Pan's Labyrinth

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Pan's Labyrinth
Directed by	Guillermo del Toro
Produced by	Alfonso Cuarón Guillermo del Toro
Written by	Guillermo del Toro
Starring	Ivana Baquero Doug Jones Sergi López Maribel Verdú
Music by	Javier Navarrete
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Editing by	Bernat Vilaplana
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Picturehouse Optimum
Release date(s)	October 11, 2006 October 20, 2006 24 November 2006 December 29, 2006 December 29, 2006 January 18, 2007 March 15, 2007
Running time	112 minutes
Country	Mexico Spain
Language	Spanish
Budget	USD $17 Million[1]
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 three-time Academy Award-winning Spanish language film written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. Its original Spanish title is El laberinto del fauno, which refers to the faun of Roman mythology and directly translates to The Labyrinth of the Faun; the English title refers to the faun-like Greek god Pan, though del Toro has stated that the faun featured in the film is not actually Pan.

The film, which garnered several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, had its premiere in the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2006. In the United States and Canada, it was given a limited release on December 29, 2006, with the nationwide release on January 19, 2007.^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 4 Influences 4.1 Comparison to other films 5 Trivia 6 Soundtrack 7 Awards 8 DVD 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Plot

An opening prologue tells of Princess Moanna, daughter to the king of the underworld. The princess became curious about the world above and fled to the surface, where the brightness of the sun blotted out her memories. Princess Moanna eventually grew old as a human and died, causing turmoil in her kingdom. However, the king always believed that her spirit would one day return, even if reincarnated in the form of another.

The story cuts to post-Civil War Spain in 1944, after Francisco Franco has come into power. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a young girl often absorbed in fairy tales, travels with her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet Captain Vidal (Sergi López), Ofelia's new stepfather and father of Carmen's unborn child. Vidal, a fascist devotee, suffers from the repercussions of his father's death as a famed commander in Morrocco, and takes his feelings out on the Republican rebels he has been assigned to seek out and eliminate while stationed at a countryside mill.

On the way, Ofelia discovers a large insect resembling a praying mantis and walking stick bug, and she believes it to be a fairy. The creature follows the family to their new home, where it leads Ofelia to an ancient labyrinth. Before Ofelia can enter the labyrinth, she is stopped by Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), one of Vidal's maids and a spy for the rebels, who are led by her brother, Pedro.

That night, the creature appears in Ofelia's bedroom, where it morphs into a fairy and leads Ofelia through the labyrinth into a small clearing. There, Ofelia meets the faun (Doug Jones), who recognizes her as the long-lost Princess Moanna and assigns her three tasks to complete before the full moon to ensure that her "essence is intact".

Ofelia completes the first task - retrieving a key from the belly of a giant toad - however, she fears for her mother, whose condition is worsening. The faun gives Ofelia a mandrake root, which instantly begins to cure her mother's illness. Ofelia then manages to complete the second task - taking an ornate dagger from the lair of the Pale Man - but not without awakening the creature and losing two of the faun's fairies to it. Infuriated by her disobeying his orders, the faun disappears, claiming that she will never return to her kingdom or see him again.

Meanwhile, Vidal becomes increasingly vicious in his methods, torturing a captured Republican and killing a doctor (a Republican sympathizer) who euthanized the prisoner (at the prisoner's request) after the prisoner began to give Vidal information. Vidal catches Ofelia tending to the mandrake root, and Carmen, desperate to prove to her daughter that magic is not real, throws the root into the fireplace. Instantly, she develops painful contractions and dies giving birth to a son.

Vidal discovers Mercedes is a rebel spy, and he captures her and Ofelia as they attempt to escape. Ofelia is locked in her bedroom, and Mercedes is taken to be tortured; however, she frees herself, injures Vidal and flees into the woods, where Pedro and the rebels rescue her.

The faun returns to Ofelia, claiming that he will give her one more chance to prove herself. He tells her to take her baby brother into the labyrinth. Ofelia manages to steal the baby after sedating Vidal; however, although disoriented, Vidal continues to chase her through the labyrinth amidst an attack on the mill by the rebels.

Upon her arrival in the clearing, the faun demands that Ofelia spill her brother's blood to open the portal to the underworld. Ofelia refuses to harm her brother, and the faun disappears, accepting her decision. Vidal finds her, takes the baby and shoots Ofelia. As he staggers out of the labyrinth, he finds the rebels waiting for him and, after handing them his son, is killed by Pedro.

