#Soulless glass full

What begins as a home filled with optimism and happiness slowly erodes as Czechoslovakia falls at the hands first of the Nazis, then of the Russians, and Liesel and her family are forced to flee.Īs time passes by, audiences witness the glory of the house pass through its different owners, from a family home to a Nazi engineer's office, and finally as a museum. The warmth and idealism that embodies the home begins to crumble as Viktor finds his comfort in the arms of another woman, and Liesel follows the fatal attraction of her best friend, Hana (Carice van Houten, TV's 'Game of Thrones', 'Valkyrie'). Liesel Landauer (Hanna Alström, 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle'), recently married to Viktor (Claes Bang, 'The Square'), hires famous architect Von Abt (Karel Roden, 'Hellboy', 'RocknRolla') to construct their new family home - a minimalist modern villa that overlooks the town of Brno, built with steel, magnificent stone, and the pièce de résistance, a floor-to-ceiling glass room at its centre.

#Soulless glass full

Unfortunately, with 'The Glass Room', Julius Ševčík's ('Normal') attempt falls incredibly short in all of these areas, and we are left with a soulless, albeit beautiful, film.Ĭzechoslovakia in the early 1930s is full of culture, modern expression and hope. Characters need to be fleshed out, their desires need understanding, and the audience needs to believe in their actions, even if they're unable to empathise with them. More often than not - if not every time - a film needs to rely on so much more to give it the heartfelt impetus a story of this nature deserves.

Based off Simon Mawer's Man Booker prize-winning and bestselling novel of the same name, 'The Glass Room' teaches a valuable lesson when it comes to eliciting sympathy through dramatic events: simply placing your characters and setting amongst life obstacles and horrific historical events does not automatically generate the desired outpouring of emotion.