Laberinto del fauno, El (2006)

Director:

Guillermo del Toro

Guionista:

Guillermo del Toro (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 octubre 2006 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

Frase comercial:

What happens when make-believe believes it's real?

Plot:

In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

Plot Keywords:

Fairy | Spy | Full Moon | Forest | Bludgeoning

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 65 wins & 58 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

A fey, beautiful and dark masterpiece

US TV Schedule:

Wed. May 21

2:05 PM

MAX

Cast

Ivana Baquero	...	Ofelia
Sergi López	...	Captain Vidal
Maribel Verdú	...	Mercedes
Doug Jones	...	Fauno / Pale Man
Ariadna Gil	...	Carmen Vidal
Álex Angulo	...	Doctor
Manolo Solo	...	Garcés
César Vea	...	Serrano
Roger Casamajor	...	Pedro
Ivan Massagué	...	El Tarta
Gonzalo Uriarte	...	Francés
Eusebio Lázaro	...	Padre
Francisco Vidal	...	Sacerdote (as Paco Vidal)
Juanjo Cucalón	...	Alcalde
Lina Mira	...	Esposa del alcalde

También conocida como:

Pan's Labyrinth (International: English title)
The Labyrinth of the Faun (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Laberinto del fauno, El (Colombia) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic violence and some language.

Duración:

Finland:120 min | Canada:112 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | UK:119 min

País:

Mexico | Spain | USA

Idioma:

Español

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Clasificación:

Brazil:16 | Sweden:15 | Italy:VM14 | Mexico:C | Belgium:KNT | USA:R | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Portugal:M/16 | France:-12 | Taiwan:R-12 | Norway:15 | Germany:16 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Iceland:12 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Argentina:18 | Malaysia:18PL | Australia:MA | Ireland:16 | Japan:PG-12 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Singapore:R21 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Belchite, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain

Company:

Tequila Gang

Trivialidades:

According to director Guillermo del Toro the scene involving the Giant Frog was to be shot in an extravagant dome "tree" set. However, 3 days prior to shooting, he realized that the Frog wouldn't seem so giant in the massive set, and the Tree Tunnel set in the movie was constructed in 2 days, and then shot.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Ofelia goes down the stairs in the labyrinth and is talking to the faun, his shadow still shows Doug Jones' legs while they are in the stilts. The special effects crew took out his physical legs, but the shadow still exists.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Pan: A long time ago, in the underground realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamed of the human world. She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside...

Movie Connections:

References "Alice in Wonderland" (1991)

Soundtrack:

Pan and the Full Moon (La Luna Llena y el Fauno)

A fey, beautiful and dark masterpiece

Set during Franco's mopping up exercise after the Spanish Civil War, Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth is a wonderful, dark fairy tale that, in a metaphor for Spain itself, teeters on the edge of nightmare dreamscapes of corruption, violence and the death of innocents.

This film is definitely not for young children. Although the fantasy sequences are gorgeously realised, and are fairy tales in the truest sense (in that they are dark, fey, dangerous and violent), most of the story (about three quarters of it, in fact) exists outside of the dreamland, in the even more frightening (and sometimes shockingly violent) world of a real life struggle of ideas and ideology.

Sergi Lopez is excellent as the brutal (and possibly sadistic) Falangist Captain tasked with routing out the remaining leftists from the woods and hills of Northern Spain. Into this precarious situation come his new wife (a widow of a former marriage, who is carrying his son) and his stepdaughter Ofelia (played to absolute perfection, by the then 11 year old, Ivana Baquero).

Uncomfortable with her new surroundings, suspicious of her stepfather and desperately concerned about the worsening condition of her mother, Ofelia uncovers a strange alternative world, and the chance to escape forever the pain and uncertainty of her everyday life.

Thus the film alternates between the world of Civil War Spain and the increasingly bizarre, dark and frightening world of the Pan's Labyrinth. As the twin plots progress, they intertwine, with the tasks of Ofelia becoming the choices faced by a Spain at the crossroads. The poignancy of the film lies partly in the fact that the victories of the child are reflected so starkly by the failures of the adult world.

Apparently Pan's Labyrinth won a 20-minute standing ovation at Cannes, when it was shown. This may be a little bit over the top. I suspect when the furore has died down some will choose to swing the pendulum back and criticise it for its more obvious faults. Much of the film is derivative. There are few ideas in the film's magical dreamworld that haven't been seen before. There are also few ideas in the film's depiction of the Civil War that can't be read in Satre or Orwell; can't be viewed in Picasso's Guernica; or can't be watched in Land and Freedom.

For all the evident truth of these observations, to accept them would be to entirely miss the majesty of Pan's Labyrinth, which doesn't lie in its originality but its absolute mastery of execution. People will watch Pan's Labyrinth in a way that most won't watch Land and Freedom. In doing so, they will also discover a world of fairy tales which existed before Disney sunk its claws into them: a dangerous world, where nothing is as it seems and every step is a possible death – a place which may leave even adults shivering under the duvet, part in terror, part in wonder. And all this backed up by the finest cinematography I've seen.

The only real faults I am prepared to allow for this film is a slight tendency (particularly at the end) for a Narnia-like moralism, and the fact that the faun is, perhaps, is not quite wild enough! These are eminently forgivable, though. This is easily the best film I've seen this year, and a must see on the big screen.