THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (69)

Directed by: Victor Erice (1973)

Starring: Ana Torrent, Fernando Fernan Gomez, Teresa Gimpera

The Pitch: In post-Civil War Spain two sensitive little girls try to make sense of their world, of their parents' war-weary detachment, and of their confused emotions after a screening of FRANKENSTEIN.

Theo Sez: One of those films that are easier to love than to like, set in a post-Civil War Spain where people have "lost our perception of the essence of life" (i.e. mope around with no apparent purpose) and made in what used to be the standard arthouse style, motionless silences broken by occasional flickers of facial expression. Yet, slow and obscure though it is, it's also spellbinding, partly because of the little star's expressive performance, partly because you can feel the emotion banked just below the placid surface, but mostly because - unlike the self-indulgent abstraction of many "art" movies - it does actually make sense, contrasting the adults' lifelessness with the kids' awestruck fascination at the wonders of Life, their discovery of new things (tireless and ceaseless, like the "spirit of the beehive" itself) from mushrooms to old photographs, from the way to hold a cat to the way people shave or put on lipstick. The heroines' fascination with Frankenstein's monster - life coming out of Death - is also the director's hope that a new generation will be able to pull the country out of its weary Franco-era apathy. None of which of course is to suggest that only one interpretation is possible, or indeed that any interpretation is necessary ; in fact the film is most memorable not for message but for atmosphere, a haunting stillness typified by the scene of the two sisters in adjoining beds, carrying on a lengthy conversation entirely in whispers (the scene cutting to whoever is speaking, so it feels even longer). You might say the whole film is a whisper, both because it was made when it was (politically) impossible to speak up and because of its low-key, ethereal quality. It can sound quite magical - but only if your ears are sensitive enough to pick it up.