This Swedish-Norwegian-Danish children's film is an adaptation of the popular 1964 children's book by Maria Gripe, a classic translated into more than 20 languages. Author Gripe refused to allow a film version until she saw Gronos' adaptation of her novel Agnes Cecilia. Set in the 19th Century, the tale has Snow Queen overtones as the spoiled woman of a royal family wants children for the cold corridors of her vast, sterile castle. After her husband kidnaps the glassblower's children, they are turned into amnesiacs and forced to live in the castle, where they are tortured and abused by their tutor, a weird witch. Production design by Jan Olof Agren contrasts the two settings -- the warmth and art of the glassblower's realistic world as opposed to the heightened sense of dread lurking throughout the mythical and stylized castle. Shown at the 1998 Gothenburg Film Festival.
~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide