Pan's Labyrinth Essay

The Beginning

The beginning of the film starts with Ofelia’s death. It is introduced with the non diegetic lullaby that is sang later on in the film by Mercedes, and the sound of non diegetic to diegetic breathing is heard. The camera tracks upwards towards the top of the well where we see blood drops flying upwards, to then see a close up of Ofelia’s hand and face, where we see the blood from her nose dribble back into her nose in a rewinded sort of way, to show the story backtracking in order to start from the beginning. The close up shot of Ofelia’s face used here shows the real desperation in her eyes, and makes the audience and I feel intrigued as you want to know how she died. After this close up, the camera zooms in on Ofelia’s eye creating an extreme close up, and cross fades in and out of the next scene. The use of the zoom on Ofelia’s eye is a recurring theme throughout this film, as eyes are a main focus point. The eye is a representing factor of the oppression that people felt during the spanish civil war, as they saw a lot of things that they would not have been able to speak about, such as fascism, hence why they focus on the eyes, to represent seeing the corruption, and not being able to speak about it. Other places where this is represented would be when Ofelia first walks in the country road and picks up a stone with an eye on it, and proceeds to place it into a statue of a horrified face whose mouth is wide open - this again represents the fact that the people were being oppressed, and not being able to speak their own minds. As Ofelia places the eye back into the statue, a grotesque insect crawls out of the mouth, which could also reinforce the fact that Ofelia see’s fantasy all around her, but is also unable to speak about it as people do not believe her - this fantasy world could also represent all of the horrible things going on around her, and could act as a form of escapism for her. Another place where we see the representation of eyes is at the beginning of the maze, where there is a statue of a face with a long mouth and dark beady eyes, again representing the fact that no one could speak of the monstrosities they saw.

The Pale Man

The scene begins as Ofelia draws a door onto the wall, where we hear the diegetic sound of the chalk scraping along the wall accompanied by the loud non diegetic dramatic music, which gives the indication that she is about to embark upon a dangerous quest. We are soon shown that we are about to enter Ofelia’s fantasy world, as the camera zooms in on the chalk, using an extreme close up to show the chalk bubbling like acid on the wall. As this does so, we hear the diegetic sound of the chalk bubbling and fizzing, but we also hear the non diegetic music begin to rise and intensify as Ofelia pushes the concrete door inwards, where we hear the loud grotesque sound of the concrete sliding inwards. Once the door is open and she looks inside of this fantasy world, the non diegetic music reaches it’s climax and becomes deeper, and low toned, giving the new world an eerie atmosphere. Here, we hear the non diegetic sound of the pal man breathing for the first time. The camera tracks back and uses a cross fade to show how long the hallway that Ofelia is placed into actually is. The colours shown within the fantasy world are very dark, the colours red and stone are used to indicate how old and aged this fantasy world is, the colour red could also represent the danger that she is getting herself into. As ofelia looks back onto the hourglass, a close up is used on the hourglass to represent its importance, as Ofelia must get back into the real world before the time runs out. As Ofelia continues to walk down the hallway and into the large room, we are introduced to the mass amount of mise en scene in this scene. With this single long shot, we see a long table covered in food and drink, with the Pale Man sat at the head of the table. There is a fireplace behind him that burn a bright orange, both the fire and colour representing the danger that lies within the Pale Man. This shot is almost identical to earlier on in the film where we see The Captain sat at the head of the table that is covered in food, and it even has a fireplace behind the captain too. As this fantasy world is largely made up around Ofelia’s imagination, this could be an indication as to how she see’s The Captain as a monster, or some sort of evil doer. The camera tracks alongside Ofelia as she walks along the table covered in food and stares at it longingly, as at that time in the film, food was something quite rare and hard earned. Here, we only hear the diegetic sound of the fireplace crackling, until Ofelia sees the Pale Man up close for the first time, where both Ofelia, the camera, and the non diegetic sound jumps in shock. The edit cuts to a close up of the eyeballs on the plate, as Ofelia picks them up and looks at them in disgust, putting them back down. This close up could indicate to the audience that this will be used, or shown later on within the scene, and have meaning and purpose. The camera then uses a close up of the Pale Man’s face, then to Ofelias face to show the true look of horror and disgust, and also freight that Ofelia feels when looking at the Pale Man, making us a an audience feel it too. Non diegetic sound of children crying in pain and fear is then used softly underneath the sound of the fire crackling, as the camera moves towards the images on the wall of the Pale Man stabbing, and eating babies and children - indicating to Ofelia that this creature is dangerous and should be feared. The camera then shows a close up of a pile of childrens shoes on the floor, which again reiterates the fact that this creature eats and kills children, giving him more power within this scene. Ofelia then releases the fairies/helpers, who fly toward a se of three little doors, and point toward the middle one. Ofelia tries the key, but it does not work - this could show that even though the fairies, or helpers, are there to guide and to help her, they do, and will, in fact betray her, and lie to her, which is key to remember within Ofelia’s fantasy world - that the people or creatures within it can betray her. As the scene continues, the Pale Man awakens and takes ahold of two of the fairies and eats them - this could have another deeper layer of meaning. If the fantasy world is an over exaggerated, grotesque version of the real world that she lives in, with the Pale Man representing The Captain and the fairies representing the people Ofelia trust, such as Mercedes, The Doctor and her Mother - this could show how at some point, The Captain will find out about her helpers, and will potentially destroy them, which is foreshadowing what is to come further on in the film.