Pan's labyrinth

[alexandral]

I had a chance to see "Pan's labyrinth" in the National Museum of Media yesterday. Yay! I am glad I did because this was a film that is definitely worthy of the bid screen. I did a double – I also watched "Notes on Scandal", but I have to think more about the latter film before I can write.





Synopsis Film takes place in the fascist Spain of 1944. Ophelia is a step-daughter of psychotic fascist Captain. One day she meets a fairy and a faun and is told that she is a daughter of the King of Underworld. To claim her birthright she must complete 3 tests.

Strange and interesting film
My main impression throughout was that "Pan's labyrinth" is a film that in a large degree is influenced by "Narnia", only with the big doze of horror in it. "Pan's labyrinth" and "Narnia" share the same time-frame, the same visual representation , they share similar characters and they share the same themes originated from Christianity – sacrifice of the innocent blood, three thrones in the kingdom of Underworld, mother with the child, choices one has to make.. This was the weakest point in the film for me – that however unforgettable and interesting "Pan's labyrinth" was, it wasn't original. I am not trying to criticise, it is just what I felt.

But I did like the film very much!!! Mainly because there was an interesting thing going all throughout it – there were contradictions placed everywhere and in everything, I am not sure was this done intentionally or not, but the whole impression these contradictions left on me was very strange. It was like if the film was saying – Nothing, nothing is what it seems.

Contradictions or everything is not as it seems

I was trying to write down all contradictions I noticed:

1. War wasn't scary, but the Fairytale world was. War as presented in the film was beautified and happening somewhere beyond the horizon. Beautiful clouds of fire were coming up somewhere far far away behind the beautiful forest, and of course the good guys won and the good maiden Mercedes was saved and none of them died (apart from unlucky stuttering man). There were scenes of torture, but they never held any real horror for me somehow, they were too beautifully filmed to seem real.
On the other hand, Fawn, fairies, Root That You Must Feed with your own blood, Pale Man scared the life out of me. Even at the end, when we saw three thrones in the kingdom of Underworld the whole set up looked quite strange. May be because the way Ophelia's mother held the baby was as if baby wasn't alive. ** shudders **

2. Good ending felt like a tragic one. It was meant to be a good ending, right? But at the same time it felt that Ophelia is really dead and everything she sees is just her pre-death visions. Plus again, the kingdom of Underworld looked like it had some dark shadows behind the yellow light.

3. Good guys were presented with some darkness/shadow visually. Fawn was one of the scariest thing I have seen in fairytales. Mercedes also sometimes looked as if in another life she could have been a scary maid from some Gothic film. And the mandrake root under Ophelia's mother's bed looked so scary that I was afraid that it is going to harm the baby.

Cinematography Was gorgeous. It seemed to serve "Nothing is what it seems" theme very well, everything was drenched in a beautiful yellow light, but at the same time there were shadows, dark shadows everywhere. Amazing!

Comments

-More plot spoiling below-

[tightenmycorset.livejournal.com]

First, thank you for making this post and valid points about the contradictions and your opinion of the film.

I can't say I agree with the first one about the war because it was post-war, fought mostly in a guerilla style and far from beautiful from what I saw. The first scene that came to mind was the commander beating a man's nose into his skull with the butt end of a bottle, killing him and his father because they just might have been spies. The sound of it, let alone the sight was grotesque. There was also a scene were a man has his leg cut off because the revolutionaries are held up in a cave and don't have proper medical supplies. That same doctor is shot in the back by the Commander after giving the tortured man a mercy death. Even the 'shoot out' scene after the revolutionaries try to steal supplies had haunting scenes where the soldiers put bullets in the heads of dead or nearly dead men. I remember feeling horrified by some of the images or just the sounds.

I do agree the ending was more tragic since you see that Ofila is dead, but I liked the fact that they didn't dress up the reality of it. There was a rawness throughout the film as well as darkness that Narnia didn't have even if they shared similar themes.

I also agree there was some confusing imagery with fawn and the root being more scary than the monsters she had to face. I expected the root would actually cause her mother to miscarry and kill her mother, giving Ofila all the reason she needed to return to the underworld kingdom. I didn't like that the queen was her mother either, it gave impression she had gone to heaven rather than the dark underworld that the beginning of the movie described.

Did I still enjoy it, yes. The imagery and costumes were remarkable and I have recommended it to others. I did fill it was shot darker than it needed to be, but I think it was done intentionally. It gave the film the feel of doom, which might have made the good guys winning a little contradictory, but it was a fantasy.

Re: -More plot spoiling below-

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I can't say I agree with the first one about the war because it was post-war, fought mostly in a guerilla style and far from beautiful from what I saw.

