In a fairy tale, Princess Moanna (Ivana Baquero), whose father (Federico Luppi) is the king of the underworld, becomes curious about the world above, the human world. When she goes to the surface, the sunlight blinds her and erases her memory. She becomes very ill and eventually dies.
However, the king believes that her spirit will come back to the underworld someday.In post–Civil War Spain in 1944, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a young girl who loves fairy tales, travels with her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet Captain Vidal (Sergi López), her new stepfather.
Ofelia discovers a large insect resembling a stick insect which she believes to be a fairy. It follows her to the mill where Vidal is stationed and leads Ofelia into an ancient labyrinth nearby. Before Ofelia can enter the labyrinth, she is stopped by Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), one of Vidal’s maids.
That night, the insect appears in Ofelia’s bedroom, where it changes into a fairy and leads her through the labyrinth. There, she meets the faun, who believes her to be Princess Moanna and gives her three tasks to complete before the full moon. Completing the tasks becomes increasingly difficult as Ofelia encounters problem after problem, including her mother’s life-threatening illness.
What makes Pan’s Labyrinth most effective is it’s juxtaposition of harsh “reality” and the mysterious world that lives side by side with it. The heroine, a young girl who may carry a magical seed of immortality (the soul of god’s only child who once ventured into the world of men, suffered, and died long ago), is contacted by shapeshifting fairies who lead her to a faun (much like the mythological Pan) who says she may reclaim her throne and escape the mortal world by performing three tasks.
The faun in Pan’s Labyrinth is every bit as complex as the mythological Pan, a creature perhaps older than the gods themselves. There’s something sly, and perhaps even sexual about this elegant and almost alien faun, as he represents the forces at play inside this sensitive young girl. In fact, like every good fairy tale, all of the strange, wondrous, and chilling creatures represent facets of the subconscious, including baby-eating ghouls, flitting fairies, and gluttonous toads.
Character to watch: Ivana Baquero as Ofelia.
Journal your answers to the following questions after you watch the movie.
- How does this particular character’s journey compare with yours?
- Did the character develop certain characteristics during the movie that you have or that you would like to have? If so, what are those characteristics?
- What obstacles did this character face? What was his or her biggest challenge?
- What would you have done differently if you had been in the same position as the character?
- Is this character the type of person you would be friends with? Why or why not?