Pan's Labyrinth - Other general things

Exposition: Raspy breath is heard even before the opening camera sequence. Reverse blood running back into nose when we do see Ofelia. Lullaby is heard throughout this entire sequence, important. We enter the world through Ofelia's eye. Eye imagery is also a recurring theme throughout Pan's Labyrinth. In this scene we see the death of Ofelia. However, we do not know who she is or how she got killed. We are then linked into her "memory" of escaping the Labyrinth. This sets us up to believe the faun later when he claims she is "the Princess Moanna". Del Toro actually intended to show that the fantasy world wasn't just Ofelia's imagination. He showed it in three things:

• The chalk's ability to "create your own door"
• The fig tree blossoming again
• The birth mark on Ofelia's back

These things are consistent in both worlds. They are not reflections, but the direct result of one world impacting on another. This is important to del Toro's message that it is adults who have lost their sense of imagination (Vidal's inability to see the faun in the labyrinth) but that doesn't mean that the products of imagination aren't real. On the contrary.

Objects in the real world are paralleled in the fantasy world: Ofelia's and Mercedes' keys, the knife. All make the same metallic ring when touched. It can show both its lethal potential and also its fantastical seduction.

Rule of thirds: Guillermo del Toro is constantly referring back to this rule of thirds business. Three doors, three tasks, three archetypal women, three large conflicts, three stones, three thrones the list goes on. This is reflective again of the Gothic fairytale aspect of Pan's Labyrinth. It all links together through fairytales. We are given three chances, three choices. All of it points back to whether or not the choice will be the right one or the wrong one. There is a sense of destiny around the number three. Used in the Bible, in fairytales and now in del Toro's work.

There is a shoe fetish in this film. "Look at your shoes", "you'll ruin your shoes", Vidal shines his shoes, Ofelia gets given new shoes, Nazi black shoe allusion, Ofelia gets given Dorothy shoes in the resolution. This film dedicates so many shots to shoes, feet. The journey we lead, and where our feet take us: towards discovery or towards treachery. Sometimes both.

There is a link between Ofelia's bedtime story of the rose "that would make anyone who touched it immortal" and Ofelia's own journey. It's linked by the bug that rests on the rose at the top of the mountain, then flying across the Labyrinth to the window outside Ofelia and Carmen's bedroom. We know now that it is she who will become immortal. But not because she can conquer death and live forever, but it is because "in pain...we find the meaning of life".

God shots on Ofelia: the moon is watching her. Remember that it "was the moon that bore [her]" and now she is constantly being watched over. Whether sleeping or waking, the call home to greater things away from the bloodshed and disharmony of the real world is so strong it becomes a symbolic POV shot of its own accord. Particularly when Ofelia first enters the Labyrinth, and finally when she leaves it, going back through the portal.

There is a sacrifice demanded in all tasks. No success without blood sacrifice or death. The bug sacrifices itself so Ofelia may complete her task, the fairies die distracting the Pale Man from Ofelia's escape and finally, Ofelia herself must pay for the life of her brother in sacrifice when she refuses to give him over. Vidal however lives only for himself, demanding the blood of others and never himself. We have no remorse for him when his life comes to an unceremonious end, one that means his son "will never even know [his] name".

Death in Pan's Labyrinth is a release and it is relief from all the horrible stuff of reality.

There needs to be brutality for a magical escape to present itself. When we are desperate only then could we possibly accept the existence of fantasy without question. We are sick of the world at hand, now any change is better. This is the conclusion Ofelia makes once she "want[s] to leave this place".

An innocent child must banish the darkness of the adult world. This is in fairytales and in Pan's Labyrinth.

"phantasmagorical cinema" gives a blend of innocence and brutality. It counteracts the fascism (no choice) with the individual innocent who chooses heroic rebellion.

Balances political tensions with fantasy/reality.

Good website: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49337 <-- gives loads of insight and links across del Toro's inspiration and previous films.