IMDb > El espíritu de la colmena (1973)

El espíritu de la colmena (1973) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   3,557 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Víctor Erice (screenplay)
Víctor Erice (story)
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Contact:
View company contact information for El espíritu de la colmena on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
5 January 1977 (France) more
Genre:
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. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
7 wins more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Sitges 2009 Complete Lineup
 (From SoundOnSight. 19 September 2009, 12:48 AM, PDT)

Sitges 09: And the full lineup includes...
 (From QuietEarth. 12 September 2009, 1:14 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
graceful and elegant more (64 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited 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
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Spirit of the Beehive
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Runtime:
97 min | USA:95 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
UK:AA (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) | USA:Unrated | Netherlands:16

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
There is no shot of all the family in a single frame in the entire film: even in the dinner-table scene, the actors are shown separately. more
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. more
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.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Years in the Desert (2007) more

FAQ

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23 out of 24 people found the following comment useful.
graceful and elegant, 7 August 2006
10/10
Author: muerco from California

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.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for El espíritu de la colmena (1973)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
I don't understand how people like this so much. blisseternal
What year does it take place? ebm83
Anyone have the screenplay? neptunegolfballa
The Myth of Sisyphus and Sp. of Beehive kronenberger
Ending??? Altrntiverockr91-1
Ana is beautiful websterboy604
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