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{es} El espíritu de la colmena / {en} The Spirit of the Beehive [1] (Spain, 1973), directed by Víctor Erice.

In 1940, after watching and being traumatized by the movie Frankenstein (1931), a sensitive seven year-old girl living in a small Spanish village drifts into her own fantasy world.

Another contender for greatest Spanish film, Victor Erice’s drama is a subtle and affecting portrait of childhood. Ana Torrent plays six-year-old Ana, a shy girl living in a rural part of Franco’s Spain. The year is 1940 and the village has just had a screening of the 1931 horror classic Frankenstein. Ana is overwhelmed by the film and begins to see Boris Karloff’s monster – or José Villasante’s version of him – in real life. But the creature is not the only stranger to enter Ana’s world. Erice’s beautiful film employs symbolism as a critique of Spain’s repressive state, while the film’s power owes much to Torrent’s remarkable performance.

<10 great films about childhood (BFI)> <Best Films about Children and Childhood (IMDb)> <Film101, Best Films #131> <Best Spanish Films>