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PAL
Editorial Review:
Victor Erice's hauntingly beautiful The Spirit of the Beehive features one of the most unforgettable child performances in the history of cinema. Hailed as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s, Erice's visually elegant "poem of awakening" takes place in a small Castilian village in the early 1940s, as echoes of the Spanish Civil Wart can still be heard throughout the countryside. It is here, in this richly rural atmosphere, that six-year-old Ana (played by six-year-old Ana Torrent) is introduced to alternate world of myth and imagination when she attends a town-hall showing of James Whale's Frankenstein, an experience that forever alters young Ana's perception of the world around her... and her ability to mold reality to her own imaginative purposes. Is she using her imagination to escape what is essentially a bleak reality, or is she protecting herself with an inner world of innocence, to counter the darker worldview of her slightly older sister Isabel?
While her emotionally distant parents go about their mundane daily affairs, Ana's world becomes the film's mesmerizing focus, and The Spirit of the Beehive unfolds as an enigmatic yet totally captivating study of childhood unfettered by the strictures of reason. In Erice's capable hands, young Ana Torrent really isn't performing at all; her presence on screen is so natural, and so deeply expressive, that you almost feel as if she's living in the story being told--a story that retains its mystery and beauty in equal measure, full of visual symbolism and metaphor (including the title, which yields multiple meanings), yet never self-consciously "arty" or artificial. Simply put, this is one of the timeless masterpieces of cinema, produced at a time when Franco's repressive dictatorship was finally giving way to greater freedoms of expression. No survey of international cinema is complete without at least one viewing of this uniquely moving film.--Jeff Shannon
Made under the Franco regime, Victor Erice’s astonishing 1973 feature debut is quite simply one of the most remarkable, influential and purely poignant films to emerge from the 1970s. A bona fide classic of European cinema, the film brought Erice instant and widespread acclaim. An audacious critique of the disastrous legacy of the Spanish Civil War, The Spirit of the Beehive is set in a rural 1940s Spanish village haunted by betrayal and regret. Following a travelling cinema’s screening of James Whale’s Frankenstein, seven year old Ana (a mesmerizing Ana Torrent, later to grow into an international star of some standing) becomes fascinated with Boris Karloff’s monster. Obsessed with meeting the initially gentle creation, she transfers her entracement to a wounded army deserter.
Atmospherically rendered by legendary Director of Photography Luis Cuadrado, it’s impeccably performed by both Torrent and veteran actor Fernando Fernan Gomez in the role of her emotionally scarred, bee-keeping father. Existing in a highly evocative dreamlike state, it’s a powerfully symbolic, richly allegorical tale that is as unique as it is beautiful.
Trailer
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Trailer reel
DVD Technical Information:
Running Time: 97 minutes
Colour
PAL
Language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Region Code: 2
Taking place in 1940's Spain; a country dealing with the aftermath of a divisive civil war, THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE is a haunting tale of life as seen through the eyes of a child. A travelling cinema comes to a small Spanish village to screen James Whale's film FRANKENSTEIN. A small girl, Ana, becomes entranced with Boris Karloff's monster in the film, and has a burning desire to meet him. When she cannot find the monster she transfers this desire into looking after a wounded army deserter.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Not Pan's Labyrinth - but then.... I won't repeat much of what's been said. This is a beautiful and moving and understated and enigmatic work.
On reflection, it seems to me like a strange mirror that can be held up in contrast to Pan's Labyrinth.
Both are Franco's Spain and war, but here, instead of total, full-on war, barbarity and magical realism, we have quiet, emptiness and the constant feeling that everything is happening somewhere else. One is full-in-your-face, the other at a distance. But at their heart they have the... more info
Dire Is Not The Word! Ignore all the arty-farty analysis because this is one truly dire film. The only consolation that can be had from watching this film is if you do so with lots of snacks. While you slowly empty your head at least you will be able to fill your tummy. The Franco and fascist references are both irrelevant and nonsensical. They become a lame excuse for those seeking to be pretentious. Reference to the photographer going blind and eventually committing suicide are also meaningless within the context of the... more info
Through Ana's eyes: a masterpiece of childhood Every once in a while I stumble upon a masterpiece. This is a masterpiece of childhood set in Franco's Spain in 1940. There are political allusions and asides that somehow escaped Franco's censors, or maybe they were indulged. It matters not because the bleak landscape surrounding the house with its honeycombed windows and its honey colored light says more than words could. I would compare this favorably with two other masterpieces of childhood, the French films, Jeux interdits (Forbidden Games)... more info
Deeply Moving Spiritually ... Subtle, Artistic This film is based on some interesting phenomenon that occurred during a specific historical time in Spain, just prior to World War II. The beginning scene is idyllic and peaceful, where Fernando is tending beehives. The fact that there is no musical accompaniment, just the sounds of nature and life makes the film more unique, a tad eerie and very remarkable, creating emotional expectations and a depth that is subtle but very intense. The best acting is by Ana, a young girl about 6 years of age. She is... more info
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