Underplayed Gems

Blancanieves (2012)

Blancanieves poster
Directed by
Pablo Berger
Genre
drama film, fantasy film, silent film, cinematic fairy tale
Country
France, Spain
Runtime
1h 44m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 271 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A black and white silent film set in 1920s Andalusia. It retells the Snow White fairy tale with Spanish cultural details but replaces the happy ending with a dark tragedy.

black-and-whitesilentmelancholictragicvisually lushslow-burndarkromantic

What happens

Blancanieves (known as Blancaneu in Catalan and Snow White in English) is a 2012 black-and-white silent drama film written and directed by Pablo Berger. A Spanish-French co-production based on the 1812 fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm, the story is set in a romantic vision of 1920s Andalusia. However, the film approaches storytelling through the integration of Spanish culture from characters' names to traditions they follow. Additionally, the film alludes to other fairy tales including Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. While it retells stories originally told through tales based in fantasy, it derails from the traditional storytelling method that ends with a happily ever after. Instead, the film is rather dark and ends in tragedy. Berger calls it a "love letter to European silent cinema." Blancanieves was Spain's 85th Academy Awards official submission to Best Foreign Language category, but it did not make the shortlist. The film won the Special Jury Prize and an ex-aequo Best Actress "Silver Shell" Award for Macarena García at the 2012 San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was also nominated in every category for which it was eligible at the 27th Goya Awards (except for Best Sound), winning ten Goya Awards, including the Best Film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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