Broken Glass

Arthur Miller's greatest work may be well behind him, but this strikes with the dramatic power of a sledgehammer. Young Vic director David Thacker and playwright David Holman (the co-adaptors) have made a gripping movie out of the play. The troubled matter of Jewish identity is the subject, and the ramifications take in everything from society to marriage. Sylvia (Leicester) reads about Nazi Party attacks on Jews in Berlin and is struck down with hysterical paralysis. Her husband Gellburg (Goodman) sends for a specialist (Patinkin) who begins to uncover the unlovely facts about their marriage, a union entered into for everyone's sake but hers. Fear has brought them to this state and, thanks to faultless playing and exemplary writing, the tragedy becomes universal.