The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) El espíritu de la colmena (original title)

Director:

Víctor Erice

Writers:

Víctor Erice (screenplay)
Víctor Erice (story)
(more)

Release Date:

5 January 1977 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A sensitive seven-year-old girl living a small village in 1940 rural Spain is traumatized after viewing James Whale's "Frankenstein" and drifts into her own fantasy world.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Little Girl | Fugitive | Spanish Civil War | Anatomy Lesson

Awards:

7 wins

Cast

Fernando Fernán Gómez	...	Fernando
Teresa Gimpera	...	Teresa
Ana Torrent	...	Ana
Isabel Tellería	...	Isabel
Ketty de la Cámara	...	Milagros, la criada
Estanis González	...	Guardia civil
José Villasante	...	The Frankenstein Monster
Juan Margallo	...	The Fugitive
Laly Soldevila	...	Doña Lucía, the teacher
Miguel Picazo	...	The Doctor

Directed by
Víctor Erice

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Víctor Erice		screenplay
Víctor Erice		story
Ángel Fernández Santos		screenplay
Ángel Fernández Santos		story
Francisco J. Querejeta		writer

Produced by
Elías Querejeta	....	producer

Original Music by
Luis de Pablo

Cinematography by
Luis Cuadrado

Film Editing by
Pablo González del Amo

Art Direction by
Jaime Chávarri

Set Decoration by
Adolfo Cofiño

Costume Design by
Peris

Makeup Department
Ángel Luis De Diego	....	assistant makeup artist
Ramón de Diego	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Pedro Esteban	....	assistant production manager
Primitivo Álvaro	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paco Lucio	....	second assistant director (as Francisco Lucio Ramos)
José Luis Ruiz Marcos	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Fernando Hermoso	....	property master

Sound Department
Luis Castro	....	sound effects
Luis Rodríguez	....	direct sound
Jean Michel Sire	....	sound effects (as Sire)

Visual Effects by
Pablo Núñez	....	opticals

Camera and Electrical Department
José M. de Nicolás	....	second assistant camera
Teo Escamilla	....	camera operator
Estanis González	....	camera operator
Laureano López	....	still photographer
Juan Margallo	....	camera operator
José Villasante	....	camera operator
Santiago Zuazo	....	first assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Angelines Castro	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
José Salcedo	....	first assistant editor
Juan Ignacio San Mateo	....	second assistant editor (as Juan San Mateo)

Other crew
Pablo Núñez	....	title designer
Miguel Picazo	....	special collaborator
Francisco J. Querejeta	....	script supervisor
Laly Soldevila	....	special collaborator
Alicia Tellería	....	title designer
Isabel Tellería	....	title designer
María Tellería	....	title designer
Ana Torrent	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.
• Jacel Desposito

Distributors

• Bocaccio Distribución S.A. (1973) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Contemporary Films (1974) (UK) (theatrical)
• Janus Films (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Bowjapan (1985) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Connossieur Video (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Tamarelle's International Films (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Optimum Releasing (2003) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Vídeo Mercury Films (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2010) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2010) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (German speaking part)
• C.B. Films (Spain)
• trigon-film (2010) (Austria) (all media)
• trigon-film (2010) (Germany) (all media)
• trigon-film (2010) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2010) (Switzerland) (DVD) (special edition)

Also Known As:

"El espíritu de la colmena" - Spain (original title)

Runtime:

97 min | USA:95 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) | USA:Unrated | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Hoyuelos, Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain

Company:

Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.

Trivia:

Voted third best Spanish film by professionals and critics in 1996 Spanish cinema centenary.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the fugitive jumps from the train and rolls down the hill, he's wearing boots, but in the next shot he's wearing low-cut shoes.

Quotes:

Isabel:Papa, have you ever picked a bad mushroom?
Fernando:No. You know why?
Isabel:Why?
Fernando:Because I always do like my grandfather told me.
[he gets up and starts to walk; the girls follow]
Fernando:If you're not sure a mushroom's good, don't pick it. Because if it's bad, and you eat it, it's your last mushroom and your last everything too.

Movie Connections:

Features Frankenstein (1931)

graceful and elegant

Like many of the other commentators here, I had heard about this movie long before I had ever had a chance to see it, although it typically is mentioned as one of Spain's greatest films. It definitely is. It is masterfully directed and I have not been able to stop thinking about it for days.

The story is elliptically told and demands your participation in making sense of the narrative, but it's also leisurely paced and allows you to breathe in the atmosphere rather than forcing a particular reading on you. One thing you wouldn't guess from reading the other comments is how this is as much a film about nature as about history--it is like a poem of the countryside in winter, with long vistas of stone farmhouses framed against the rising sun. The film with the most similar visual palette is Malick's "Days of Heaven", but that film feels simplistic compared to the full immersion in history and memory presented in this film--a much more complete vision of the past.

Ana Torrent is unforgettable. I can think of no better film about children, yet (as with so many other things in this movie) it doesn't feel forced--these kids aren't just the director's pawns, but real, living beings.

If you get a chance to see it, definitely make the effort.