I thought about this (and I almost included this in this post) that may be my perception of the war side of the film is somehow not as vivid because of many Russian Second World War films I have seen as a child. These films quite often filmed very grimly and realistically, and they are often incredibly shocking. Just to take "Come and See": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/ which I absolutely recommend to anyone! It is probably the most frightening film I have ever seen. ( I apologize for long-winded passage!! )

The first scene that came to mind was the commander beating a man's nose into his skull with the butt end of a bottle, killing him and his father because they just might have been spies.

I think what I felt missing was some scenes of fighting. I felt that there were scenes of cruelty, but not scenes of war (I hope this makes sense). It was like if all was about a single figure, Captain, but not about the whole war. It felt for me as if Captain was a figure in some horror movie, not war movie.

I expected the root would actually cause her mother to miscarry and kill her mother, giving Ofila all the reason she needed to return to the underworld kingdom.

At this point I thought that she will find out that the kingdom of Underworld is as bad as the Real World above, that it's inhabitants are all monsters and the King is monster too, in a manner of her step-father. I was quite surprised that this was a test and the King was benevolent. But to add, the test itself was very scary, worthy of Old Testament and Abraham, and if applied to a child is again in contradiction with the King of Underword benevolence.

Did I still enjoy it, yes. The imagery and costumes were remarkable and I have recommended it to others. I did fill it was shot darker than it needed to be, but I think it was done intentionally. It gave the film the feel of doom, which might have made the good guys winning a little contradictory, but it was a fantasy.

Oh, I liked it very much too! I also felt these things were done intentionally and this was such a clever film as well as gorgeously filmed one.

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

1. The other commentator already made the points why I also think that war was protrayed 'bad' enough. So I don't have to repeat that.

2. To me it is in a way a good ending (but maybe not 'happy'). Ofelia is re-united with her mother in death (where that takes place, I don't know. The underworld, a 'twilight' world or maybe even some sort of heaven).

3. I don't know if it was because of the fact that I had seen pictures of Pan and the Pale Man before, but I never was really scared by all the elements of the fantasy side. The giant toad (?) was a bit nasty. :)

Since I wrote my review (http://trailer-spot.livejournal.com/133105.html) discussions with other people here on LJ made some things clearer to me.
Pan is testing Ofelia. Three tasks of complete. She does the first thing without asking. During the second one she already starts to disobey the orders she's been giving (she eats grapes) and when it comes to the third task she refuses to give Pan her brother. Which is just what Pan is excpecting from her.
That the movie itself is about disobedience/rebellion is made clear by the doctor in his final words when he tells the captain that he refuses to follow orders without thinking.

So since I first wrote my thoughts things are much clearer now to me. I still have some issues with the plot development of the war part, but it now leaves a much better overall impression.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

2. To me it is in a way a good ending (but maybe not 'happy'). Ofelia is re-united with her mother in death (where that takes place, I don't know. The underworld, a 'twilight' world or maybe even some sort of heaven).

Did you also think she died and gone to heaven? Or was this the well-deserved kingdom of Underworld? And in any way, what the baby was doing there? This is one of the things that stuck in my head as a strange image – Mother and the Baby. I guess it should be connected somehow with the fact that Spain is predominantly Catholic.

3. I don't know if it was because of the fact that I had seen pictures of Pan and the Pale Man before, but I never was really scared by all the elements of the fantasy side. The giant toad (?) was a bit nasty. :)

I think the baby-looking root with its crazy movements was the scariest part for me. And it is not like I was scared like when watching horror-movie. I w\as rather scared as when reading "Turn of the Screw". I find it very scary when something what is supposed to be healing or good looks like it is going to eat your brain any minute. :D

Pan is testing Ofelia. Three tasks of complete. She does the first thing without asking. During the second one she already starts to disobey the orders she's been giving (she eats grapes) and when it comes to the third task she refuses to give Pan her brother. Which is just what Pan is excpecting from her.

I like this, this is a very interesting point. I remember you were wondering why she eat the grapes. I just thought that she eat them because there was a spell on them (and the whole table) to make them irresistible.

I guess this is one of the films which have many different explanations.

So since I first wrote my thoughts things are much clearer now to me. I still have some issues with the plot development of the war part, but it now leaves a much better overall impression.

I thought that the war part was more about Ophelia's step-father then about the war – may be like the whole war was shown through this one single man.

The war bits still are somehow not serious for me, they had no real danger. All the torturing and bad things were happening to the characters we knew nothing about, it was like if the torturing was there "just because", just for the show. The major characters were safe. Doctor was shot, but I was expecting Captain to torture the doctor. He could have provided very valuable information. And I would have expected Captain to search Mercedes and find her knife, especially because she was always using it.

BTW – have you seen "Hot Fuzz" already? We just came back from watching it, it was fabulous!

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

Did you also think she died and gone to heaven? Or was this the well-deserved kingdom of Underworld?

