Title: GLASS HOUSES
Year of Release: 1972
Director: Alexander Singer
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Synopsis: Portrait of a family in meltdown; Victor is having an affair with a young woman, nineteen year old daughter Kim is involved with her father's business associate Ted, and Victor's wife and Kim's mother, Adele, holds civic meetings at home, carrying on a secret relationship with the neighbourhood novelist.
Within a film history context: With the breakdown of US film censorship in the late 1960s and the introduction of a self-regulatory censorship system, the MPAA, cinematic films began to showcase more explicit themes in terms of sexual content, violence and language which had heretofore been banned. The inception of the R and X ratings in the US was a watershed for film censorship, freeing directors and writers to explore content in a much freer manner than beforehand. BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (1969), MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969), and EASY RIDER (1969) were all pivotal films at the time for their frank treatment of sex and related themes. GLASS HOUSES arrived several years after these particular movies, and was also candid in how it handled its content.
GLASS HOUSES highlighted a dysfunctional family, reviewing its dynamics, and also looked at incest pertaining to a father-daughter relationship. Dysfunctional families have been explored over the years in cinema in various capacities. Films such as A SUMMER PLACE (1959) focused upon two families, specifically highlighting mother-daughter, father-daughter, and son-mother relationships, morality, and fractured families. Forward twenty years and Robert Redford's excellent ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980) explored family grief at the loss of a child, and how the surviving sibling was viewed by his parents. GLASS HOUSES differs from these in that it examines an affluent couple whose marriage has gone stale, and how the daughter harbours a secret, incestuous love for her father.
The incest theme is handled in a highly tense, provocative but understated manner, without showing anything unseemly occurring between the two characters. The editing in the final scenes leaves the door open for the viewer to imagine what might, or might not happen to the characters, which elevates the film into an artistic domain, and away from exploitation territory. It looks forward to films such as THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD (1975) a supernatural thriller also with an incest theme, in that a man falls in love with his daughter after being reincarnated in another man's body. GLASS HOUSES does not go as far as this film, but there are inferences that the father in the movie may subconsciously desire his daughter, in light of his affair with a young woman his daughter's age.
GLASS HOUSES highlighted a dysfunctional family, reviewing its dynamics, and also looked at incest pertaining to a father-daughter relationship. Dysfunctional families have been explored over the years in cinema in various capacities. Films such as A SUMMER PLACE (1959) focused upon two families, specifically highlighting mother-daughter, father-daughter, and son-mother relationships, morality, and fractured families. Forward twenty years and Robert Redford's excellent ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980) explored family grief at the loss of a child, and how the surviving sibling was viewed by his parents. GLASS HOUSES differs from these in that it examines an affluent couple whose marriage has gone stale, and how the daughter harbours a secret, incestuous love for her father.
The incest theme is handled in a highly tense, provocative but understated manner, without showing anything unseemly occurring between the two characters. The editing in the final scenes leaves the door open for the viewer to imagine what might, or might not happen to the characters, which elevates the film into an artistic domain, and away from exploitation territory. It looks forward to films such as THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD (1975) a supernatural thriller also with an incest theme, in that a man falls in love with his daughter after being reincarnated in another man's body. GLASS HOUSES does not go as far as this film, but there are inferences that the father in the movie may subconsciously desire his daughter, in light of his affair with a young woman his daughter's age.
Overview: Alexander Singer directed only five feature films in his career, the majority of these centred upon their female characters, the exception being western CAPTAIN APACHE (1971). Mr Singer presented their flaws, foibles and strengths, warts and all to viewers to sympathize and understand, if not necessarily to agree with. His first film A COLD WIND IN AUGUST (1961), was the character study of a stripper who falls in love with a seventeen year old young man. LOVE HAS MANY FACES (1965) was a melodrama about a woman caught in a difficult situation, adultery, and intrigue in Acapulco. PSYCHE 59 (1964) was an elegant, suspenseful drama about a woman's loss of memory, and the impact this had on her life, and that of her sister and husband.
