|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Okay, I tried three times to describe this in one or two sentences and am failing utterly. On the
one hand, it's about a girl who is just about to hit adolescence, whose
mother has (it seems through expedience) married an army officer, and is
pregnant with his child. It's Spain in 1944, and he's a Fascist, and
even worse, a sadistic creep...and he does not like his new stepdaughter
any more than she likes him.
But Ofelia also lives a rich fantasy life, and believes in fairies...and soon, one summons her to a midnight meeting with the faun Pan, who gives her three tasks to complete, after which she will be allowed to return to the fairy kingdom, of which she may be the missing princess. Or is she just retreating into a fantasy world in her mind? This film got HUGE press when it was released in this country (it's in Spanish, with English subtitles) and justifiably so. It's beautifully made, gripping, lyrical, well written, well paced, with fantasy and reality so intermingled that the viewer is swept along on the tide of story. The filmmaker totally gets fairy tales, the whole concept of story, and also makes this girl wonderful and sympathetic and yet enigmatic. I just can't praise this gem of a movie highly enough. Make sure you see it soon, it's BRILLIANT. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
