The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

The year is 1940, one year after the Spanish Civil War officially came to an end, and the townspeople of a small village in the Castilla region of Spain are left to pick up the pieces of their former lives to try and find some sense of normalcy under the newly appointed regime of Francisco Franco's Nationalist dictatorship.

 

A traveling projectionist arrives to showcase his latest addition to the town, a print of James Whale's 1931 film, Frankenstein; both a wonder and an anomaly to the villagers. In attendance are two young daughters of a former leftist, Ana and Isabel; and so we begin our journey into Víctor Erice's 1973 feature film, The Spirit of the Beehive.

 

Teeming with poetic imagery, vivacious sound, and magical realism, we follow the story through the eyes of a child, Ana, where she is free to roam the desolate landscape in search of answers that no one seems to provide to help her understand her newfound sense of mortality. A deeply poignant and moving take on what it means to experience, as if for the first time, the entwined nature of fascination and terror found within daily existence, and how we may struggle to hold onto our childlike sense of wonder as we grow older. Join us as we discuss this magical and sublime movie, and as always, thanks for listening.

 

Where to watch:
The Criterion Channel (Stream)
YouTube (Stream)

 

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