{ "id": "ep6wjfy4rz", "slug": "the-house-of-the-angel", "title": "The House of the Angel", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films", "label": "Coming-of-age films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-before-2000", "label": "Coming-of-age films released before 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-before-2000" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.latam", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The House of the Angel (La casa del ángel) is a 1957 Argentine drama by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, adapted from Beatriz Guido's prize-winning 1954 novel, starring Elsa Daniel and Lautaro Murúa, a Cannes 1957 Palme d'Or nominee and landmark of modern Argentine cinema, restored in 4K for Cannes Classics 2026.", "snippet": "The House of the Angel (La casa del ángel) is a 1957 Argentine drama by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, adapted from Beatriz Guido's prize-winning 1954 novel, starring Elsa Daniel and Lautaro Murúa, a Cannes 1957 Palme d'Or nominee and landmark of modern Argentine cinema, restored in 4K for Cannes Classics 2026.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-before-2000", "markdown": "# The House of the Angel\n\n**The House of the Angel** (*La casa del ángel*) is a 1957 Argentine drama directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, based on the 1954 novel of the same name by [Beatriz Guido](https://www.edgepedia.org/beatriz-guido), about a repressed adolescent girl in 1920s Buenos Aires high society[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel). It premiered in Argentina on 11 July 1957, competed for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, and is regarded as a founding work of modern Argentine cinema[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *La casa del ángel*; released in the United States as *The House of the Angel* and in some markets as *End of Innocence*[3](https://mexpedia.org/index.php/La_casa_del_%C3%A1ngel) • [4](https://rarefilm.net/the-house-of-the-angel-1957-la-casa-del-angel/) |\n| Director and writers | Leopoldo Torre Nilsson; screenplay by Beatriz Guido, Torre Nilsson, and Martín Rodríguez Mentasti, from Guido's novel[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel) |\n| Cast | Elsa Daniel (Ana Castro), Lautaro Murúa (Pablo Aguirre), Guillermo Battaglia (Dr. Castro), Berta Ortegosa, Bárbara Mujica, Yordana Fain[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel) |\n| Premiere | 11 July 1957 in Argentina; filmed in 1956[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel) • [5](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/los-magos-del-gotico-criollo-nid220264/) |\n| Format | Black-and-white 35 mm feature; sources list running times of 76, 78, and 80 minutes[6](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film337475.html) • [7](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=382250) |\n| Cannes | Nominated for the Palme d'Or, 1957; placed among the ten best films of the year in France by *Cahiers du Cinéma* and *Lettres Françaises*[6](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film337475.html) • [8](https://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/handle/10324/65412/de%20Lucas_KM%20Visual%20Arts.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1) |\n| Music | Dodecaphonic score by Juan Carlos Paz, the first of four collaborations with Torre Nilsson[9](https://malba.org.ar/la-casa-del-angel/) |\n| Restoration | 4K restoration by Latam Classics screened at Cannes Classics 2026 and the 18th Lumière Festival in Lyon[10](https://gpsaudiovisual.com/2026/10/10/la-casa-del-angel-el-clasico-de-leopoldo-torre-nilsson-estrenado-en-1957-seleccionado-para-el-festival-lumiere-de-francia/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and setting\n\nThe story is set in Buenos Aires in the 1920s. Ana Castro, a 14-year-old girl, grows up in a large townhouse under the watch of a devout mother and a father dedicated to politics, subjected with her sisters to a rigid and oppressive religious education[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel). The routine is disturbed when Pablo Aguirre, a deputy and political ally of her father, begins frequenting the house and the adolescent becomes fascinated by him; meanwhile her father agrees to let a duel between two deputies be held in the house[1](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel). The Cannes festival synopsis describes the father as involved in a financial scandal, and the young deputy's growing influence over the family taking a turn when he rapes the girl[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/).