Pan’s Labyrinth Opening Sequence

Narrative Overview

The opening sequence begins with a reversed shot of a dying girl, Ofelia, as the camera arcs and zooms into her eye and then transitions to a fantasy world. As the camera moves through the blue castle, a narrator explains the story of the princess Moana who escaped the kingdom to the real world and died there, but the king knew her spirit would eventually return so created portals between the two worlds.

The story then jumps to a number of classic black cars with fascist symbols driving through the countryside and then the forest. Ofelia is reading a fairytale until her mother interrupts, asking why she brought so many books and that she is too old for those types of stories. The mother is suffering from morning sickness (in the late stage of pregnancy, of course) as so stops the car to get some air. Ofelia finds a stone on the path and then the mural/pillar it came from. As she places it in the missing eye spot, a bug jumps out the statues mouth- startling her but not scaring. Her mother calls her back and reprimands her for her dirty shoes, but Ofelia is too concentrated on the “fairy.” The cars drive on, and next we see a broken watch which is followed by the well groomed side profile of a man in fascist uniform. He complains that the cars are fifteen minutes late.

Key Elements:

Cinematography

The sequence begins with a crapping shot to the left (but visually upwards out a brick well.) The fluid motion continues as we see Ofelia’s blood move back up her nose as the camera tilts anticlockwise 90 degrees- simultaneously zooming into her eye. It is clear this edit less shot is reversed, so originally would be a zoom out to a clockwise tilt to a crab right. It is easy to spot this as the blood is running the wrong way and it is visually understood that moving left or clockwise signifies going backwards. This shot is used to create a circular narrative later on in the film, but also to give the audience insight into the character’s fate. The extreme close up of her eye at the end on this shot is used literally as a window to her soul as her “spirit” is the only thing connecting her to the fantasy realm that we see through her eyes.

The camera then crabs right in an extreme wide shot through the fantasy kingdom- tracking the princess and then pushing in as she runs up the stairs. As she moves upward, the camera tilts to the lens flare of the sun that makes the screen white for a moment. In my opinion this Birds Eye view shot is so that the audience subconsciously associates the fantasy world as the underworld as it is visually below the real world. Throughout the film the interpretation of the realm is very ambiguous, but initially it is easy to assume that it represents the afterlife from Ofelia’s perspective. It also adds to the fairytale feel as “rabbit holes” are typical of the genre.

The real world is defined by its long and fluid shots, which in this first sequence shows a lot of context through the many extreme wide establishing shots. The cinematography in this bit is also clearly focused on Ofelia and the fantasy world she is absorbed by. For example the close up of the fairytale book, the tracking shots of her as she walks into the forest with the people always out of focus in the background, the shots over her shoulder as the places the eye in the statue. It is clear from the very start she is our main character, and that she has no interest in the complex world she is being dragged into. This idea is obvious in the camerawork as the cars dive off. The focus of the camera is pulled to the bug (or as Ofelia calls it “fairy”) from the fascist cars, and then arcs round the bug with the moving cars still out of focus and then tracks the bug forwards as the cars drive off away from the camera. This very intricate camera motion perfectly balances the movies two main themes from Ofelia’s point of view at the beginning.

Editing

The credits at the beginning represent the aesthetics and themes of the film very well. The font looks like carving onto wood- with harsh angles that are used to subvert the fancy and excessive script seen in typical fairytales. This is used to contextualise the fantasy and fascist themes of the film.

Through the reverse edited shot at the start, we know the film is set up as a circular narrative- showing the inevitability of Ofelia’s death and giving the audience insight into how even though she is completely wrapped up in the fantasy, it’ll be the reality that has the most affect on her.

There is an quick cut to the moving cars, and the rest of the editing back in the real world is also very slow paced and contains lots of establishing shots like the fantasy palace, but now the majority of the edits are centred around Ofelia and her views. For example she is shown through long takes and often tracking or over the shoulder shots- by giving her lots of reaction shots we are instantly drawn into her point of view.

Mise en Scene

The very beginning of the sequence is defined by is cold blue colour scheme. Firstly, when Ofelia is dying in the real world we only see the well and her face, but the harsh blues and dark light give a sense of sadness and unease- her blood and brown looking almost black in the moonlight making her almost inhuman. This grading then continues into the fantasy world. The set is clearly a model, and visually looks like a child’s interpretation of a castle but mixed with classic catholic and North African architecture that would have been common but exotic in Spain at the time. This (paired with the narration) is used to create a typical fairytale, but also to make the watcher question whether this illogical world is simply Ofelia’s imagination.

The opulence of the fantasy world is then transitioned through a full screen lens flare (also religiously themed) to the now warm golds of the real wold. However, this is quickly contrasted by the demolished building we are shown with the only resemblance of the two world being the chipped away ornamental Moroccan pattern on one of the walls. This colour scheme is shown from the princesse’s point of view, which is probably why it’s more romanticised than the cold underworld she escaped from.

From Ofelia’s point of view, the natural (non fascist) world is also warm and hazy. In the first shot of them in the real world, the coherence of the sandy and dark green landscape with the demolished orange stone building in the background is destroyed by the polished black cars with their fascist memorabilia on the side. The first introduction of Ofelia is inside the car that contrasts her completely, and we see a close up of the fairytale she is reading. This and the soft greens she is dressed in connect her to the innocence of nature, and also present the film as reminiscent of a classic Disney film with the opening of the story book. Later when we see an extreme wide shot of the Forrest, the magical aura is used to confirm her beliefs and show she is romanticising nature.

