Castle of Purity (1973) on Netflix
Gabriel Lima is a chemist who manufactures rat poison. He believes the world outside would harm his family, so Beatriz, his wife, and their three children stay shut in a large house.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.5/102,872 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Gabriel Lima is a chemist who makes rat poison and is convinced that other people are harmful to his family. He keeps his wife Beatriz and their children Porvenir, Utopía and Voluntad shut inside a large house, away from the world outside. He is a disciplined man. The situation becomes fragile when he notices that the three children are entering adolescence. The story is based on a criminal case that Mexican newspapers reported in the 1950s, about a man who isolated his family and would not let them leave the house.
Cast
- Gladys Bermejoas Voluntad
- María Barberas Neighbor
- Mario Castillón Brachoas Undercover cop
- Andrea del Llanoas Clerk
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Castle of Purity (1973)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After production manager Felipe Subervielle revealed the script had never been paid for, 27-year-old director Arturo Ripstein turned the tables and told Gabriel Figueroa and Dolores del Río that they were fired.
- According to director Arturo Ripstein, the film was based on a case reported in newspapers in the 1950s about a man who kept his family isolated and would not let them leave.
- Dolores del Río wanted Ignacio López Tarso for the father's role, but Arturo Ripstein refused, saying Tarso had "a very grim face" and he wanted the opposite—a gentler look balancing the man's stony madness.
- Dolores del Río contacted Luis Buñuel about adapting the play, but he declined and recommended his protégé Arturo Ripstein, who chose to take the case directly from the newspapers instead.
- Ripstein wrote the screenplay with José Emilio Pacheco, and both were convinced it was a comedy, laughing a lot while they wrote it.
- The Castle of Purity was the last film of cinematographer Alex Phillips, a three-time Ariel Award winner who had been Gregg Toland's roommate and the cameraman Mary Pickford insisted shoot her close-ups.
- The film's set designer Manuel Fontanals gave the only known interview of his life after The Castle of Purity was completed, published in This Magazine on September 10, 1972; he died a week later.