\n\nThe film addresses desire, social and religious repression, and the hidden violence of Argentine bourgeois circles, in a society where political arguments were often settled by duels and young women were expected to be entirely ignorant of sex[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/) • [11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050231/).\n\n## Origin in Guido's novel\n\nThe film adapts the novel *La casa del ángel*, which Beatriz Guido published in 1954 after winning the Emecé literary prize, the award that launched her career[12](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/node/352224) • [13](https://www.infobae.com/leamos/2024/01/13/fin-de-fiesta-que-llevo-a-la-escritora-antiperonista-beatriz-guido-a-tenir-su-literatura-de-politica/). Guido and Torre Nilsson were already a couple when they adapted the book, and the film was the first of about twenty features the two signed together; between 1956 and 1966 they wrote roughly fourteen screenplays jointly[5](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/los-magos-del-gotico-criollo-nid220264/) • [12](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/node/352224). In the novel the story is told entirely through Ana's first-person voice, while the screenplay gives substantial space to Pablo Aguirre and to the politics of the 1920s[14](https://www.argus-a.com/archivos-ebooks/cine-y-novela-vol-ii.pdf).\n\n## Style and music\n\nAt the time, Argentine cinema could hardly compete with Hollywood while Mexican cinema was in its heyday, and Torre Nilsson broke with its conventions through abrupt framing, low-angle shots, shadows that divide the spaces, and cameras placed in unusual spots[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/). The MALBA museum in Buenos Aires credits Guido's universe of corrupt aristocrats and half-empty mansions with inspiring a formal rigor his earlier films had only suggested, including expressionist distortions that the director attributed, humorously, to his myopia, elongated timing, and dramatic use of close-ups[9](https://malba.org.ar/la-casa-del-angel/).\n\nThe score by Juan Carlos Paz was among the first in Argentine cinema to use dodecaphonic music, breaking a long tradition; Torre Nilsson wrote that he could never dissociate Paz's music from his images[9](https://malba.org.ar/la-casa-del-angel/). The British critic John Gillett praised a style rich in low- and high-angle shots, dense close-ups, and sudden musical effects[8](https://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/handle/10324/65412/de%20Lucas_KM%20Visual%20Arts.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1).\n\n## Reception and influence\n\nThe film was shot in 1956 and premiered in July 1957, drawing about one million spectators, a commercial as well as critical success[5](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/los-magos-del-gotico-criollo-nid220264/). Its screening at Cannes provoked an outrage, but *Cahiers du Cinéma* and *Lettres Françaises* ranked it among the ten best films shown in France that year, and it launched Torre Nilsson's international career, making him a regular at Cannes and Venice[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/) • [15](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/9848312.pdf). At Cannes 1957 it competed against [Federico Fellini](https://www.edgepedia.org/federico-fellini)'s *Nights of Cabiria*, Ingmar Bergman's *The Seventh Seal*, and [Robert Bresson](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-bresson)'s *A Man Escaped*; the Palme d'Or went to [William Wyler](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-wyler)'s *Friendly Persuasion*[16](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-gran-dia-de-la-argentina-en-cannes-el-rescate-de-un-clasico-que-admira-scorsese-y-elogios-para-nid16052026/).\n\nIts visual and thematic modernity marked Latin American cinema: the film became a turning point for a generation of young filmmakers who took part in the birth of the \"new Argentine cinema\" in the 1960s, and its influence is visible in contemporary directors such as Lucrecia Martel[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/).\n\n## Filming location\n\nThe main setting was the Cassale mansion at Cuba 1919 in the Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The mansion was demolished in the late 1970s, and the site now holds an apartment building and a shopping arcade that keeps the name Casa del Ángel[3](https://mexpedia.org/index.php/La_casa_del_%C3%A1ngel).