When a traveling cinema arrives in the small Spanish village where seven-year-old Ana lives with her sister Isabel in 1940, the entire population turns out to see the horror film Frankenstein. The images make a deep impression on Ana and continue to haunt her. Her teasing elder sister plays on Ana’s fascination with the supernatural, convincing her that the real monster lives in a nearby barn. When Ana encounters a fugitive soldier there, the boundaries between reality, film, and fantasy begin to blur.
This influential Spanish drama is also often regarded as a critique of the regime of General Franco, still in power when the film was made in 1973. It is symbolized by the beehive kept by Ana’s father: to him, the rigid order of the hive seems as servile and fascistic as Spanish society. (Apparently Franco himself thought the film was boring.)
Told largely in silence, the story offers a magical glimpse into a child’s inner world against the backdrop of remote rural life, a perfect setting for mysterious spirits and thrilling tales.
Stills
