Pans Labyrinth 'A Fairy tale for grown-ups'
- Thread starter zenie
- Start date
Ok People - Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc.
ok, reno.. not even quite sure where i'm going with this but
1)i guess we assume that the baby represents Spain's future and its relationship with the civil war ("it won't even know your name") but is it also a comment on the level of denial in spanish society about the war and who did what?
2) i found myself wondering if we were to believe, at the end, that none of it 'happened', that the girl just slipped into her own imaginings throughout, and little signs of it being 'real' - the chalk doors etc - were just her acting out the fantasies. Do you think this is the case, does it matter, and how does the mandrake root relate to this?
3). if the whole of the labyrinth is allegorical, i never quite worked out what represented what. The ugly motherfucker at the banquet is presumably the church (stigmata, a big feast others are denied, old and emaciated and malign). so how about the toad? or am i being too literal?
At least it got me thinking, and it was a brilliantly evocative movie,even though there was something about the faun that didn't quite work - maybe it lost something in translation, but that character was a bit panto, camp even.
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc.
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc.
ok, reno.. not even quite sure where i'm going with this but
1)i guess we assume that the baby represents Spain's future and its relationship with the civil war ("it won't even know your name") but is it also a comment on the level of denial in spanish society about the war and who did what?
2) i found myself wondering if we were to believe, at the end, that none of it 'happened', that the girl just slipped into her own imaginings throughout, and little signs of it being 'real' - the chalk doors etc - were just her acting out the fantasies. Do you think this is the case, does it matter, and how does the mandrake root relate to this?
3). if the whole of the labyrinth is allegorical, i never quite worked out what represented what. The ugly motherfucker at the banquet is presumably the church (stigmata, a big feast others are denied, old and emaciated and malign). so how about the toad? or am i being too literal?
At least it got me thinking, and it was a brilliantly evocative movie,even though there was something about the faun that didn't quite work - maybe it lost something in translation, but that character was a bit panto, camp even.
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc.
Reno
The In Kraut
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc
1) I think you could be right there, though that never occurred to me.
2) We only ever see the fantastical events from the girls POV and nobody else sees them, so the fantastic realm was just her way to escape and didn't really exist. She did put the mandrake root under the bed, but it was only alive to her. I thought that was the best of the creatures in a way, because it's resemblance to a baby when it burns was truly disturbing. As I'm an atheist I thought that the happy end in the fairy tale world was just her dying dream, but others could interpret it as Heaven.
3) I'm not sure all the creatures literally represented particular aspects of the political situation, but your interpretation of the ghoul with the eyes in his palms as the church makes sense and I would find that a bit laboured. I agree with you on the faun, he also didn't quite work for me. Too much mime like acting.
I preferred the ghost story of The Devil's Backbone over the creatures here and I also thought it had more scope, narrative momentum and more interesting sub-plots and characters and many of the characters here were just too similar to the earlier film. Still Pan's Labyrinth did get to me and didn't leave me for a while. Despite my reservations it's a powerful film.
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc
1) I think you could be right there, though that never occurred to me.
2) We only ever see the fantastical events from the girls POV and nobody else sees them, so the fantastic realm was just her way to escape and didn't really exist. She did put the mandrake root under the bed, but it was only alive to her. I thought that was the best of the creatures in a way, because it's resemblance to a baby when it burns was truly disturbing. As I'm an atheist I thought that the happy end in the fairy tale world was just her dying dream, but others could interpret it as Heaven.
3) I'm not sure all the creatures literally represented particular aspects of the political situation, but your interpretation of the ghoul with the eyes in his palms as the church makes sense and I would find that a bit laboured. I agree with you on the faun, he also didn't quite work for me. Too much mime like acting.
I preferred the ghost story of The Devil's Backbone over the creatures here and I also thought it had more scope, narrative momentum and more interesting sub-plots and characters and many of the characters here were just too similar to the earlier film. Still Pan's Labyrinth did get to me and didn't leave me for a while. Despite my reservations it's a powerful film.
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! WARNING! WARNING! etc
WARNING, SPOILERS, DAH, DAH, DAH, BAKED BEANS
I started thinking about some of the various metaphors going on in the film while watching it, but didn't want to let it distract me at the time. Might give it another watch later before seeing it on a big screen on the weekend.
I'm still somewhat undecided on the real/imaginary concept, since there are several definite events that back up either side. Plus i was sawying towards it being real if you think about the closing scene/shots of the frog tree blossoming and the fairy, plus the ending narrative.
Plus the mandrake root/mother's recovery, ofelia's escape from the guarded room at the end (albeit i suppose she could have found another way out), her evasion of the captain in the labyrinth, etc. Need to rewatch it to think about other scenes.
