BLANCANIEVES

Fairy tales are some of the most well-known, and yet least defined, stories our cultures have ever produced.  In the western world Red Riding Hood is threatened by a wolf,in India it’s a tiger; in the African version of Cinderella birds rather than a fairy godmother brings the eponymous heroine aid.  When adapting these tales for cinema a degree of freedom is available in setting character and plot that can result in some very unusual outcomes.

Blancanieves is a black and white silent movie set in 1920’s Spain where Carmen / Snow White is the daughter of a famous matador who is gored in the bullring and paralyzed.  Her mother dies in childbirth and Snow White is raised by her cruel step-mother – brilliantly played by Maribel Verdu.  The young Snow White secretly visits her father’s room and receives advice on the art of bullfighting.  Inevitably she follows in her father’s footsteps and takes up her cape.   The six (and not seven) dwarves make an appearance as small-time bullfighters.

The film has been naturally been compared to The Artist, the recent Oscar – winning movie.  The main difference is that whilst the Artist was about silent cinema, as well as being a silent film,(if that makes sense),Blancanieves uses the medium out of the director’s fascination with it.  Indeed if you were to ‘age’ the film slightly it would not be too strange to imagine that you are watching some older work.

The actors perform their parts well, their over-dramatic gestures and over-exaggerated expressions are balanced by important and subtle nuances of expression which helps to convey what they are unable to say.

Visually the film makes great use of the pageantry of the bullfighting ring (whilst tactfully ignoring the bloody outcome of the fight.)  All of the locations are rich in detail,be it the dark and gloomy mansion (where Carman’s father is for all intents and purposes, a prisoner), or the close familiarity of the grandmother’s house.  This is not the real Spain we know, it is instead a facsimile of the culture and people.

It is tone-wise that the film suffers a bit of a problem.  Early on the decision seems to have been made for a particularly dark rendition of the tale (which is dark enough to start with). Competing with this is a strangely ‘camp’ tone which runs throughout the movie.  The clash from these competing styles can be rather jarring at times and doesn’t always lend itself to a coherent narrative.

The ending is also somewhat flat, of course, we don’t need the syrupy and  sugary Disney-style ending, but given the imaginative adaptions open to the film makers couldn’t they have been more imaginative?

Ultimately the film is a visual treat and a great continuer / inheritor of the legacy of silent cinema, a style which can clearly still resonate with modern audiences and is clearly far from dead.

FINAL VERDICT  6/10  The devices and cinematography tends to dwarf  the plot and the characters but this is still a film worthy of respect and clearly made with a genuine love of cinema.