BlancanievesThe story of Snow White is one of the most famous fables told throughout history, especially in the history of cinema. Adapted from the tale by The Brothers Grimm a multitude of times for the silver screen, it is an enduring tale of innocence in the face of corruption, filled with colorful characters as well as devious ones, full of suspense and adventure. Blancanieves follows in this cinematic tradition, but skews the setting in a more contemporary way, setting it in early 20th century Spain, and in keeping with that era, presenting the story in the fashion of a silent film.
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Blancanieves opens with a parting curtain--the only item in color in the film--a gesture toward the film's silent movie roots, and shortly introduces us to Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho), a famous bullfighter performing in Seville for a packed stadium, foremost of all is his beautiful wife, Carmen (Inma Cuesta). But when Antonio is gravely wounded fighting the bull, he is rushed to the hospital, simultaneously with his wife, who gives birth to Carmencita (Sofía Oria) at the cost of her own life. A nurse who attends to Antonio, Encarna (Maribel Verdú), learns of Carmen's passing, and ingratiates herself into Antonio's life. As Carmencita grows, cared for by her grandmother (Ángela Molina), she longs to be reunited with her father and dances to the music of her mother, dreaming of her. Carmencita's life changes when she is presented with a gift by her erstwhile father at her communion, and her grandmother passes away, forcing her to relocate to the Villalta estate, now under the full command of her wicked stepmother. (Those familiar with the story can surely estimate what kind of care that Carmencita can expect to receive.) Save for the details, an abundance of core elements of the story remain consistent with the classic fable, meaning that Blancanieves manages to remain both familiar and refreshing simultaneously from a story perspective. But more than simply a change of scenery by adapting the setting to Spain, the characters of the film are representative of Spain and its culture in varying degrees, embodying some of the nation's more dynamic elements. Following the grandmother's passing, there is an evocative shot of hands--implied to belong to Carmencita--dip her white dress into ink, to have them emerge as black for her period of mourning. It is a bold, stylistic choice, which is especially effective by capitalizing on the characteristics of the silent films it emulates. Encarna devastates the girl's lustrous hair out of spite, and prohibits from visiting her father--now incapable of caring for himself, and subject to the whims of his cruel wife--although the girl is eventually reunited with him after her pet rooster escapes to the house's second floor. Much of the Snow White myth has previously dealt with Snow White, the dwarfs, and the evil stepmother; Blancanieves also addresses the father in greater detail, who comes to regret his initial dismissal of his newborn daughter in the immediate wake of his true love's passing. He teaches her the principles of bullfighting, and she dances for him, their bond growing stronger if for a limited time. But tragedy is always waiting in the wings for Carmencita. Following Encarna discovering evidence that the girl had been defying her orders, she enacts a hideous and spiteful plan against her pet to ensure Carmencita knows her place.
There is a wonderful jump cut in Blancanieves when Carmencita is hanging laundry out to dry, only moments later to reveal behind a sheet a young woman, the older Carmen Villalta (Macarena García), still trapped under the tyrannical thumb of Encarna, but her spirit unbroken, even after grieving for the loss of her father, secretly killed by Encarna. It should be noted that for the predominance of tragedy Carmen experiences in Blancanieves, there are moments of lighthearted or even darkly funny humor. When Carmen's father is dressed in his finery after his death, he is sat upright on a couch, so that those who seek to memorialize him can sit by him and have their picture taken, after which even the corpse looks dead tired. And Carmencita's youthful days of whiling away the hours with her rooster, Pepe, are sweet and innocent, and showing that even a chicken in a bandana can have camera presence. There are even moments when Carmencita spies Encarna in hilarious and compromising situations, dressing in ridiculous outfits, and occasionally humiliating her lover, and chauffeur, Genaro Bilbao (Pere Ponce). Following a failed assassination attempt on Carmen by Genaro at the behest of Encarna, Carmen is rescued by Rafita (Sergio Dorado), a member of a group of bullfighting dwarfs, although she loses her memory in the process. After witnessing one of the troupe, Jesusín (Emilio Gavira), getting attacked by a small bull while performing, Carmen leaps into danger to defend him, which makes her an instant star while also surprising herself by recalling her bullfighting skills if nothing else. Dubbed "Blancanieves" by her new found family, she quickly becomes a star which shines so brightly that she manages to eclipse the pending magazine debut of the widow Encarna's new home in a popular magazine, a revelation which is doubly potent for her as she realizes that Genaro had failed in his attempt to kill the girl, forcing her to finish the job herself. Carmen's past flashes for her in moments, such as during dinner, but most especially when she is recognized when she performs at the same arena her father had before she was born, are conveyed as a flood of recollection by montage. It seems to go without saying it that Blancanieves is an homage to the style of silent films of yesteryear, but especially a kind of film which is bold of imagery, pronounced light and shadow, and requires the story to be conveyed by visual cues and movement...by faces, just as described by Gloria Swanson's character, Norma Desmond, in Sunset Boulevard. When Carmencita's stepmother consigns her to an impossibly dour cellar, long beams of light trickle through the cracks in the rickety cellar door, casting deep shadows, hallmarks of the expressionistic films which influenced Blancanieves. The film is an adaptation of Snow White, but it does not exist in a vacuum. Carmencita's father reads to her from Little Red Riding Hood, and the dwarfs refer to her as Blancanieves after "the girl in the story". Even most bitterly, Rafita's resuscitation of Carmen after pulling her from the river is later revisited as a tragic parody of the fable's kiss by Prince Charming. Blancanieves proves that good fairy tales are like jazz--you can spin them in a variety of ways, and get to enjoy the story from a whole new perspective all over again.