Yes, I think she's dead. She has left the 'real' world. I have to admit that I don't have a firm opinion 'where' she is. One the one hand it seems some sort of underworld, but on the other and it certainly didn't look like a dark place, so I would associate it with something heaven-like. And she's re-united with her mother. I also never thought of the faun as someone hostile. He's testing Ofelia, but especially the ending makes it clear to me that he is friendly. That's also the reason why I never associated him with the captain.
The reason why Ofelia creates/escapes into the fairy/dream world is because she wants to leave the real/war world and the captain.

And in any way, what the baby was doing there? ... catholic

To be honest I don't recall how the exact picture looked like. I also didn't really receive any 'catholic' vibes throughout the movie. But I can understand if you have some different 'antennas' :)

I guess this is one of the films which have many different explanations

I think so too. And I really like how so many people talk about it and share different thoughts. :)

have you seen "Hot Fuzz" already?

May I remind you that I live in another country. One in which movies usually are released many, many months later. In this case some time in June. ;)
But good to hear that it's fabulous.

But I've seen two other movies over the weekend from countries that you have special interest in, so I wanted to ask you if you've seen them:
Nightwatch and Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-ho.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

May I remind you that I live in another country. One in which movies usually are released many, many months later. In this case some time in June. ;)
But good to hear that it's fabulous.

I guess I just forgotten, LJ makes you feel as if the world is “one big place”. :D But not as much at the moment – China decided to block LJ.
Germany’s situation with releases seems to be unfair. ** shakes her fist ** But if you ever come to England!! ;D Even my husband liked ”Hot Fuzz”.. I think I liked it enough to make icons for myself, Pegg/Frost pair was incredible. I will have to watch “Shaun of the dead” now.

But I've seen two other movies over the weekend from countries that you have special interest in, so I wanted to ask you if you've seen them:
Nightwatch and Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-ho.

I have seen “Nightwatch” and I have slightly mixed feelings about it, mostly because my eyesight didn’t allow me to enjoy their special effects in full, I can’t tolerate much of flashing (especially on the big screen).. What did you think? This film was a bigger hit in box office in Russia then “Lord of the Rings”.

“Memories of Murder” is on my watch list .. Did you like it?

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

Things would be so much easier if movies would be released around the world within a couple of weeks.

China decided to block LJ.

Yes, I've heard about it. They've decided to de-friend us. ;)

I didn't particularly like both movies.

This film was a bigger hit in box office in Russia then "Lord of the Rings".

I had heard about that. I remember when I saw the first trailer, I was totally 'wowed'. It took more than the year until the movie finally made it to theatres here. By then I had read I few sceptic reviews so I didn't watch it at the theatre. That's why it took me so long to finally see it. It was now shown on TV.
I like movies that look good visually a lot. Sometimes I'm wondering if I like them too much. But when I saw 'Nightwatch' I realised there are limits. I thought it was just too many camera tricks. It was still nice to look at but it started to distract from the real story.
The story itself is very intriguing but I also thought it should've made for a better movie. I thought it was a lost opportunity.

And I really didn't like Memories of Murder. Maybe my expectations were too high. I didn't like the 'funny' elements. Yes, I can see how the imcompetent detectives can be seen as a metaphor for the Korean regime back then but I still thought it didn't make a lot of sense and I didn't find it funny at all.
It was nice to see how some characters changed during the movie, and I liked the ambiguous ending, but all in all I thought I had wasted my time.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I like movies that look good visually a lot. Sometimes I'm wondering if I like them too much.

I am very similar – good visuals can sometimes "make" the whole movie for me, but never entirely.

But when I saw 'Nightwatch' I realised there are limits. I thought it was just too many camera tricks. It was still nice to look at but it started to distract from the real story.

This is what I felt as well, plus these particular camera tricks (even though quite original) mage my eyes ill and my head hurt. But this is just me – I easily notice blinking on the old type monitors and can't really tolerate blinking icons. But this doesn't apply to your lovely icons of Snoopy at all! Hee! I am an old lady, I guess!! After the first half of "Nightwatch" I was just waiting for the film to end.

There was another thing I noticed – subtitles didn't really give the good justice to the dialogue. The dialogue was quite clever and contained black humor and a fair share of Russian cultural and fairytale references. This seemed to be largely lost in subtitles. But I think it must have been difficult, cultural gap makes some things to lose their meaning.

The story itself is very intriguing but I also thought it should've made for a better movie. I thought it was a lost opportunity.

I liked the story and the main actor, Khabensky. And the ending came as unexpected surprise for me!!

And I really didn't like Memories of Murder. Maybe my expectations were too high. I didn't like the 'funny' elements.

I want to see it and compare it with "Host" , but I hear your warning!!!

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

subtitles didn't really give the good justice to the dialogue.

I saw a dubbed, german version, but I doubt that they were able to translate some specific russian meanings and humour.