As Mercedes enters the labyrinth and mourns over Ofelia's dead body, Ofelia is reunited with the king and queen of the underworld. She learns that by spilling her own blood instead of her brother's, she has proven herself to be the true Princess Moanna. The epilogue tells that Ofelia ruled the kingdom for many centuries, was adored by her people, and left behind little signs of her life on Earth, visible only to those who knew where to look.

[edit] Cast

• Ivana Baquero as Ofelia: Del Toro says he was "scared shitless" in casting the right actress for the lead role, and that finding the 11-year old Spanish actress was purely accidental. "The character I wrote was initially younger, about 8 or 9 and Ivana came in and she was a little older than the character, with this curly hair which I never imagined the girl having. But I loved her first reading, my wife was crying and the camera woman was crying after her reading and I knew hands down Ivana was the best actress that had shown up, yet I knew that I needed to change the screenplay to accommodate her age."^[3] Baquero says that del Toro sent her lots of comics and fairytales to help her "get more into the atmosphere of Ofelia and more into what she felt." She says she thought the film was "marvelous," and that "At the same time it can bring you pain and sadness and scariness and happiness."^[4]
• Doug Jones as The Faun and The Pale Man: Jones had worked with del Toro before on Mimic and Hellboy, and says the director sent him an email saying "You must be in this film. No one else can play this part but you". Jones read an English translation of the script and was enthusiastic but then found out the film was in Spanish, which he did not speak. Jones says he was "terrified" and del Toro suggested using a voice over actor to dub over him later, or learning Spanish phonetically, but Jones rejected both ideas preferring to learn it himself. He said "I really, really buckled down and committed myself to learning that word for word and I got the pronunciation semi right before I even went in," using the five hours a day he spent getting the costume and make-up to practice the words.^[5] Del Toro decided afterwards that he still preferred to dub Jones with the voice of "an authoritative theatre actor," but Jones's efforts remained valuable because the voice actor was able to easily match his delivery with Jones's mouth movements.^[6]
• Sergi López as Captain Vidal: Del Toro met with López in Barcelona, a year and a half before filming began, to ask him to play Vidal. López said of it, "For two hours and a half he explained to me all the movie, but with all the details, it was incredible, and when he finished I said, 'You have a script?' He said, 'No, nothing is written.'". López agreed to act in the movie and received the script one year later; he's said that "it was exactly the same, it was incredible. In his little head he had all the history with a lot of little detail, a lot of characters, like now when you look at the movie, it was exactly what he had in his head."^[7] In Spain, López was considered a melodramatic or comedic actor, and the producers told del Toro "You should be very careful because you don’t know about these things because you're Mexican, but this guy is not going to be able to deliver the performance"; del Toro replied "Well, it’s not that I don't know, it's that I don't care."^[8]
• Ariadna Gil as Carmen
• Maribel Verdú as Mercedes: Like López, Verdú was cast against type; usually playing a sex goddess, del Toro selected her to play the compassionate revolutionary because he "saw a sadness in her...he thought would be perfect for the part".^[8]
• Alex Angulo as Doctor Ferreiro
• Roger Casamajor as Pedro
• César Vea as Serrano

[edit] Reception

The film has received almost universal critical acclaim, earning a 95 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes^[9] and a 98 percent rating at Metacritic,^[10] making it Metacritic's fourth highest rated movie of all time.^[11] Mark Kermode, in The Observer, labelled Pan's Labyrinth as the best film of 2006, describing it as "an epic, poetic vision in which the grim realities of war are matched and mirrored by a descent into an underworld populated by fearsomely beautiful monsters".^[12] Stephanie Zacharek wrote that the film "works on so many levels that it seems to change shape even as you watch it",^[13] and Jim Emerson found the film "as gruesome and brutal as it is enchanting and spellbinding".^[14] The New Yorker's Anthony Lane took special note of the film's sound design, saying it "discards any hint of the ethereal by turning up the volume on small, supercharged noises: the creak of the Captain's leather gloves ... the nighttime complaints of floorboard and rafter..."^[15] As of March 27th 2007, it is No. 51 on IMDB's top 250.^[16] As of February 28, 2007, it is the No. 1 movie of 2006 on IMDb.^[17] Some reviewers had criticisms, however: for The San Diego Union-Tribune, David Elliott said "the excitement is tangible", but added that "what it lacks is successful unity...Del Toro has the art of many parts, but only makes them cohere as a sort of fevered extravaganza."^[18]