GLASS HOUSES focused upon a family consisting of father Victor, his wife Adele, and their nineteen year old daughter Kim. Mr Singer has successfully made a film which, despite a short running time, delineates the characters and their situation for the viewer with great clarity. Unlike his other films, GLASS HOUSES does devote a significant amount of screen time to its female characters, but also does likewise with its male protagonists. The film is the study of a Southern Californian family, and begins with the husband and father's affair with a young woman. Taking place over the span of approximately two days, the action shows Victor coming home after a late night tryst, and his cooling relationship with wife Adele the next morning, witnessed by him kissing her on the cheek rather than on the lips. Their daughter, Kim, watched her father return home from his clandestine affair the night before, and countless times prior, and makes sure her mother knows what is going on the next day. The most intense scenes in the film involve Kim, who knows exactly how to push both her mother, and her father's buttons. The mother-daughter/father-daughter relationships are presented by the director as alternately tenuous, tragic, but very relatable.
GLASS HOUSES has elements of drama, comedy and suspense, the director skilfully weaving these together without the film ever being uneven. A great example is the intercutting of the civic meeting with Kim, her lover Ted, Victor and mistress Jean at the 'Institute of Encounter Awareness', a health and wellness retreat. The relative calm of the retreat, with people relaxing or getting their feelings out in the open in therapy sessions is contrasted with the raucous civic meeting, where a variety of people from all walks of life voice their concerns about community issues and the environment, morality, and people's quality of life. The film is at its peak in these moments, juggling high drama with comedy, and more poignant moments.
There have been comparisons made with Paul Mazursky's earlier BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE (1969) but, for me, GLASS HOUSES is the superior of the two films. While the other film was largely comic in scope and had good performances, its tone was rather modish, and the characters seemed to like to punish each other, downgrading their marriages just for the sake of being in fashion. GLASS HOUSES differed as it presented a real life situation, being a couple over forty whose life has become all work and no passion, with their liberated, voracious daughter not helping matters in any way. GLASS HOUSES also positions its characters within the world of the late 1960s/early 1970s, touching upon influences such as the hippie generation, feminism, women's place in the home and public sphere, the changing role of men in society as women's roles evolved, and the generation gap. It also explored most notably, and in a more explicit manner, younger women/older men relationships, something that had been touched on in cinema from time to time, with CASS TIMBERLANE (1947) and SABRINA (1954) famous examples, with LOLITA (1961) a scandalous variation on the theme. GLASS HOUSES, in essence, was much more than some attractive people dabbling in recreational drugs and daring each other to commit illicit acts, which is how BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE sometimes appeared.
GLASS HOUSES focused upon a family consisting of father Victor, his wife Adele, and their nineteen year old daughter Kim. Mr Singer has successfully made a film which, despite a short running time, delineates the characters and their situation for the viewer with great clarity. Unlike his other films, GLASS HOUSES does devote a significant amount of screen time to its female characters, but also does likewise with its male protagonists. The film is the study of a Southern Californian family, and begins with the husband and father's affair with a young woman. Taking place over the span of approximately two days, the action shows Victor coming home after a late night tryst, and his cooling relationship with wife Adele the next morning, witnessed by him kissing her on the cheek rather than on the lips. Their daughter, Kim, watched her father return home from his clandestine affair the night before, and countless times prior, and makes sure her mother knows what is going on the next day. The most intense scenes in the film involve Kim, who knows exactly how to push both her mother, and her father's buttons. The mother-daughter/father-daughter relationships are presented by the director as alternately tenuous, tragic, but very relatable.
GLASS HOUSES has elements of drama, comedy and suspense, the director skilfully weaving these together without the film ever being uneven. A great example is the intercutting of the civic meeting with Kim, her lover Ted, Victor and mistress Jean at the 'Institute of Encounter Awareness', a health and wellness retreat. The relative calm of the retreat, with people relaxing or getting their feelings out in the open in therapy sessions is contrasted with the raucous civic meeting, where a variety of people from all walks of life voice their concerns about community issues and the environment, morality, and people's quality of life. The film is at its peak in these moments, juggling high drama with comedy, and more poignant moments.