\n\n## Restoration\n\nThe original camera negative had spent years inactive in Bologna, where a restoration project was abandoned for technical and logistical reasons; after the Argentine foreign ministry arranged its return, a 4K restoration was carried out by Latam Classics at the Cubic Restoration laboratory, based on the original black-and-white 35 mm camera negative, a first-generation internegative from the Argentina Sono Film archive, and a 35 mm positive print from the National Cinematheque (INCAA)[16](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-gran-dia-de-la-argentina-en-cannes-el-rescate-de-un-clasico-que-admira-scorsese-y-elogios-para-nid16052026/) • [17](https://www.otroscines.com/post/festival-de-cannes-la-casa-del-angel-de-leopoldo-torre-nilsson-se-proyectara-en-la-seccion-de-clasicos). The restored version was screened at Cannes Classics in May 2026 and selected for the 18th Lumière Festival in Lyon in October 2026[16](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-gran-dia-de-la-argentina-en-cannes-el-rescate-de-un-clasico-que-admira-scorsese-y-elogios-para-nid16052026/) • [10](https://gpsaudiovisual.com/2026/10/10/la-casa-del-angel-el-clasico-de-leopoldo-torre-nilsson-estrenado-en-1957-seleccionado-para-el-festival-lumiere-de-francia/).\n\n## References\n\n1. [La casa del ángel (1957), cinenacional.com](https://cinenacional.com/pelicula/la-casa-del-angel)\n2. [La casa del ángel (The House of the Angel), a kind of reinvention of Argentine cinema in Cannes, Festival de Cannes (2026)](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/la-casa-del-angel-the-house-of-the-angel-a-kind-of-reinvention-of-argentine-cinema-in-cannes/)\n3. [La casa del ángel, Mexpedia](https://mexpedia.org/index.php/La_casa_del_%C3%A1ngel)\n4. [The House of the Angel (1957), RareFilm Archive](https://rarefilm.net/the-house-of-the-angel-1957-la-casa-del-angel/)\n5. [Los magos del gótico criollo, La Nación](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/los-magos-del-gotico-criollo-nid220264/)\n6. [La casa del ángel (1957), FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film337475.html)\n7. [ICAA Film Database, file 382250](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=382250)\n8. [De Lucas, KM Visual Arts dissertation, Universidad de Valladolid](https://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/handle/10324/65412/de%20Lucas_KM%20Visual%20Arts.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)\n9. [La casa del ángel, MALBA](https://malba.org.ar/la-casa-del-angel/)\n10. [La casa del ángel seleccionada para el Festival Lumière de Francia, GPS Audiovisual (2026)](https://gpsaudiovisual.com/2026/10/10/la-casa-del-angel-el-clasico-de-leopoldo-torre-nilsson-estrenado-en-1957-seleccionado-para-el-festival-lumiere-de-francia/)\n11. [The House of the Angel (1957), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050231/)\n12. [A 100 años del nacimiento de Beatriz Guido, Argentina.gob.ar](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/node/352224)\n13. [Fin de fiesta: qué llevó a la escritora antiperonista Beatriz Guido a teñir su literatura de política, Infobae](https://www.infobae.com/leamos/2024/01/13/fin-de-fiesta-que-llevo-a-la-escritora-antiperonista-beatriz-guido-a-tenir-su-literatura-de-politica/)\n14. [Cine y novela, vol. II, Argus-a](https://www.argus-a.com/archivos-ebooks/cine-y-novela-vol-ii.pdf)\n15. [Branding Latin America, core.ac.uk](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/9848312.pdf)\n16. [El gran día de la Argentina en Cannes: el rescate de un clásico que admira Scorsese, La Nación (2026)](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-gran-dia-de-la-argentina-en-cannes-el-rescate-de-un-clasico-que-admira-scorsese-y-elogios-para-nid16052026/)\n17. [La casa del ángel se proyectará en la sección de clásicos de Cannes, Otros Cines](https://www.otroscines.com/post/festival-de-cannes-la-casa-del-angel-de-leopoldo-torre-nilsson-se-proyectara-en-la-seccion-de-clasicos)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Coming-of-age films › Coming-of-age films released before 2000*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The House of the Angel\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The House of the Angel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The House of the Angel\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-the-angel. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The House of the Angel is a 1957 Argentine drama by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, adapted from Beatriz Guido's prize-winning 1954 novel, starring Elsa Daniel and Lautaro Murúa, a Cannes 1957 Palme d'Or nominee and landmark of modern Argentine cinema, restored in 4K for Cannes Classics 2026." }