(Spain/France, 104 min.)
Written and directed by Pablo Berger
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Macarena García, Daniel Giménez
Cacho, Ángela Molina.
The past year has seen a flood of Snow White movies. The
tale by The Brothers Grimm first received two decidedly contemporary
renditions: the god-awful nightmare Mirror
Mirror and the nightmarish action-pic Snow White and the Huntsman. The latter is fairly good thanks to an inspired
performance by Charlize Theron as the evil queen and to its video-gamey style, which
works surprisingly well. Both these revamped Snow White tales, however, are
vastly eclipsed by the Spanish take, Blancanieves.
Blancanieves (which literally translates
to Snow White) appropriates the “white
as snow, black as wood” features of its heroine and reimagines the classic tale
in the silent black-and-white of classic cinema. As the characters in Skyfall would say, “Sometimes the older
ways are best.”
This retelling of Snow
White feels as if one sifted through the archives and discovered a long
lost gem. Writer/director Pablo Berger offers an immaculate recreation of
silent film aesthetic, from the vintage stock look to the shot length and
duration. Even better is the film’s visual sense, as it uses impressionistic shadows
and images to accentuate the fairy tale feel.
The style of the film works especially well with the tale by
the Brothers Grimm. Like the lovely black-and-white, the tale of Snow White
harkens back to the earliest memories of the magic of storytelling, or of the
magic of movies since the Walt Disney film was probably one of the first hooks
that caught film buffs’ attention to the cinema. Berger’s tale of Snow White is
an entrancing adaptation, too, for the tale’s fateful heroine is not a shut-in
princess, but the daughter of a bullfighter.
Named Carmen in the film, the girl is the daughter of a star
matador, Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho). A bull gores Antonio during a
riveting bullfight that opens the film and both he and his pregnant wife are
whisked to the hospital. His wife goes into labour upon seeing the accident,
and she dies during childbirth. Antonio survives, but he awakens under the
spell of his seductive nurse, Encarna (Y
tu mamá también’s Maribel Verdú).
A mean-spirited vamp, but hardly an evil witch, Encarna follows the Grimm tale
by marrying the father, banishing the daughter, and enjoying a life of wealth
and power at the expense of others.
The flip side of this Snow
White tale is that the girl is rescued by a troupe of bullfighting dwarves.
Carmen (played in her elder years by welcome newcomer Macarena García) joins
the seven matadors in the ring. She is an instant star, since bullfighting runs
in her veins, and she becomes a national icon as the matador Blancanieves, aka
Snowhite. (That’s not a typo).
Blancanieves
refashions the old fairy tale anew to the thrilling tempo of castanets and
flamenco. Driven by a wall-to-wall score by Alfonso de Vilallonga, which
essentially doubles as the film’s dialogue, Blancanieves
is full of life and magic. It’s one of the best scores I’ve ever heard in a
film, really, and it moves the fairy tale at a unique, exciting tempo.
Equally fiery is Verdú as the evil stepmother. Encarna has no
magic mirror to explain her vanity or villainy, but Verdú conveys more wickedness
than anyone has ever brought to the role. Playing the delicious character extra
saucily, Verdú’s expressive face makes full use of the power of silent cinema.
She isn’t afraid to chomp the scenery with an evil glare or a sneaky shift. Who
needs dialogue when an actress can say so much with her face?
It’s easy to see how Spain chose this flawlessly executed
work of art as its official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy
Awards. (It also was a recent winner at Spain’s Goya Awards, beating the like
of The Impossible for Best Film and
Best Actress.) Blancanieves might not
have made the final hurdle through the Academy’s convoluted foreign film
contest, but it sets the bar for films to come in 2013. It’s a hypnotic, imaginative,
and thoroughly magical feat of cinema.
I loved every minute of Blancanieves
and every serious film buff surely will too. It’s a tribute to the cinema much
like The Artist, but it’s also much
more. If The Artist was like a blissful
homage shot through an Instagram filter called Silver Screen, then Blancanieves is a thorough immersion in
the foundational conventions of the medium. Thanks to Berger’s innovative
approach to form and to the masterful cinematography by Kiko de la Rica, Blancanieves is not just a whimsical hat
tip. It’s more like an addition to, if not a revival of, the era that made film
the greatest form of visual art. As much as I loved the Michel Hazanavicious
charmer, Blancanieves is even better
than The Artist. It’s a must-see for
all film buffs. Olé!
Rating: ★★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Blancanieves plays in Ottawa at The
ByTowne until March 3rd and again from April 19-22.
Blancanieves opens in Toronto at The Varsity on May 31.
Blancanieves opens in Toronto at The Varsity on May 31.
