Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 12/29/06 (Limited) 01/19/07 Home Video 11/13/07 MPAA Rating Rated R for language and sexual content Running Time 2 hours Genre Suspense, Horror, Drama, Sci-Fi Director Guillermo del Toro Writer Guillermo del Toro Cast Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Sergi López, Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdú, Álex Angulo, Roger Casamajor, Sebastián Haro, Mina Lira, Federico Luppi, Ivan Massagué, Chema Ruiz, Manolo Solo, Milo Taboada Studio Picturehouse |
PAN'S LABYRINTH
SYNOPSIS
Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
delivers a unique, richly imagined epic with PAN'S
LABYRINTH, a gothic fairy tale set against the
postwar repression of Franco's Spain. Del Toro's
sixth and most ambitious film, PAN'S LABYRINTH
combines the historic and moral themes of his
acclaimed Spanish Civil War ghost story THE
DEVIL'S BACKBONE with the protean visual creativity
and gripping dynamics of such previous films as
HELLBOY and BLADE II. Harnessing the formal
characteristics of classic folklore to a 20th Century
landscape, del Toro delivers a timeless tale of good
and evil, bravery and sacrificed, love and loss.
PAN'S LABYRINTH unfolds througH the eyes of
Ofelia, a dreamy little girl who is uprooted to a rural
military outpost commanded by her new stepfather.
Powerless and lonely in a place of unfathomable
cruelty, Ofelia lives out6 her own dark fable as she
confronts monsters both otherworldly and human.
As Ofelia, the gifted young Spanish actress Ivana
Baquero holds the screen with a remarkable
combination of innocence and maturity, vulnerability
and strength. Basquero is joined by a superb cast
that includes international stars Sergi Lopez (DIRTY
PRETTY THINGS), Maribel Berdu (Y TU MAMA
TAMBIEN) and Ariadna Gil (BELLE EPOQUE), as well
as frequent del Toro collaborator Doug Jones
(HELLBOY).
Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
delivers a unique, richly imagined epic with PAN'S
LABYRINTH, a gothic fairy tale set against the
postwar repression of Franco's Spain. Del Toro's
sixth and most ambitious film, PAN'S LABYRINTH
combines the historic and moral themes of his
acclaimed Spanish Civil War ghost story THE
DEVIL'S BACKBONE with the protean visual creativity
and gripping dynamics of such previous films as
HELLBOY and BLADE II. Harnessing the formal
characteristics of classic folklore to a 20th Century
landscape, del Toro delivers a timeless tale of good
and evil, bravery and sacrificed, love and loss.
PAN'S LABYRINTH unfolds througH the eyes of
Ofelia, a dreamy little girl who is uprooted to a rural
military outpost commanded by her new stepfather.
Powerless and lonely in a place of unfathomable
cruelty, Ofelia lives out6 her own dark fable as she
confronts monsters both otherworldly and human.
As Ofelia, the gifted young Spanish actress Ivana
Baquero holds the screen with a remarkable
combination of innocence and maturity, vulnerability
and strength. Basquero is joined by a superb cast
that includes international stars Sergi Lopez (DIRTY
PRETTY THINGS), Maribel Berdu (Y TU MAMA
TAMBIEN) and Ariadna Gil (BELLE EPOQUE), as well
as frequent del Toro collaborator Doug Jones
(HELLBOY).
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
| ST. LOUIS MOVIE REVIEW WEEKLY |
A lone automobile travels a narrow road in the Spanish countryside in 1944. In the back seat, a little girl
names Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and he mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) are on their way to their new home. A
bright and dreamly little girl, Ofelia keeps her precious books of fairy tales close at hand, despit Carmen's
gentle admonition that it may be time for her to put away these childhood favorites. It is unlikely that such
a pastimes will meet the approval of Ofelia's new stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). And Carmen,
who is pregnant with the captain's child, is anxious for he daughter to get along with the man to whom
she has entrusted their future.