Recommended for: Fans of classic fairy tales given a clever reinterpretation via a style of filmmaking rarely embraced, and even more rarely done well like this film. It is reminiscent of films like Jean Cocteau's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast to an extent, and is a reminder that fables like Snow White are perennial classics for a reason, any time or place.
There is a wonderful jump cut in Blancanieves when Carmencita is hanging laundry out to dry, only moments later to reveal behind a sheet a young woman, the older Carmen Villalta (Macarena García), still trapped under the tyrannical thumb of Encarna, but her spirit unbroken, even after grieving for the loss of her father, secretly killed by Encarna. It should be noted that for the predominance of tragedy Carmen experiences in Blancanieves, there are moments of lighthearted or even darkly funny humor. When Carmen's father is dressed in his finery after his death, he is sat upright on a couch, so that those who seek to memorialize him can sit by him and have their picture taken, after which even the corpse looks dead tired. And Carmencita's youthful days of whiling away the hours with her rooster, Pepe, are sweet and innocent, and showing that even a chicken in a bandana can have camera presence. There are even moments when Carmencita spies Encarna in hilarious and compromising situations, dressing in ridiculous outfits, and occasionally humiliating her lover, and chauffeur, Genaro Bilbao (Pere Ponce). Following a failed assassination attempt on Carmen by Genaro at the behest of Encarna, Carmen is rescued by Rafita (Sergio Dorado), a member of a group of bullfighting dwarfs, although she loses her memory in the process. After witnessing one of the troupe, Jesusín (Emilio Gavira), getting attacked by a small bull while performing, Carmen leaps into danger to defend him, which makes her an instant star while also surprising herself by recalling her bullfighting skills if nothing else. Dubbed "Blancanieves" by her new found family, she quickly becomes a star which shines so brightly that she manages to eclipse the pending magazine debut of the widow Encarna's new home in a popular magazine, a revelation which is doubly potent for her as she realizes that Genaro had failed in his attempt to kill the girl, forcing her to finish the job herself. Carmen's past flashes for her in moments, such as during dinner, but most especially when she is recognized when she performs at the same arena her father had before she was born, are conveyed as a flood of recollection by montage. It seems to go without saying it that Blancanieves is an homage to the style of silent films of yesteryear, but especially a kind of film which is bold of imagery, pronounced light and shadow, and requires the story to be conveyed by visual cues and movement...by faces, just as described by Gloria Swanson's character, Norma Desmond, in Sunset Boulevard. When Carmencita's stepmother consigns her to an impossibly dour cellar, long beams of light trickle through the cracks in the rickety cellar door, casting deep shadows, hallmarks of the expressionistic films which influenced Blancanieves. The film is an adaptation of Snow White, but it does not exist in a vacuum. Carmencita's father reads to her from Little Red Riding Hood, and the dwarfs refer to her as Blancanieves after "the girl in the story". Even most bitterly, Rafita's resuscitation of Carmen after pulling her from the river is later revisited as a tragic parody of the fable's kiss by Prince Charming. Blancanieves proves that good fairy tales are like jazz--you can spin them in a variety of ways, and get to enjoy the story from a whole new perspective all over again.
Recommended for: Fans of classic fairy tales given a clever reinterpretation via a style of filmmaking rarely embraced, and even more rarely done well like this film. It is reminiscent of films like Jean Cocteau's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast to an extent, and is a reminder that fables like Snow White are perennial classics for a reason, any time or place.