Some of my information was from this website: http://panslabyrinth.co.uk/

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Plot

In 1944 at the end of the Spanish civil war, Ofelia seeks refuge in a mysterious labyrinth and follows three dangerous tasks set for her by a magical creature who tells her she is the lost princess. Meanwhile, her mother (who has recently married a horrible man), is having pregnancy issues.

Spanish Civil War

Ofelia 

A brave, kind, young girl who is interested in fairy tales who seeks refuge in a labyrinth. She follows three dangerous tasks set to her by a faun and struggles with loneliness and the health issues her mother has regarding her pregnancy. Del Toro explores the way war effected children through this character and Ofelia also had to cope with her step-father who has no interest in her, and who is a horrible man. She is told by the faun that she is the long lost princess of the kingdom.

Mercedes 

Mercedes works as a house keeper for Captain Vidal (Ofelia’s step father) and forms a bond with Ofelia. Mercedes fights against Captain Vidal secretly along with the doctor but eventually has to face him.

Pan

A satyr/the faun who guards the labyrinth. He is complimentary and playful but also fierce, this represents both the bad and good in natures forces. Pan sets Ofelia the three dangerous tasks she must do, he needs her to discover the truth.

Captain Vidal 

He is a captain in Franco’s army and the new husband to Carmen (Ofelia’s mother). Along with soldiers he is attempting to find and kill resistance fighters near by. He is a cold, horrible and violent man who has no interest in fathering Ofelia. Without hesitation, he told the nurses that if Carmen must die to save the baby, they must do it which suggests he didn’t love Carmen either.

Carmen 

Ofelia’s mother and Captain Vidal’s wife. She is pregnant with Captain Vidal’s baby and is having serious pregnancy issues. She would like Ofelia and Vidal to get along, this might be why she told Ofelia to put away her books about fairies as Vidal would not have approved.

The Doctor 

He is the towns doctor and is secretly helping the resistance fighters with Mercedes. He must make a serious decision when it comes to helping the resistance. He also helps Carmen with her pregnancy problems.

About the Film 

• Directed by Guillermo del Toro
• Doug Jones played the creatures (he often appears in del Toro’s films)
• There are lots of metaphors and lots of symbolism around hands, faces, eyes, time and the use of words
• Innocence vs brutality is a theme throughout the film
• The fantasy world was as dangerous and real as the real world.
• The fantasy world is actually real, it’s not just inside Ofelia’s head. We know this because Ofelia was able to draw doors with the chalk Pan gave her and because of the flower at the end of the film.
• The violence was significant and had meaning behind it. This is the same with other films directed by Guillermo del Toro too such as ‘The Shape of Water’
• The iconic tree looks like fallopian tubes, the child entering the tree is like her being re-born. The film is full of baby and child imagery because Ofelia is re-born at the end of the movie and because most of the fantasy world she would dream of is going back in to her mothers womb. The colours of the magical world are golden and scarlet because they are internal colours and the rest of the world is blues and greens and pale greys which makes it more cold and un-inviting. Ofelia even takes off her green dress before entering the tree.
• ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ were both inspirations
• Pan the faun would “appear” to the director del Toro from behind a wardrobe in his grandmother’s house as a child
• The scene where Vidal beats an innocent man with a bottle was inspired by a fight in which Del Toro was in when he was younger with a friend who was being hit with a bottle (but less brutally)
• There is a lullaby that repeats throughout the film and can make the audience feel emotional

‘to obey – just like that – for obedience’s sake… without questioning… That’s something only people like you do.’ – the doctor