But for Ofelia, fables of good and evil, magic and danger are more than simple entertainment. They are
her window onto the world, awakening her to life's everyday possibilities and mysteries. When a
dragonfly captures Ofelia's attention during a roadside stop, it is not a gangly insect that she follows into
the woods but a glistening emerald ambassador, welcoming her to its domain.
There is little sense of welcome, however, when Ofelia and her mother finally arrive at the destination, an
abandoned mill in rural Spain that Vidal has converted into a military headquarters. Though Captain Vidal
is there to greet the, his annoyance at their late arrival is palpable. Indeed, there is nothing in the officer's
cold, exacting demeanor to suggest that he wishes to be a parent to Ofelia, whose own father died
several years ago. What Vidal wants is the son that Carmen is carrying, not a family.
On the grounds of the mill, armed soldiers are everywhere. Charged with rootig out resistance fighters in
the nearby mountains, Vidal and his troops zealously pursue any and all signs of their opponents. Thus
far, the rebels have managed elude capture, though fascists have solidified their power in the region.
Those local people who clean and cook for the soldiers do their work quietly, speaking only when they are
spoken to. Carmen, her condition already precarious, grows even sicker and is soon confined to her bed.
In this tense and fearful environment, Ofelia finds a sympathetic presence in the housekeeper Mercedes
(Maribel Verdu), who shows her a rambling, neglected old garden near the mill. With its winding paths, it
is a lovely place to wander, though one can easily become lost thereafter nightfall.
That garden labyrinth will become Ofelia's garden, a dark refuge from loneliness and sorrow. It is a place
of fantastical creatures and powerful talismans, presided over by a teasing, inscrutable Faun (Doug
Jones). Here, Ofelia will come to terms with the world as she now knows it - and with the monsters that
ive not only in her imagination, but in her daily life. -- © Picturehouse
names Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and he mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) are on their way to their new home. A
bright and dreamly little girl, Ofelia keeps her precious books of fairy tales close at hand, despit Carmen's
gentle admonition that it may be time for her to put away these childhood favorites. It is unlikely that such
a pastimes will meet the approval of Ofelia's new stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). And Carmen,
who is pregnant with the captain's child, is anxious for he daughter to get along with the man to whom
she has entrusted their future.
But for Ofelia, fables of good and evil, magic and danger are more than simple entertainment. They are
her window onto the world, awakening her to life's everyday possibilities and mysteries. When a
dragonfly captures Ofelia's attention during a roadside stop, it is not a gangly insect that she follows into
the woods but a glistening emerald ambassador, welcoming her to its domain.
There is little sense of welcome, however, when Ofelia and her mother finally arrive at the destination, an
abandoned mill in rural Spain that Vidal has converted into a military headquarters. Though Captain Vidal
is there to greet the, his annoyance at their late arrival is palpable. Indeed, there is nothing in the officer's
cold, exacting demeanor to suggest that he wishes to be a parent to Ofelia, whose own father died
several years ago. What Vidal wants is the son that Carmen is carrying, not a family.
On the grounds of the mill, armed soldiers are everywhere. Charged with rootig out resistance fighters in
the nearby mountains, Vidal and his troops zealously pursue any and all signs of their opponents. Thus
far, the rebels have managed elude capture, though fascists have solidified their power in the region.
Those local people who clean and cook for the soldiers do their work quietly, speaking only when they are
spoken to. Carmen, her condition already precarious, grows even sicker and is soon confined to her bed.
In this tense and fearful environment, Ofelia finds a sympathetic presence in the housekeeper Mercedes
(Maribel Verdu), who shows her a rambling, neglected old garden near the mill. With its winding paths, it
is a lovely place to wander, though one can easily become lost thereafter nightfall.
That garden labyrinth will become Ofelia's garden, a dark refuge from loneliness and sorrow. It is a place
of fantastical creatures and powerful talismans, presided over by a teasing, inscrutable Faun (Doug
Jones). Here, Ofelia will come to terms with the world as she now knows it - and with the monsters that
ive not only in her imagination, but in her daily life. -- © Picturehouse
