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Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

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8 reviews

Synopsis

The guardian of a labyrinth tells a young girl that she is the long lost princess of a magical kingdom and sets her three dangerous tasks that she must complete in order to achieve her destiny.

Movie review

From Time Out London

A girl on the cusp of adolescence is inducted into a threatening fantasy world where she discovers her own power. It’s a familiar, even archetypal story well suited to the dreamlike parallel reality of cinema: Alice, Wendy and Dorothy found their ways on screen and have been joined by the young heroines of ‘Labyrinth’, ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Mirrormask’, to name just a few. ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ is another version of the tale, but an unusual one in that it isn’t suitable for children. Not only is it replete with violence visited on the body, but its lessons – in the inadequacy of fantasy as a countermeasure to repression – might have sensitive youngsters chucking in the towel.

As in ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ and a prospective new project, ‘3993’, del Toro (who is Mexican) arranges his supernatural drama against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. The setting is 1944, so the conflict proper is over, but skirmishes continue between anti-fascist guerrillas and forces under the command of sadistic, narcissistic Captain Vidal (Sergi López) – or ‘father’, as young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is instructed to address him when she arrives at his forest base with her pregnant, ailing mother (Ariadna Gil), Vidal’s new bride. The maid, Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), is friendly and in some ways a mirror character for Ofelia, but the girl is basically alone – until a large cricket transforms into a fairy and leads her to a crumbling stone maze in the grounds, where an ageing faun greets her as a lost princess, pending her completion of certain tasks…

It’s no coincidence that the fairy appears after the double-killing that establishes this fable isn’t kids’ stuff, or that the jeopardy of Ofelia’s challenges pales in comparison to real-world struggles. Reality increasingly dominates the story; in fact, the faun’s realm can seem merely the stage for a series of set-pieces whose grotesque and detailed design impresses more than any sense of momentum or high stakes.

Yet as escapist fantasies go, this supernature is markedly muddy – both literally, as when Ofelia ventures into the belly of a great tree, and in the general creepiness that marks even those ostensibly sympathetic to her, like the faun, with its unnerving habit of appearing in her bedroom. The labyrinth has echoes of authentic atrocity: a pile of children’s shoes lies ominously near the banqueting table of a bald-bodied, blank-faced baby-eater. At least as evident, though, is del Toro’s own immersion in fantasy and horror cinema, with nods to ‘Don’t Look Now’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Shining’ among others (not to mention Goya and ‘The Spirit of the Beehive’). It’s as a filmmaker, rather than storyteller, that del Toro is most successful here: a disjunction remains between the story’s childlike form and its gruesome execution, but few directors are so adept at conveying both the uncanny in the real and the recognisable in the fantastic.

Author: Ben Walters 2006-08-23 11:25:12

Time Out London Issue 1892: November 21-28 2006

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User reviews of this film

Helen said...

Posted on Aug 08 2009 23:04 In response to "emperors new clothes" comment, (note this is the only negative commenter) I would like to say the film is brilliant. The comment made by emperors new clothes is just an attack on people who have a different taste in film, implying that those people cannot possibly have a mind of their own and only take their reference from what the critics say, quite a biggoted viewpoint. I suggest to those who have not seen this film to watch it with an open mind judge for yourselves. x

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serious moonlight said...

Posted on Jan 13 2009 15:38 an absolutely wonderful, fantastical study of escapism

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Magmabulle said...

Posted on Jun 09 2008 10:51 A very enthralling tale for grown-ups, that leaves the viewer realizing that the reality is more brutal than any fiction.

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Emperors New Clothes said...

Posted on May 20 2008 16:28 Complete tripe. Only appealing to pretentious critics who think they know something about film.

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Rachel said...

Posted on Apr 20 2008 00:46 This was one of the most powerful, beautiful and heart breaking films I have ever seen. I whole-heartedly enjoyed every minute of it and would recommend it to evryone.

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Love Can't Save You said...

Posted on Mar 01 2008 19:03 a really interesting and unusual film considering its technically a fairytale

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Technoguy said...

Posted on Dec 26 2007 11:31 This is a strange film: like a crushed grape it distils
the eerie awfulness of the end of the Spanish civil war period,with it's festering sense of betrayals and smashed idealism into a set of gruesome tasks in a parallel fantasy world,which has punishments almost as deadly and inevitable.I thought his previous film The Devil's Backbone worked better but this was a major work.

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Di Edwards said...

Posted on Jun 30 2007 22:28 interesting original film. worth watching

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