A few weeks ago I went to see Pan’s Labyrinth (AKA El Laberinto del Fauno), this was one of the movies that we wanted to see at Cannes but was being shown after we left. The film looked to be a modern day fairytale. I have to say that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped.
The story is split in two, set in post-war Franco Spain, a mother and daughter travel to meet their new husband/father, a ruthless, unloving, disciplinarian army Major who is stationed in the mountains to chase down and eliminate the resistance fighters. Set beside this is the story of the daughter, a young girl called Ofelia who has always been something of a dreamer and may or may not be the mortal form of the princess of an underground kingdom. In order to prove who she is she must complete three tasks as laid out by a faun called Pan.
Visually the film is stunning, it is full of rich textures and colours and it really does seem to bring the story to life, there is no hiding from the mud and blood, it’s all out on show and makes for a sumptuous display (and let’s not forget the sound, which is fantastic). There is inventiveness too, the characters and places are not just copied from any of a dozen other fairytales, these are new and interesting, and the work shown in the visuals follows through into the character, set and costume design.
My problem with the film then was purely down to a lack of empathy for the characters, and my complete bewilderment at the two completely separate stories. Either this is a film about a girl trying to prove she is the princess, or possibly simply inhabiting a completely fictitious world, or it’s a story about the rebels fighting the ruthless government troops who are trying to stamp their authority on everyone and kill any who do not agree with them, I don’t see a link between them. For me, you either bulk up the fantasy element and play down the real world (it purely serves as an anchor point then, so you can all but remove it and it makes little difference what occurs there) or you ditch the fantasy side and make this about rebels fighting the ruthless government troops. They are, for me, two mutually exclusive stories that did nothing to add one to the other, so lose one and focus on the other, we don’t need the whole story about the new father and the rebels, just get rid of it.
The filme left me feeling somewhat confused as to why there were the two stories, but I also had a hard time feeling any empathy for the main character, which means I didn’t care about her and that I don’t care what happens in the story. That is a failing, a big one. So while I would say I enjoyed the film, it left me cold and distant, I didn’t feel moved or uplifted by it, it didn’t strike a cord, certainly I wouldn’t rush to see it again, it’s definitely not something you would just throw on for some entertainment, and for me, that all means it failed.
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