The Ice Storm is a 1997 drama film directed by Ang Lee, based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Rick Moody. The film features an ensemble cast of Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood and Sigourney Weaver.

Set during Thanksgiving 1973, The Ice Storm is about two dysfunctional suburban Connecticut families who are trying to deal with tumultuous political and social changes of the early 1970s. The story develops against the backdrop of a major ice storm which hits New Canaan, Connecticut. Both families are having trouble dealing with various issues: the parents' alcoholism, escapism and adultery, and the children's sexual experimentation. The title alludes to an actual weather event: a destructive ice storm that blanketed Connecticut and cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes for up to a week. Apparently, artistic license was employed because the actual storm hit December 16-17, 1973, not Thanksgiving. The storm was dubbed "Felix" by local weathermen.

Upon the film's opening in the United States on September 27, 1997, its release was limited and it grossed $7.8 million on a budget of $18 million, making it a box office disappointment. It has subsequently become a huge success due to a subsequent video release in 1998 and to DVD in 2000. A new two-disc DVD set will be released as a part of the Criterion Collection on March 18, 2008.

In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hoods are skidding out of control. Benjamin Hood reels from drink to drink, trying not to think about his trouble at the office. His wife, Elena, is reading self help books and losing patience with her husband's lies. Their son, Paul, home for the holidays, escapes to the city to pursue an alluring rich girl from his prep school. And young, budding nymphomaniac, Wendy Hood roams the neighborhood, innocently exploring liquor cabinets and lingerie drawers of her friends' parents, looking for something new. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century. Things get bad... Written by Emory Herbertson

It is Thanksgiving, 1973, and the climate is changing, politically and physically. As the Watergate scandal unfolds in the background, the inhabitants of New Canaan, Conneticut begin to slip into an existentialist void, wherein social taboos are shattered on whims and the line between adult authority and juvenile irresponsibility is practically nonexistant. Focusing on two families in particular, the Hoods and the Carvers, "The Ice Storm" chronicles a brief period of rapid moral deterioration, as the characters shatter their social "roles" in pursuit of meaning and satisfaction, within an environment turned inwards on itself. As the narrative device of an "Ice Storm" builds up around them, the actions of the characters - including adultery, sexual experimentation, drug use and petty crimes - become increasingly unpredictable and impulsive. Once the "storm" hits, though, reality sinks in, and the severity of their situation becomes all to apparent in its bitter, and resonating aftermath. Written by Samuel Kates

De pronto cae una tormenta de hielo. No pueden salir de la casa. En su interior la familia comienza a hacer frente a todas sus contradicciones y problemas. Son los problemas de una familia burguesa en la década de los setenta. Written by