BLANCANIEVES
Spain, 2013, 106 minutes, Black and white.
Maribel Verdu, Emilio Gavira, Sofia Oria, Daniel Gimenez Cacho.
Directed by Pablo Burger.
Blancanieves, the Spanish for Snow White.
This film would be interesting enough if it were just a re-telling of the Snow White tale. But, it is the manner of its telling that is arresting. It is set from the 1890s until the late 1920s. And it has been filmed in the silent movie styles of the period, though there is, of course, a musical accompaniment and some sound effects added.
The question is, of course, whether 21st century audiences want to see a black and white silent film these days. It is certainly different from what we are used to seeing and that makes it novel, ‘everything old is new again’! But, some critics, who know their silent films, bemoan Blancanieves as an anachronism, lacking the impact now of the freshness and originality of those long-gone times.
Anachronism or not, this telling of the old story is original and that keeps the interest.
A famous bullfighter in Seville of the 1890s is the darling of the arena. He is a 19th century superstar, ready to face any bull. When a photographer’s flash causes him to be gored, he is hospitalised while his pregnant, loving wife dies in childbirth. As might be expected, the father has a disdain for his daughter, Carmencita, and leaves her in the control of his new wife, the nurse who tended him and sees fortune in a marriage which she engineers. Maribel Verdu seems to relish the hiss-the-villain role of the wicked stepmother.
The film makes the transition to the 1920s, Carmencita living with her stepmother, but the stepmother becoming ever more jealous, killing her husband, persuading her lover take Carmencita into the woods to kill her. But, she is found by the dwarves, six of them, despite the sign on their wagon and advertising as seven! One of the dwarves is a woman. Another of the dwarves is a champion in the ring and jealous of Carmencita, substituting a more ferocious bull for her to fight in the ring, but with her vanquishing it with skill and charm, she becomes the darling of the audiences.
Instead of the mirror, for the fairest of them all, the screenplay uses the device of a magazine cover photo where the stepmother expected to appear, showing off her mansion and its furnishings. But, the magazine features Carmencita in the ring. This leads, of course, to the wicked stepmother poisoning an apple and throwing it into the ring along with the flowers and garlands. Finally, Carmencita eats the apple and collapses. Her manager is shrewd and has her lie in state with people paying to kiss her in order to revive her. One of the dwarves, devoted to her, stays vigil, kisses her – and there is a very quiet and appropriate ending to this interpretation of the fairytale.
1. The initial impact of the film? Silent film style? The familiar story? The variations? A Spanish version, the 19th and 20th centuries?
2. The style, of silent films, the added score, the sound effects, the captions? The effect of captions rather than dialogue? The black-and-white photography, the framing, the shading, the editing? The performances? A stylised experience and its effect?
3. The title, the tone?
4. The 1890s, Spain, Seville, the bullring, the father and his dressing, his appearance, the crowd and the adulation, the bull, his wife and his dedication, the flower, expectations, the photographer and the flash, the effect on the bull, goring the bullfighter?
5. The audience in the arena, the wife, the effect of the accident, going to hospital, the effect on her, in birth, her death? The child surviving? The bullfighter surviving, in hospital, the care, the attentions of the nurse and her determination, the baby and the father not wanting to touch it?
6. The introduction to the nurse, her face, sinister smile, plan, the care for the bullfighter, marrying him, going home, the baby, the years passing, her becoming the wicked stepmother?
7. The 1920s, changes in society, the modern style, the family, the husband, the stepmother and her lover, killing her husband, the feigned grief?
8. Taking the baby, her attitude towards Carmencita, hostility in the house, jealousy? Persuading her lover to go into the woods, to kill her? Carmencita being found, the dwarves, only six but the sign having seven? The woman dwarf? Saving the girl and the bond with her?
9. The dwarves and their skills, Blancanieves and her skill? The acclaim in the ring, the mean dwarf, his changing the bull, her taming the bull and her success?
10. Instead of the mirror image, photos and the covers of magazines? The stepmother and her questions, the interview, the photos, wanting to be on the cover? Her not being on the cover, anger and jealousy? The small item in the later pages? Her anger with the lover discovering that Carmencita was alive?
11. Going to the arena, the poisoned apple, her watching? the old bullfighter and his admiration for Carmencita, his watching the stepmother?
12. Success in the ring, her manager, the life contract, fighting the bull, the crowd asking her to spare the bull? The garlands, the stepmother throwing the apple, the delay in eating it, finally eating, her collapse?
13. The manager, Blancanieves lying in state, people paying to kiss the body to revive her? The devoted dwarf, his lying beside her, his love, the kiss?
14. The tear coming from Blancanieves’ eye? An appropriate ending for the film?
