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.
