The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

Original title

El espíritu de la colmena

Directed by

Víctor Erice

Genre

drama film, fantasy film

Country

Spain

Runtime

1h 38m

Rated

18

Rating

7.7 of 10 from 400 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young girl named Ana becomes fascinated by the horror film Frankenstein after seeing it in her small town. She explores the countryside and an abandoned house, imagining the monster is real, while her family and school life reflect the quiet unease of post-war Spain.

hauntingslow-burnmelancholicdreamlikeunsettlingpoeticsubduedatmosphericnostalgic

What happens

The Spirit of the Beehive (Spanish: El espíritu de la colmena) is a 1973 Spanish drama film directed and co-written by Víctor Erice. The film was Erice's feature directorial debut and is considered a masterpiece of Spanish cinema. The film, set in a small town in post-Civil War Spain, focuses on a young girl named Ana. It traces family and school dynamics, her fascination with the 1931 American horror film Frankenstein, and her exploration of a haunted home and landscape, making subtle references towards the dark, contentious politics of the time. Many have noted the symbolism present throughout the film, used both as an artistic device and as a way to avoid censorship under the repressive Franco regime. While censors were alarmed by some of the film's suggestive content about the authoritarian government, they allowed it to be released in Spain based on its success abroad, under the assumption that most of the public would have no real interest in seeing "a slow-paced, thinly-plotted and 'arty' picture." The film has been called a "bewitching portrait of a child's haunted inner life". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• La saga de los Drácula (1973)
• Vera, a Cruel Tale (1973)
• Night of the Skull (1973)
• Autopsia (1973)
• Ana and the Wolves (1973)
• Return of the Blind Dead (1973)
• Obscene Mirror (1973)
• La otra imagen (1973)