Pan's Labyrinth: Opening scene

Pan's Labyrinth: Opening scene

• Analyse how film form is used to create meaning and generate response in the opening scene of Pan's Labyrinth + one other scene: cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and performance. 

The film of Pan’s Labyrinth uses film form to create meaning and generate a certain response from the audience. The opening scene starts by giving the viewers social and historical context. The film directly situates the viewer in the fascist Spain of the 1940's and gives historical context about the civil war that had recently ended but there were still some who still resisted the regime.

Pan's Labyrinth presents the main character with the ending scene - a shot of the main character lying on the floor, bleeding, while a smooth voice sings a lullaby. Rewinding and going into Ofelia's mind, the narrator tells the audience a story about the princess of the Underworld, a place where there were "no lies or pain", that dreamt of seeing the real world. The princess escaped and forgot who she was and died. But her father the King had hope that the princess would return, in another body and at another time. Meanwhile, the camera smoothly shows the Underworld and transitions to the "real world", where a ruined church shows the contrast between the two worlds and the effect of the war in comparison to the immortal Underworld. The princess suffered sickness and pain until she died, the complete opposite to the hopeful world she came from. The opening monologue mirrors the traditional storytelling of the fantasy genre that links to the real world as Ofelia holds an open book in her hands. The image in the book could be linked to Ofelia herself as foreshadowing the plot, as fairies are surrounding the girl in a dress. The audience is brought to the real world, where suffering is inevitable and magic does not exist. Ofelia's mother (Carmen) and herself find themselves in a car on their way to the country to meet Captain Vidal, Ofelia's new step-father. Carmen takes a moment to tell her daughter that she needs to grow up and stop reading about fairytales. Ironically she tells her afterwards that she is still too young to understand certain topics, like why she married the Captain in the first place.

Suddenly, Carmen feels sick and asks for the car to stop. It looks like it is not the first time this has happened as Ofelia does not seem surprised. As they pull over to the side of the road, Carmen feels sick due to the pregnancy. "Your brother’s not well", she says while Ofelia starts wandering around. The warm colours and the magical atmosphere produced by the trees and the mellow lighting reinforces the fantasy that Ofelia is seeking and reads constantly in her books. In comparison to the war context of the time, the location seems to be something surprisingly new to Ofelia. Maybe due to the war she had not been able to see the peacefulness of the country and is a fresh sight for our main character. The audience aligns with the main character due to the use of the over the shoulder camera shots when she finds a stone in the middle of the path, which gives the viewer the opportunity to feel immersed in the fictional world. The eye-shaped stone fits in this statue, which the audience can assume is somewhat related to the Underworld as the music becomes more intense and suspenseful. An insect suddenly appears, as if Ofelia putting the stone into the statue had activated something and, having the opening monologue in mind, it is instantly related to the underworld once again. Ofelia is not afraid of it – it is definitely a creature she has never seen before, but she is not intimidated, which reinforces the theory that the princess of the Underworld is at the beginning of her journey back home. But she is quickly returned to reality when her mother calls her back and tells her off for getting her shoes dirty. Carmen ignores her daughter's claims of seeing “a fairy” as they walk back to the car. This moment reinforces the view that had been hinted earlier that their relationship is not very strong. Her mother is the last person she has at this point, but the audience understands that by ignoring and undermining Ofelia’s imagination and interests in fantasy, that she is not going to be the supporting character in Ofelia’s adventure.

On the other hand, Ofelia’s flower story scene is stylistically and narratively essential to the film. The cold lighting is a huge contrast with the opening where warm lighting dominated the scene, giving a sense of fantasy characteristic of the genre. The reality of Ofelia’s world in this scene contrasts with the beginning, as she is in bed with her sick mother, asking her why she had to marry the Captain in the first place. Carmen’s answer is, again, to undermine the intelligence of Ofelia by saying that “when you’re older, you’ll understand”. She is at an age where she is too old for fairytales and fantasy books but too young to understand “adult problems”. Ofelia is, in a way, neglected by her own mother as she says that “you weren’t alone. You were never alone”, as if Ofelia were not enough for Carmen that she felt the need to marry Captain Vidal. The subject changes once the baby brother starts moving and Carmen asks Ofelia to “tell him one of your stories” to calm him down. Cinematographically, the story sequence is Del Toro’s auteur signature. As if he was actually listening, the camera smoothly tilt’s down to him and shows him peacefully resting inside his mother. As any other fantasy story, Ofelia starts with “many, many years ago” and tells the story of a mountain with a magic rose that blossomed every night that made, whoever plucked it, immortal. Once again, Ofelia shows her interest in the topic of immortality through a common object such as a rose, characteristic of the Underworld. The camera pan’s to the image of a single, magical rose at the top of a mountain, showing what Ofelia is narrating. She goes on saying how no one dared to go near it “because its thorns were full of poison” while the camera tilt’s down showing the thorny vines that protect the magical flower. The fairy from the beginning reappears in the story, which links the story with reality, as it flies into the dark night and through Ofelia’s window. She goes on about eternity, immortality and the fear of death, meanwhile the camera’s smooth movements take the audience back to reality without having made any dramatic or noticeable transitions. The audience is engaged with Ofelia’s story and relates it to the story of the Underworld from the opening. It is inevitable to make connections between the lost princess and Ofelia.

The first noticeable transition happens as the scene changes from Ofelia’s bedroom to Captain Vidal’s office. Ofelia finishes the story by narrating how the rose waited everyday, at the top of the mountain, for someone to be brave enough to give its gift to. The rose was “forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain”, while Captain Vidal is shown working in his dark home office. This moment could be meant to add more depth to his character or foreshadow his inevitable destiny. As he works relentlessly on the pocket watch that has so much meaning for him, Ofelia concludes the story of the rose by narrating how it died “forever alone”, which emphasizes how the story of the rose links to the antagonist and gives the audience the opportunity to find more meaning through the editing.

Overall, the film balances the editing and the camera work perfectly to take the audience through a fantastic journey. It balances reality and the underworld, and compares adulthood and childhood through Ofelia and her point of view. Warm and cold lighting are also a method used to make a contrast between reality and fantasy, which could reinforce the veracity of the story of the princess of the Underworld.