There have been comparisons made with Paul Mazursky's earlier BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE (1969) but, for me, GLASS HOUSES is the superior of the two films. While the other film was largely comic in scope and had good performances, its tone was rather modish, and the characters seemed to like to punish each other, downgrading their marriages just for the sake of being in fashion. GLASS HOUSES differed as it presented a real life situation, being a couple over forty whose life has become all work and no passion, with their liberated, voracious daughter not helping matters in any way. GLASS HOUSES also positions its characters within the world of the late 1960s/early 1970s, touching upon influences such as the hippie generation, feminism, women's place in the home and public sphere, the changing role of men in society as women's roles evolved, and the generation gap. It also explored most notably, and in a more explicit manner, younger women/older men relationships, something that had been touched on in cinema from time to time, with CASS TIMBERLANE (1947) and SABRINA (1954) famous examples, with LOLITA (1961) a scandalous variation on the theme. GLASS HOUSES, in essence, was much more than some attractive people dabbling in recreational drugs and daring each other to commit illicit acts, which is how BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE sometimes appeared.
Acting: This is a movie where the acting is highly skilled by the entire cast, both main actors and supporting cast. Ann Summers beautifully portrays Adele as the hapless, unappreciated mother and wife, her reactions to situations touching but also, priceless. One of the best segments of the film is seeing Adele, who was sad and unwanted in the first half, come alive during the civic meeting scenes, mixing with the people present, and creating a positive atmosphere. Apart from this, her scenes with novelist Les Turner, played by Clarke Gordon, also have a magical, comical but sad aura all rolled into one. Clarke Gordon makes a memorable mark in the film with his pipe-smoking, irreverent novelist. With much of his dialogue delivered with a pipe in his mouth, Mr Gordon brought a style and passion that added flair to the film. His chemistry with Ann Summers effectively was akin to the blossoming of a withered flower in the spring after a very cold winter. In addition to these actors, two other thespians were notable in the film for their contributions.
Deirdre Lenihan handles a difficult role as Kim with aplomb, alternating between playing daddy's little girl, a hellion making her mother feel insecure and unworthy, a sex kitten with Ted, with shades of vulnerability throughout. The success of the film largely rests on her shoulders, and the effective portrayal of the mood changes and tendencies the character exhibits. Apart from these three actors another performer made an indelible impression in GLASS HOUSES. In a small role in the civic meeting scene, the bravura Mary Carver brought her impassioned character to vivid life. Miss Carver's role is one of the most startling cameos of anger, confusion and righteousness ever captured on film.
Deirdre Lenihan handles a difficult role as Kim with aplomb, alternating between playing daddy's little girl, a hellion making her mother feel insecure and unworthy, a sex kitten with Ted, with shades of vulnerability throughout. The success of the film largely rests on her shoulders, and the effective portrayal of the mood changes and tendencies the character exhibits. Apart from these three actors another performer made an indelible impression in GLASS HOUSES. In a small role in the civic meeting scene, the bravura Mary Carver brought her impassioned character to vivid life. Miss Carver's role is one of the most startling cameos of anger, confusion and righteousness ever captured on film.
Soundtrack: The brilliant instrumental theme music composed by David Raksin perfectly complements the content, adding suspense particularly during the opening credits, and the final scenes. Variations of the main theme are utilized throughout the film which emphasize the tone of the scenes depending upon what is happening onscreen.
Mise-en-scene: The film was notable for its use of real locations which bring the narrative world to life for the spectator. The film captures the sights, sounds and feel of Southern California, with a real home used as the family base of Victor, Adele, and Kim. The use of the kitchen, bedrooms but in particular, the living room, with its spiral staircase, add validity and realism to the narrative world. Other locations such as Victor and Ted's office with its wide clear windows, offering a view of the city, Ted's dual level seaside home, the bungalow of Kim's friend Linda, with its soft beige interior and colourful ornaments all work to give the characters a life beyond just surface appearances. Outdoor location filming is also excellent, adding crispness to the film. The film showcases sights such as Victor's trek to work across the freeway, his stops at the gas station for petrol, and the courtyard of the health retreat, to name a few, which could not be replicated in a studio.
Award-worthy performances in my opinion: Ann Summers, Deirdre Lenihan, Mary Carver, Clarke Gordon.
Suitability for young viewers: No. Adult themes, sexual themes and language, and female nudity.
Overall Grade: A
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