Excessive Fauning.

Well, I’m not very happy about being on the other end of the review spectrum for this film, which was one I’d been really looking forward to. But, I must confess, I’m somewhat mystified by the almost-universally stellar reviews that have accompanied Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s not a bad movie by any means, but I found it the least accomplished of this year’s crop of A-list genre films (The Prestige, Children of Men, The Fountain — the latter in particular seems to have been unfairly maligned in comparison to this one.) Billed as a “fairy tale for grown-ups,” Pan’s Labyrinth is a diverting but disconnected hodgepodge of fantasy, horror, and historical fiction, held together, if at all, only by occasional reference to Del Toro’s usual visual affinities, such as creepy insects, yonic symbols, punctured/torn flesh, and Doug Jones in funny suits. And as far as fantastical tales of children during the Spanish Civil War go, Del Toro has tread this ground before with the haunting Devil’s Backbone, and, to be honest, I preferred that film in almost every regard.

So, here’s the setup: Once upon a time — 1944, to be exact — there was a young girl on the verge of adolescence named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) who was forced to accompany her sickly, pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) into the Spanish countryside, and to live with her wicked (Fascist) stepfather (Sergi Lopez of Dirty Pretty Things, and I do mean wicked — he beats an old man’s face into bloody fragments within the first twenty minutes.) Although befriended by a kindly maid (Y Tu Mama Tambien‘s Maribel Verdu) — one who may have ties to Republican remnants in the nearby mountains — Ofelia is deeply disconsolate in her new home. That is, until a congenial fairy-mantis she encountered on her way in takes her deep into the nearby garden labyrinth, where an unnerving faun (Doug Jones) discloses that she may in fact be a long-lost princess of an underground world. To claim her birthright, Ofelia must first accomplish three fairy-tale-type tasks, all the while evading her wicked stepfather and doing what she can to protect her ailing mother. But, much to her dismay, Ofelia soon finds that her fantasy world can be just as dangerous and even deadly as her stepfather’s company, particularly once the two worlds begin to collide.

But do they collide? Perhaps I missed some vital subtext, but I found Ofelia’s dreamworld adventures — other than the “Girl, you’ll be a Woman soon” flourishes, like the bloody book — to be generally remote both from her problems at home and from the Republican-Fascist feud, other than that all three narrative strands grow increasingly grisly and grotesque. And, while certain scenes definitely linger in the senses like eerie reminiscences of a fever dream, most notably the Wraith’s Table, they don’t really serve the larger story in any way I could fathom. (Also, why does Ofelia suddenly decide to go all Augustus Gloop in that scene anyway? Dream logic, I guess, but it seemed out of character.) Throw in a few second-act torture scenes that are more off-putting than they are resonant or even necessary, and Labyrinth starts to wear thin well before the end. In sum, Pan‘s a decent film that’s worth seeing if you’re in the mood for it, but it’s by no means the genre classic it’s being made out to be. Perhaps the subtitles gave it gravitas in some corners, but, to my mind, Pan’s Labyrinth gets a little lost in its own maze.

3 thoughts on “Excessive Fauning.”

  1. I enjoyed Pan’s quite a bit. It’s visual direction and subtle allusions to very Catholic themes were executed well.

    As you said though, placing it above movies such as The Prestige and The Fountain (I haven’t seen Children of Men, yet) is a bit baffling. Pan’s had its share of flaws, and in the end, left me feeling a bit unfulfilled.

    With Oscar season on the horizon, AOL’s “moviefone.com” was showcasing their critic’s top ten lists. I noticed The Prestige is mentioned only in honor, and The Fountain is nowhere to be found. It made me question the films allegorical content. Was it trite? or really too subtle for recognition? Either way, The Fountain is still topping my own personal list for best of 2006. Pan’s probably rests in the latter portion of the top 10.

  2. The Fountain isn’t my top movie of last year, but it definitely outranks Pan. I’m hoping to have the usual end-of-year GitM list out by this weekend, but in all honesty, I still have 3 more reviews to write! (Letters from Iwo Jima, Curse of the Golden Flower, The Good German) — Hopefully I can knock some of those out in short order…it’s no fun to be constantly a week behind on the blogging (among other things.)

  3. I haven’t been consuming the films at the pace that I’m used to. I’ve missed quite a few of last years cinema landmarks (Casino Royal, The Departed, Apocalypto, United 93, Babel). This could be the reason that The Fountain rests, at least as far as I can remember, at the top of my 2006 movie list.

    The Good German’s trailer hardly got a rise out of me when I first saw it. I, fortunately, caught Charlie Rose with Cate Blanchett a few weeks back, and how she described it, it sounded like it could be a fantastic film.

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