During its limited first three weeks at the United States box office, the film made US$5,430,000. As of March 1, 2007, it has grossed $33 million in North America, and grossed around $70 million worldwide.^[2] At the Cannes Film Festival, it received a 22-minute standing ovation.^[19]

[edit] Influences

Del Toro has said the film has strong connections in theme to The Devil's Backbone and should be seen as an informal sequel dealing with some of the issues raised there.^[20] In 2004, del Toro said: "Pan is an original story. Some of my favorite writers (Borges, Blackwood, Machen, Dunsany) have explored the figure of the god Pan and the symbol of the labyrinth. These are things that I find very compelling (remember the labyrinth image on Hellboy?) and I am trying to mix them and play with them." However, in 2007, del Toro admitted to the striking similarities between his film and C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia: both films have similar child-age principal characters, mythic creatures (particularly the fauns), and themes of "disobedience and choice." Says del Toro: "This is my version of that universe, not only 'Narnia,' but that universe of children's literature."^[21] In fact, del Toro was asked to direct The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but turned it down for Pan's Labyrinth.^[21] Some of the other works he drew on for inspiration include Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths, Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and The White People, Lord Dunsany's The Blessing of Pan, Algernon Blackwood's Pan's Garden and Francisco Goya's works.^[22] The movie also borrows from themes popular in Spanish and Mexican culture and literature, including loss of innocence and the idea of magic existing as long as you believe.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Comparison to other films

In addition to Narnia, Pan's Labyrinth has also been compared to films such as Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Gabor Csupo's Bridge to Terabithia and Jim Henson's Labyrinth.^[23][24] Del Toro himself has noted similarities with The Spirit of the Beehive.^[25]

[edit] Trivia

• The Pale Man's name is not mentioned in the film; it is only mentioned in the credits.

• Doug Jones mentioned in an interview on Urban Rush that the language used in the movie was actually an older version of Spanish, "much like Elizabethian English." Although he was the only non-spanish cast member, he was not the only one to have to learn the language.

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Pan's Labyrinth (soundtrack)

The score for Pan's Labyrinth was composed by Javier Navarrete and was completely built around a simple lullaby tune. Navarette and the score was nominated for an Academy Award.

[edit] Awards

Academy Awards record
1. Best Cinematography
2. Best Art Direction
3. Best Makeup
BAFTA Awards record
1. Best Foreign Language Film
2. Best Costume Design
3. Best Makeup & Hair

Pan's Labyrinth has won numerous film awards, including The National Society Film Critics for Best Picture, and Academy Awards for Achievements in Cinematography, Makeup, and Art Direction. It has also earned BAFTA awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Costume Design, and Makeup and Hair. At the Goya Awards, the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards, the film won in many categories including Best Cinematography, Editing, Make Up & Hairstyles, New Actress for Ivana Baquero, Original Screenplay, Sound, and Special Effects. At Mexico's Ariel Awards, "Labyrinth" won in 9 categories, including Best Movie and Best Director.

The film was also nominated for a number of other awards such as Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.

[edit] DVD

Pan's Labyrinth was released on DVD on March 12, 2007 in the United Kingdom by Optimum Home Entertainment in a 2-disc special edition.

The film will be released in the United States on May 15, 2007 from New Line Home Entertainment in both single disc and double disc special edition versions, featuring an additional DTS-ES audio track not present on the UK version.

Additionally, the film received a special limited edition release in Korea. Only 5,000 copies of this edition were manufactured. It is presented in a digipack designed to look like the Book of Crossroads, along with an art book and replica of Ofelia's key.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Pan's Labyrinth at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pan's Labyrinth at the Internet Movie Database
• Pan's Labyrinth at Box Office Mojo
• Pan's People, samples from del Toro's sketchbook
• Official Pan's Labyrinth Myspace
• Weavers of Dreams - the creature creations of Pan's Labyrinth
• Radio (Fresh Air) Interview

Awards
Preceded by John Myhre (Art Direction) and Gretchen Rau (Set Decoration) for Memoirs of a Geisha	Academy Award for Best Art Direction 2006 Eugenio Caballero (Art Direction) and Pilar Revuelta (Set Decoration)	Succeeded by n/a
Preceded by Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha	Academy Award for Best Cinematography 2006 Guillermo Navarro	Succeeded by n/a
Preceded by Howard Berger and Tami Lane for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	Academy Award for Makeup 2006 David Martí and Montse Ribé	Succeeded by n/a
Preceded by The Beat That My Heart Skipped	BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language 2006	Succeeded by n/a