Pan's Labyrinth, Laberinto del fauno, El (2006) Movie and Film Photos and Desktop
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Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish: El Laberinto del Fauno, literally The Labyrinth of the Faun) is an Academy Award-winning Spanish-language fantasy film written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. Though the original title referred only to the mythological faun, the English title refers to the faun-like Greek god Pan. Del Toro has stated, however, that the faun featured in the film is not actually Pan. Pan's Labyrinth, set in post-Civil War Spain, tells the story of a girl named Ofelia who is given three tasks by a mysterious faun. Meanwhile, her stepfather, the fascist Captain Vidal, viciously hunts for rebels in the region, and her pregnant mother grows ill. Heavily influenced by fairy tales and considered a spiritual sequel to Devil's Backbone, the film employed make-up, puppetry, and CGI effects to create its fantasy creatures. The film, which garnered several Golden Globes and three Academy Awards, had its première 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 a nationwide release on January 19, 2007. Pan's Labyrinth has also won numerous international awards.
The movie opens with a fairy tale. In it, Princess Moanna, whose father is the king of the underworld, becomes curious about the world above. When she goes to the surface, she forgets about her life in the underworld and grows old and dies as a mortal. The king believes that her spirit will come back to the underworld someday.
The story cuts to post-Civil War Spain in 1944, after Francisco Franco has come into power. Ofelia (Baquero), a young girl who loves fairy tales, travels with her pregnant mother Carmen (Gil) to meet Captain Vidal (López), her new stepfather and father of Carmen's unborn child. Vidal, the son of a famed commander who died in Morocco, believes strongly in fascism and was assigned to root out any anti-fascist rebels.
Ofelia discovers a large insect resembling a stick insect which she believes to be a fairy. It follows her to the mill where Vidal is stationed and leads Ofelia into an ancient labyrinth nearby. Before Ofelia can enter, she is stopped by Mercedes (Verdú), one of Vidal's maids who is spying for the rebels. That night, the insect appears in Ofelia's bedroom, where it changes into a fairy and leads her through the labyrinth where she meets the faun (Doug Jones), who believes her to be Princess Moanna and gives her three tasks to complete before the full moon to ensure that her "essence is intact". Meanwhile, Vidal brutally kills two farmers suspected of being rebels before searching them properly. After looking in their bag it is clear that they were hunting rabbits as they had said and were not rebels.
Ofelia completes the first task of retrieving a key from the belly of a giant toad, but she becomes worried about her mother whose condition is worsening. The faun gives Ofelia a mandrake root, which instantly begins to cure her mother's illness.
Accompanied by three fairy guides, Ofelia then completes the second task of retrieving an ornate dagger from the lair of the Pale Man (Jones as well), a child-eating monster who sits silently in front of a large feast. Although she was gravely warned not to consume anything, she eats two grapes, awakening him. He eats two of the fairies and chases her, but she manages to escape. Infuriated at her disobedience, the faun refuses to give her the third task.
Meanwhile, Vidal becomes increasingly vicious, torturing a captured rebel and then killing the doctor who euthanized the tortured prisoner to stop his pain. Vidal catches Ofelia tending to the mandrake root, and Carmen throws it into the fireplace, where it then begins to scream. Instantly, she develops painful contractions and dies giving birth to a son. Vidal discovers that Mercedes is a 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 using a knife she secretly keeps, badly injures Vidal, and flees into the woods, where the rebels rescue her.
The faun returns to Ofelia and gives her one more chance to prove herself. He tells her to take her baby brother into the labyrinth. Ofelia steals the baby after sedating Vidal; although disoriented, Vidal continues to chase her through the labyrinth while the rebels attack the mill. The faun tells Ofelia that the portal to the underworld will open only with an innocent's blood, so he needs a drop of her brother's blood. Ofelia refuses to harm her brother and the faun disappears. Vidal finds her, takes the baby and shoots Ofelia.
When he leaves the labyrinth the rebels and Mercedes are waiting for him. Knowing that he will die, he calmly hands Mercedes the baby. He takes out his watch, ready to break it, and tells Mercedes to tell his son when he grows up what time his father died, reflecting his own father's death. Mercedes refuses, telling him that his son will never even know his name. Pedro, one of the rebels and Mercedes' brother, draws his weapon and shoots Vidal, killing him.
As Mercedes enters the labyrinth and mourns over the dying girl, drops of Ofelia's blood spill onto the altar that is supposed to lead her into the underworld. Ofelia is reunited with the king and queen of the underworld. She learns that by giving her life to save her brother's, she has completed the final task and proven herself to be Princess Moanna.
Casting:
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." 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."
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, but Jones rejected both ideas preferring to learn the words 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. 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.
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. 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." Of his character, López said he is "the most evil character I've ever played in my career. It is impossible to improve upon it; the character is so solid and so well written. Vidal is deranged, a psychopath who is impossible to defend. Even though his father's personality marked his existence - and is certainly one of the reasons for his mental disorder - that cannot be an excuse. It would seem to be very cynical to use that to justify or explain his cruel and cowardly acts. I think it is great that the film does not consider any justification of fascism."
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".
Ariadna Gil as Carmen, Ophelia's mother and Vidal's wife.
Alex Angulo as Doctor Ferreiro, a doctor in the service of Vidal who is anti-fascist.
Roger Casamajor as Pedro, the leader of the rebels.
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