This is completely contrasted by the brief glimpse we get of Captain Vidal. Beginning with a close up of his cracked watch- connoting very early on his obsession with time and success. And then the extremely masculine side profile of his face and uniform. He is visually very well shaven and his hair is slicked back under his hat. The gold fascist memorabilia contrasts with the light blue of his uniform, and clearly looks well polished and worn with pride; particularly the three stars on his hat that are reflected by the shiny black visor at the front of the cap (similarly out of place like the cars.) All of this is used to introduce him as Ofelia’s main nemesis in this film, and show that even before they’ve met there’s no way a hyper masculine fascist man will accept a slightly delusional, unintentionally socialist stepdaughter.

Performance

The film begins with Ofelia heavy breathing and reverse dying, with the camera pushing into her eye to create a fourth wall break. This signifies that we have entred her worlds, as the eyes are supposed to reflect the soul and are often used as a medium to convey emotion.

Back in the real world our first introduction of Ofelia is through her engrossed in a fairytale and interrupted by her mother. It is clear the mother doesn’t understand her, as the first things said are questioning why she brought so many books and then saying she is too old for fairytales. It is clear the mother is preoccupied by her pregnancy that is making her unwell, but she is still acting very synical towards her innocent and slightly delusional daughter (showing she doesn’t understand her.) When Ofelia gets out the car she instantly wanders off to explore adn finds the rock and statue; blending into the forest and showing her curiosity by leaving the Fascism and her mother behind. When the bug jumps out of the statues mouth, she jumps but continues to look intregued. This brief glimpse of the fantasy world is dispelled quickly when Ofelias mother calls her, showing Ofelia is still burdened by reality no matter how much she imagines.

Sound

Before we even see Ofelia, we hear her heavy breathing as a J cut over the credits that instantly connotes her pain. As this rises more and more in the mix, we are introduced to the reoccurring lullaby motif over the black screen. This tune is used throughout by Mercedes when comforting Ofelia; and so even before the visuals we are somewhat aware of the childhood and innocence theme of the film. This lullaby is soon added to by non-diegetic piano notes, making the melody slightly dissonant and uncanny (to obviously show something is wrong, because Ofelia is dying backwards.)

There are lots of non diegetic sounds used to highlight different areas of the fantasy world. Firstly, an omniscient narrator is used to bridge between Ofelia’s world and pain and then back to her palace where the story begins. A narrator is typical of a film in the fantasy genre as the “A long time ago” style is universally known as a fairy tale beginning. The voice is very low and masculine, which is also typical of basically all narrators ever (from research there are only about 5 well known films with female narrators) but also adds a slightly uncomfortable feel due to the voice’s strict tone. In the fantasy world, the non diegetic piano music that underlined Mercedes’ humming before continues, but now the key has turned from minor to major- giving the scene a more immersive and hopeful feel. The non diegetic composed score then turns negative again when the violins are introduced and the visuals return to the real world, making it mysterious once more.

In the real world there is no non diegetic score, but many of the diegetic sounds are heightened to show importance. For example, when she picks up the stone there is a heightened scraping noise that wouldn’t have typically been made from that movement, as well as later on the noise of the bug being extremely loud in an attempt to jump scare and unnerve the audience. Throughout the film, universally know noises are hightened to emphasis the objects importance and to allow characters’ clear and justified reactions.

context:

The film is set in post Civil War Spain, with the Fascists winning but still fighting the remaining underground socialists. From the very beginning credits it is made clear the films’ (and del Toro’s as he wrote them) negative view of fascism as the titles used words like “exterminate” to describe their actions. In this opening sequence, the Rolls Royces’ have a fascist symbol on them and the short introduction to the Captain shows his pristine blue uniform and polished gold regalia.

There is also the use of many typical fairtytale motifs in this sequence. For example, the low pitch male narration and the “opening” with a fairylate book is typical of the genre. Throughout the film there are many references to fairytale books and their representation in film, such as Alice in Wonderland seen in Ofelias’ dresses and the lock and key imagery, and the Wizard of Oz in the focus on shoes.

Representation:

Age

The fantasy world is arguably from Ofelias’ point of view and just a delusion made up by her to make living more bearable, and if this is the case that justifies the child-like exoticism of the world as it represents both the places she would read about in fairytales and the grand Moroccan and North African architecture seen in grand Spanish buildings (typically the Catholic Church.)

Ofelia’s mother also continually shames her for her childish behaviour (not just in this scene but for most of the film.) Firstly telling her she is too old for fairytales and then telling her off for getting her polished and typically “little girl” shoes dirty. This further highlights Ofelias’ disconnect from the real world, but also helps s to ustify why she is so imaginative as she uses it as her only coping mechanism from the harsh realities of adulthood.

Culture/Ethnicity

There is a focus on the contrast of the fascist cars and weapons with the tranquil Spanish countryside, and it is clear Ofelia belongs to the “socialist” natural world and away from the fascist violence. The forest is represented as a magical place through he extrememely wide and hazy cinematography, but is dispelled by the shiny black of the Rolls Royces (a symbol of wealth.) From the very start Ofelia blends into the natural world due to her common green and brown clothing, unlike her mother and completely opposite to the Captain.

Gender

There isnt a lot to say for gender, other than its the men driving the cars and wielding the guns and the women being driven and having to knock to request to stop. Also ironically Ofelia is a far stronger character than her mother.