WARNING, SPOILERS, YADDA, YADDA, YADDA, CLOTTED CREAM
I started thinking about some of the various metaphors going on in the film while watching it, but didn't want to let it distract me at the time. Might give it another watch later before seeing it on a big screen on the weekend.
I'm still somewhat undecided on the real/imaginary concept, since there are several definite events that back up either side. Plus i was sawying towards it being real if you think about the closing scene/shots of the frog tree blossoming and the fairy, plus the ending narrative.
Plus the mandrake root/mother's recovery, ofelia's escape from the guarded room at the end (albeit i suppose she could have found another way out), her evasion of the captain in the labyrinth, etc. Need to rewatch it to think about other scenes.
WARNING, SPOILERS, YADDA, YADDA, YADDA, CLOTTED CREAM
Socialist Worker's Review
Er...contains Spoilers!!!
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=10187
Er...contains Spoilers!!!
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=10187
Would love to see this at the cinema. Watched the screener version mentioned earlier in the thread. Definitely the film of the year though.
SPOILER ALERT SPOLER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
Must admit I'm not knowledgeable enough about the spanish civil war etc to have picked up on a lot of the themes mentioned above. I didn't realise it was meant to be an allegory :embarrassed:
spoiler alert spoiler alert
Must admit I'm not knowledgeable enough about the spanish civil war etc to have picked up on a lot of the themes mentioned above. I didn't realise it was meant to be an allegory :embarrassed:
spoiler alert spoiler alert
Divisive Cotton
Now I just have my toy soldiers
*averts eyes from spoliers*
When is this film having general release?
When is this film having general release?
This week on thursday in britain, i think.
Right, so exactly WHO is coming to see it, on saturday, somewhere in london that is potentially not too expensive? Feel free to suggest cinemas, etc, i had a look for times earlier in the week but most places only had the preview times listed. Organise yourself into a list or something you can quote. That'll look nice 
Moggy
Badgers
Kitty
Groucho
Moggy
Badgers
Kitty
Groucho
Divisive Cotton
Now I just have my toy soldiers
This has got a very limited release 
fudgefactorfive
New Member
Moggy
Badgers
Kitty
Groucho
golightly
mango5
fudgefactorfive + 'im indoors
Badgers
Kitty
Groucho
golightly
mango5
fudgefactorfive + 'im indoors
crustychick
doo-woop-de-doo
omg - I watched this last night and thought it was grim!
the fairy bits were cool as, but the civil war stuff was horrific. I guess the contrast was what he was trying to achieve but it thought was gruesome.
(although I did love the special effects for all the magic stuff - amazing!)
the fairy bits were cool as, but the civil war stuff was horrific. I guess the contrast was what he was trying to achieve but it thought was gruesome.
(although I did love the special effects for all the magic stuff - amazing!)
me and the gf just got back after seeing it - it was amazing, beautiful visualisation and on such a small budget ($5 million dollars total - beat that).
do you think this guy will be lined up to do the Hobbit? (hope so)
It was grim on the civil war side - but then lets not forget the horrific things that happened at that time, the contrast with the magical qualities of Ofilia's world was great.
Jonathon woss 'reviewed' it on the telly and thought that it was all in ofilia's head to escape from the brutality that was happening around here ... except he forgot that it all started before they got to the mill when she put the stone eye back in that weird statue and the mantis/fairy creature appeared
overall I thought it was a brilliant film, pulled the 2 threads of the story together nicely, the chalk doors had an alice in wonderland charm, the faun freaked me out as I couldn't work out if he was malign or a goody (the devil-type imagery of his horns and his weird legs). It was a real tear jerker ending that left you wondering if it was real or not. I like to believe that it was real and she was reunited with her parents and brother.
... the monster with the eye-hands was just freakish, really horrid imagery
10/10 in my book! everyone go and see it NOW
do you think this guy will be lined up to do the Hobbit? (hope so)
It was grim on the civil war side - but then lets not forget the horrific things that happened at that time, the contrast with the magical qualities of Ofilia's world was great.
Jonathon woss 'reviewed' it on the telly and thought that it was all in ofilia's head to escape from the brutality that was happening around here ... except he forgot that it all started before they got to the mill when she put the stone eye back in that weird statue and the mantis/fairy creature appeared
overall I thought it was a brilliant film, pulled the 2 threads of the story together nicely, the chalk doors had an alice in wonderland charm, the faun freaked me out as I couldn't work out if he was malign or a goody (the devil-type imagery of his horns and his weird legs). It was a real tear jerker ending that left you wondering if it was real or not. I like to believe that it was real and she was reunited with her parents and brother.
... the monster with the eye-hands was just freakish, really horrid imagery
10/10 in my book! everyone go and see it NOW
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