And sorry for writing so much about MoM. When I started writing I knew that you haven't seen the movie, but later I forgot. Sorry about that. I think I remember that you once said that it's not a very big problem for you if you already know things. But still.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

And sorry for writing so much about MoM. When I started writing I knew that you haven't seen the movie, but later I forgot. Sorry about that. I think I remember that you once said that it's not a very big problem for you if you already know things. But still.

Oh, NO!!! I am a spoiler person to start with, and I love to read reviews, and I enjoy your thoughts always!! In fact, your comment made me want to watch MoM NOW (or yesterday :D) to be able to discuss it with you! I wonder how it compares with “Host”. But this is sadly, my working side of the week. ;(

I was wondering if you had a trailer for “Shaun of the dead” somewhere.. Please don’t worry if it is difficult for you to find the old post, I was just wondering. :D

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

The Host will come out at the end of this month here. So maybe in a couple of weeks we can have a Bong Joon-ho discussion. :)

I think the movie came out before I had the blog, but I sure know where to find a trailer (http://www.focusfeatures.com/clips/shaun_of_the_dead/trailer-480x202.mov). And some more clips can be found here (http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2004/STUVWXYZ/Shaun-of-the-Dead/trailer-page.html). :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I think the movie came out before I had the blog, but I sure know where to find a trailer. And some more clips can be found here. :)

You are awesome!! Thank you so much! As you can see, I am still in love with “Hot Fuzz”. :D I remember when “Shaun of the dead” was everywhere I didn’t think much of it – the posters looked as if this is something very stupid and bad-taste.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Pan is testing Ofelia. Three tasks of complete. She does the first thing without asking. During the second one she already starts to disobey the orders she's been giving (she eats grapes) and when it comes to the third task she refuses to give Pan her brother. Which is just what Pan is excpecting from her.
That the movie itself is about disobedience/rebellion is made clear by the doctor in his final words when he tells the captain that he refuses to follow orders without thinking.

Oh, I forgotten to say: In connection with this, I have thought whilst watching that FAwn is some reflection of Ophelia's step-father. I discarded this thought later, but I think there is some kind of connection there.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I still haven't seen this, but I ordered the DVD from the UK (where it comes out pretty soon), so I can see it at home, at least, even if the screen is small. (Mostly, with my bad vision, I'm just worried about being able to read the subtitles.)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

It is such a gorgeous film, I am so glad you will be able to see it soon!!!! I also have to sit fairy close to read subtitles on TV, but I find that recently all my favourite films seem to be the ones with subtitles. :D

Sorry for the late comment.

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a chance to read much this week so far. Busy busy bzoppa!

When I watched this, I took the fantasy elements at face value. Then I went to imdb and read the following in a summary:

The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. Fascist repression towards the end of World War II (1944) is at its height in rural Spain and the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own.

I never went back to rewatch it so there could've been a hard and fast clue that this isn't a possibility, but it made me think of her adventures as wholly imaginary on her part. It makes her ruining the dress to confront the toad even more sad and hurtful towards her mother. Not that Ophelia didn't truly believe she was fulfilling a task, but her mother was then right that she was acting out.

In this light, her death at the end to me isn't a matter of her going to heaven or hell or reuniting with her family. Instead it's her dying creation that she succeeded in her tasks and believed herself to becoming a princess. When, really, she'd just been tragically and stupidly killed.

trailer_spot made a brilliant observation above, about her rebellion escalating through the three tasks. Wonderful point.

Re: Sorry for the late comment.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I never went back to rewatch it so there could've been a hard and fast clue that this isn't a possibility, but it made me think of her adventures as wholly imaginary on her part.

This is actually brilliant – I think I will go with this explanation for now, because this explains why her imaginary world was so dark. When someone creates an imaginary world they can go two ways, perhaps, one is to create a world totally different from your own and another is to create something influenced by your real world.

There are clues for both options (fairytale world is imaginary/not imaginary). On one hand, Ophalia’s step-father was able to see the mandrake Root, though we never saw it through his eyes, the Root he saw could have looked completely different.
On the other hand, Ophelia sees her dead mother in the Kingdom of Underworld.

It makes her ruining the dress to confront the toad even more sad and hurtful towards her mother. Not that Ophelia didn't truly believe she was fulfilling a task, but her mother was then right that she was acting out.

Even if she was trying to imagine things, Ophelia tried to preserve dress when she took it off. The dress was spoiled because of the wind and rain. Even though this connects with “rebellion” theory, Ophelia wasn’t trying to do it deliberately, I think…

Instead it's her dying creation that she succeeded in her tasks and believed herself to becoming a princess. When, really, she'd just been tragically and stupidly killed.

I think after much brain-raking this is what I think. It just the mood of the story was so tragic that this seems to be more fitting.