The Glass Ceiling (film)

The Glass Ceiling

Original poster
Directed by Eloy de la Iglesia
Produced by Rafael del Valle Iturriaga
Written by Antonio Fos
Eloy de la Iglesia
Starring Carmen Sevilla
Dean Selmier
Patty Shepard
Music by Ángel Arteaga
Cinematography Francisco Fraile
Edited by Pablo G. del Amo
Production
company
Fono España
Distributed by Delta
Release dates
 3 May 1971
Running time
 92 minutes
Country Spain
Language Spanish
Box office ESP 30,996,128 (Spain)

The Glass Ceiling (Spanish:El techo de cristal) is a 1971 psychological thriller film, written and directed by Eloy de la Iglesia. It stars Carmen Sevilla, Dean Selmier and Patty Shepard.[1]

The plot follows a bored housewife who begins to suspect that her upstairs neighbor killed her invalid husband. Sevilla won a major award in her home country (the Cinema Writers Circle Award) for this performance.

The film is somewhat inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and the Hollywood paranoia classic George Cukor's Gaslight, and the director's own The Cannibal Man. The film was a commercial success.[2]

Plot

Martha is an attractive housewife living in a small rural apartment house in the outskirt of Madrid. Her husband, Carlos, leaves frequently on business trips so Martha spends most of her time alone with her pet cat, Fedra, as her only companion. While Carlos is away, Martha hears heavy footsteps in the apartment above her. Her sexy upstairs neighbor, Julia, is in a similar situation. Victor, Julia's husband, happens to be away this time as well. After overhearing a few things, Martha, already prone to fantasizing away her boredom and loneliness, begins to suspect that Julia has killed her sick husband. Julia claims that Victor left for business reasons. Martha does not believe her and begins to investigate. She soon discovers that nobody has seen Julia's husband leaving town which seems to confirm Martha's theory. Adding to Martha's suspicions, Julia keeps asking to put stuff in her fridge, even though her own refrigerator is clearly working. On top of this, someone is secretly feeding something to the landlord's dogs. When Rita, Matha's close friend, stops for a visit with her young daughter, Yolanda, Martha tells her that she thinks Julia has a lover and that they both had killed Victor. Unfortunately the imprudent Yolanda tells Julia that Martha said that she had a lover.

The building's landlord, Ricardo, a sculptor and artist, who lives downstairs, works in his sculptures and pottery when he is not fussing over his dogs and pigs. He has picked the interest of Rosa, the young daughter of a farmer, who delivers milk there every morning to the various tenants. Though Ricardo does not discourage Rosa's attentions (even accepting to be fed – and playfully sprayed in – milk by her directly from a cow's teat), Ricardo finds himself being drawn to Martha instead. Pedro, a grocery delivery man, also seems to have a thing for Martha and may be having an affair with Julia. When Martha firmly rebuffs Pedro's advances, Pedro threatens her. Meanwhile, someone is spying on and taking provocative pictures of all three of the women. Ricardo takes Martha horse-riding in order to alleviate her ennui.

Cast

Notes

  1. ↑ Mira p.281
  2. ↑ D’Lugo, Guide to the Cinema of Spain, p. 168

Bibliography

External links

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