Film Friday: El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)

Today, I'd like to get rolling on a new feature I've been planning for this blog since day one: Film Friday! On the occasional Friday on which I have the free time and the wherewithal to cobble together a big post, I want to investigate one of my favorite artistic mediums, focusing on the visual beauty and sartorial majesty contained therein. To start off this little project, I could not think of a better choice than one of my two all-time favorite movies (it's so hard to choose between it and Spirited Away): El Laberinto del Fauno, better known to American audience's as Pan's Labyrinth.

For those who have not yet borne witness this this truly incredible film, it is about a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) who moves with her mother into the home of her new stepfather, the brutal fascist Captain Vidal (Sergi López), in 1944 in northern Spain. Naturally seeking an outlet for all the misery that surrounds her in this new place, Ofelia finds herself drawn into a world of fantasy in the form of a mysterious fawn (Doug Jones, with Guillermo del Toro's inimitable creature design) who assures her that she is truly a fairy princess, and that to be reunited with her parents she must complete three tasks to prove she has not become "mortal."

No pressure, though.

While basically everything in this movie is perfect in every way (I could go on at length about the music, the set design, the strength and complexity of its female characters, the way it toys with traditional fairy tale narratives, its historical context, etc. etc. etc.), I think it hinges primarily on its two greatest strengths: its overall visual coherence, and the performances of its three principal actors: Baquero as Ofelia, Lopez as Vidal, and Maribel Verdú as Vidal's maid Mercedes, whose struggles against him mirror Ofelia's "fantasy" adventures in ways that are at once as straightforward and iconic as a fairy tale plot device should be and so subtle and nuanced that I didn't even start to pick up on them until my third or fourth viewing. Needless to say, you have to go watch this movie right now.

Mercedes and Ofelia share some forbidden literature

But this is a fashion blog, so you want to hear about clothes, right? I shall now proceed to post screenshots of all the outfits I love from this film, along with a brief discussion of how each one fits into the larger visual motifs of the movie. Although I've really enjoyed browsing my DVD's collection of Guillermo del Toro's explanations of his various choices, his real brilliance shines through in the fact that you really don't need to listen to him to feel their impact. There are two worlds in this film: "reality" and "fantasy," and del Toro contrasts the two through color palette, costuming, lighting, etc. such that it is impossible to miss what sets them apart. So let's begin...

Here is the first time we see Ofelia, looking like a little poet with her beret and her book. The "real" and "fantasy" worlds in Pan's Labyrinth are distinguished with a simple color duality: warm (fantasy) and cool (reality). While this is a particularly warm shot for the "real world," I still think that little sliver of green from Ofelia's dress is meant to read very powerfully as a slice of warmth in a cold place. At the very least, it is the most saturated color on screen right now, and when we see green juxtaposed against a grey coat here and later against the blue outfits of the soldiers, I think it's meant to read as the warmest color in an otherwise cool palette. It also ties Ofelia to her adult counterpart, Mercedes:

I think this shawl is a brilliant piece of costuming. It 1) ties Mercedes to Ofelia, 2) distinguishes her from everyone else with its comparatively bright color, 3) is ratty as hell, indicating her "low status" in the Vidal household, and 4) is very maternal and nurturing, signaling her as an important caretaker for several characters. The only thing it doesn't do is reveal her downright ferocity and incredible strength in moments of adversity, but I think that it's probably intentional that we don't see that side of her yet. Anyway, here's Captain Vidal, whose sharp uniform sets him apart:

Now, although I think Vidal is one of the most loathsome movie villains in history, I do also think he's a stone-cold badass. Everything about him is meticulous and precise and intense, and there is no mistaking the fact that he is in control of every situation he's a part of. That cold grey color of his uniform? That's probably the most abundant hue in the entire film, and it's because he basically owns reality. Also, just for fun, here are two shots of the most villainous hands ever captured on film:

Do you hate him yet?

How about now?

Anyway, probably the most iconic outfit in the film is what Guillermo del Toro calls Ofelia's "Alice in Wonderland dress," and it is indeed a wonderful addition to the great canon of dresses worn by little girls in fantasy masterpieces:

Instant Classic!

So this is a beautiful dress, and very classy, but what I love most about it is the ways in which it (and the story that surrounds it) is not perfect. First of all, I think she looks kind of awkward in it, don't you? Almost as if she's just a little bit too old (10) to be wearing a little girl's dress. I know for a fact that Guillermo del Toro had to age up the character a little bit after casting Baquero, and I think that is ultimately a very happy accident. It creates just a little tiny bit of age-related tension every time we're asked not to think too hard about the fact that Ofelia is more a young woman than a little girl. Second, I think the most brilliant use of the dress as a costume piece is the fact that Ofelia takes it off before her first big adventure, transitioning to this:

And that, my friends, is how you make a movie.

Guillermo del Toro talks at length in the commentary about how the iconic green dress is silly, in his mind. It's frivolous and decorative, a symbol of the kind of inactive but beautiful "princess" that her mother wants her to be. Ofelia, on the other hand, has the good sense to take off this pretty nonsense before embarking on a quest that will make her very, very dirty. For me this is one of the film's most brilliant moves, playing with the traditional idea of the girl as someone merely to be looked at even in a story that is ostensibly about her. Ofelia's wardrobe choices are her own, and they eventually make her parents rather mad.

In any case, Ofelia has one more knockout costume piece. I won't reveal the plot surrounding how she comes to wear it, but even seeing it could be a bit spoiling, so here's your warning!

Wow!

So, this is what the film looks like in full-fledged fantasy mode: golden, warm, red, round, etc. I think Ofelia's outfit here is amazing! It's otherworldly, timeless, and whimsical without sacrificing any of the dire seriousness of the scene that it's in and the movie as a whole. If you needed any further convincing that Guillermo del Toro (and the people with whom he chooses to collaborate - props to Lala Huete, the costume designer) is a sublime visual artist, look no further.

Anyway, that was a long entry! Thoughts about the film? Its costumes? Anything? Would you like to see more Film Fridays in the future?