his films , such as Jose Luis Manzano , Antonio Flores , Pirri , or Quique San Francisco were the usual ones . Most of them early deceased by drugging , including the filmmaker himself . ¨Glass Ceiling¨ Rating : 6.5/10 . Well worth watching .

I thought I was going to enjoy this much more, having very much enjoyed the same director's later, Cannibal Man, many years ago. I became slightly concerned during the credits when the camera repeatedly panned an outer building and it may have been my print, the dubbing or my lack of attention but I found this very slow and largely lacking in atmosphere. I'm assuming a low budget accounted for some of the darkness and repetitions for the characters are well formed and introduced well. We begin to get a good picture of a small community living in each others pockets and a smouldering sexuality between this one and that but as the main character begins to theorise her feeling that there has been a murder in the flat above, the fact that she is talking to her cat is not great. The ending is astonishing and if I had been more in touch with what was going on I would have enjoyed it all the more.

Despite being almost devoid of action this Spanish giallo keeps you wondering right up until the end just what the hell is going on. Plus, it's not about how women only get so far in their careers in the world of cigar chomping fat businessmen, but rather what happens when housewives get bored while their husbands are away working. And what do bored housewives do? That's right - they suspect each other of murdering their husbands.

Marta is that very woman. She lives in an apartment complex with her husband and cat, but mainly the cat as the husband is off working. Above her lives Patty Shepherd and her husband Viktor, and while bored Marta speculates what is going on above her, listening to Patty's footsteps, then her husband's. Strangely, Patty states the next day that her husband has been away working, so who was upstairs. And who is taking pictures of both Patty, Marta, and Rosa, the girl who delivers milk to the milfs?

Not only do we have a few suspects kicking about (the moody sculptor/landlord, the horn dog supermarket guy...err...that's it really) but we also have a huge number of ways to dispose of a body about the place too. So if Patty did murder her husband, as Marta quickly suspects, then the body could have either been fed to the pigs out back, or fed to those dogs who are strangely off their regular food, or even thrown into the furnace that the sculptor has. Or maybe even stashed in Marta's own fridge, seeing that Patty's always asking to store meat in there!

I suppose the fun lies in wondering if Marta should maybe take up some sort of hobby instead of wondering what her neighbours are up to, or whether she's right and Patty has killed her husband, or even if the sculptor is up to something. The plot only gets more complex as it goes on as nothing is really revealed until the last few minutes, and even then you might be left wondering what happened after the film. Not bad at all.

Patty Shepherd (also known as the Barbara Steele of Spanish horror) is rather good as the chirpy and possibly sinister neighbour (Shepherd stalkers take note: she does a bit of nude sunbathing). The most sickening bit for me was when Rosa the milk maid drank milk directly from a cow's teat - blech!