15, 112 mins
The fairytale Pan’s Labyrinth is one you would never wish on your children. Nor is it a movie easily measured by the allocation of stars. The reason why is that I haven’t a clue who it will appeal to, despite the brilliance of the special effects and the eloquence of the story.
This is a desperately cruel fable set in a village at the end of the Spanish Civil War. The hero is a girl named Ofelia. Her bête noire is her sadistic stepfather, Vidal, a military officer in Franco’s pocket who dispenses local justice with pliers and an iron fist. Her weak and compliant mother is just hours away from giving birth to this tyrant’s son. A supernatural beast steps out of a dark corner in Ofelia’s bedroom. He has the horns of a goat and the face of an orc. He is Pan. He calls her Princess and tempts her with the prospect of a charmed new life in a magical underworld if she can perform three secret and dangerous tasks.
The Mexican director of this spooky allegory is Guillermo del Toro, a compulsive teller of ghost stories who won awards for The Devil’s Backbone (2001), and cartoon contracts for Blade 2 and Hellboy. Pan’s Labyrinth is the Spanish masterpiece about guilt he has been threatening to make for 20 years. It’s a terrific piece of art that taps nightmares painted by Goya and bleak facts about the recent past. Like all great myths it tries to embrace irreconcilables in a simple story.
It is about an innocent child who is crushed by circumstance. Ofelia’s stepfather is psychotic. His wife is too ill to care. Ofelia is the awkward stepdaughter: loved by mother; hated by Vidal. Pan is an animatronic marvel: half tree, half Gollum. The two worlds are beautifully poised. The fascist monster who sharpens his tools on people’s teeth is played by Sergi L?pez, a fabulous actor who sociopaths will fondly remember from Dominik Moll’s film Harry, He’s Here to Help. The creatures in Ofelia’s dream world are giant insects, frogs, and spooky fairies. There’s a Tim Burton sense of cheek about her playmates. And a Grimm sense of horror about Vidal’s job.
The director’s vicious point is how ideals can monster a man. What worries me is the manipulation. Ivana Baquero is a gripping watch as Ofelia. But she is just 11 years old. The film is essentially her fantasy but the dark forces are not within her control. She is never afforded the adult choice that the director pretends to offer. That might actually be the true tragedy.
Technically, the mix of genres — fantasy, horror, and drama — is inspired. The faceless ghoul Ofelia meets in one of her tests, who devours fairies like Saturn eating his sons, is a piece of genius. But I can’t help feeling that del Toro is pitching this elaborate parable at middle-aged historians with a working knowledge of Greek literature, The Lord of the Rings, and a National Gallery pass. I hope I’m wrong.
The desire to humble Hollywood by sticking a 1950s private eye into its sleazy gut will hopefully expire after Allen Coulter’s homage to yet another grisly mystery.
JAMES CHRISTOPHER
Pans Labyrinth
It’s a terrific piece of art that taps nightmares painted by Goya and bleak facts about the recent past. Like all great myths it tries to embrace irreconcilables in a simple story