Pan’s Labyrinth is the second film in a planned trilogy of films directed by Guillermo del Toro which are all thematically connected by the trauma of the Spanish Civil War, the first of which being The Devil’s Backbone in 2001. This film follows an 11 year old girl called Ofelia with her mother (Carmen) who has married a man called Captain Vidal. The film is set in Spain in a remote forest and the majority of the film shows the events of Ofelia carrying out tasks from a faun called Pan.
Before we watched this, we had watched The Devil’s Backbone and I would easily say that Pan’s Labyrinth is the better of the two films. I found that the overall plot of the film had a much better pace than The Devil’s Backbone with the plot never really stopping for long periods of time, so I felt much more engaged with the plot and characters. Furthermore, the imagery of the film is fantastic. From the colour palette being well chosen for each of the different locations and characters, to the designs of the characters, which are which are this films highlights for me.
The look of Pan including his posture, sound and overall presence on screen is great and it was always fun and charming to see him there. Plus, the Pale Man also had a great design, but for different reasons. The Pale Man is simply put: creepy, seriously creepy, and I love it. For only actually being in the film for a few minutes, he leaves an incredible impression and is very memorable. His movements when he wakes up add so much to him as well. The way he walks is also just plain creepy and creates tension effortlessly.
The film has lots of references to fairytales as the film carries a fantastical and a childlike nature when it follows Ofelia. The allusions to these fairytale stories adds a lot of charm to Ofelia and her overall character arc.
I would highly recommend anyone see this film. It’s a great story with a great sense of adventure and wonder, and it’s topped off with a very interesting insight into the Spanish Civil War.
Daniel Webb's Film Studies Blog 