The title refers to Scubert's masterpiece. The heroine, a torture victim, remembers that it was being played while she was being raped and tortured ,which makes her hate Schubert, music, herself and the modern society's claim to civilization and Justice.In the post-Pinochet "Democracy" you can investigate those crimes against humanity, report them with charts, statistics, etc.,but you can not name the perpetrators, nor can anybody be tried or questioned because of them, and that is what drives our heroine mad, and makes her act "irrationally".I think Polanki's version is o.k, but the original Steppenwolf theatre presentation was much more compelling.
Review of Death and the Maiden
