Film Review: Archetypes in Blancanieves

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

With the release of Blancanieves in 2012, director Pablo Berger signed thoughtful union between nostalgia and contemporary flair, delivering a vibrant ode to European silent cinema. Influenced by the passionate opera Carmen, the photographs of Cristiana García Rodero and the brutality of the Grimm’s work, the filmmaker reinvents through the lens of his 35mm camera the Snow White fable in 1920s Seville. But retellings of such transcendent narratives, however altered, naturally bring along the conventions and archetypes underlined in the Writer’s Journey. Blancanieves, spirited yet indubitably traditional, is no exception. 

In this version, it is the young Carmen Villalta, later renamed Snow White, who takes the mantel of the Hero. As the film revolves around her character since birth, she also embodies the Child figure, whose innocence and destiny are gradually darkened through her stepmother’s schemes, Shadow of the story. 

Equally present is the Father archetype, personified in the form of Carmen’s father Antonio Villalta. Following the death of his career and his wife in labour, the fallen toreador becomes stern and distant towards his daughter. Shutting her out completely by remarrying the greedy Encarna, the new-born is entrusted to her grand-mother. It is however in the wise and comforting Doña Concha that the little girl, deprived of parental care, finds a Mother during the first decade of her life. When the nurturing character dies in turn – event constituting the Herald – Carmen is sent back to live with her father and stepmother. 

The new lady of the house, having revealed her true intents, leads a cruelly lavish existence on the grounds of her crippled husband’s fortune. Carrying out affairs with other men, she keeps the latter secluded to the second floor of the Villalta mansion. As soon as the little Carmen enters her new home, the domineering woman, partially Trickster in her constant display of deceit, forbids the access of said floor to her stepdaughter: the formulation of this ban, shattering the child’s hope of parental reunion, could be perceived as a Threshold Guardian. 

But before we know it, our Hero finds herself reluctantly breaking the rule as she pursues her fugitive pet rooster across the house; eventually coming face to face with her father. Through a tacit  filial reconciliation, Antonio takes up the role of Mentor as the pair grows closer and closer in secret. Years go by and, under his affectionate tutelage, Carmen is passed on the art of bullfighting (see figure 3) until Encarna catches them.

Figure 3.

After involving Antonio in a lethal accident, the wicked stepmother decides to annihilate the whole Villalta branch and orders Carmencita’s murder. Almost drowned in a river, the young girl is brought back to life by the gentle Rafita, whose company of matador dwarves generously take her in. Having lost any recollection of her previous life, the extravagant travelling band becomes her sole Allies as she forges herself a new identity as Blancanieves in the ring. But her natural talent in bullfighting also sparks off the jealousy of the already grouchy dwarf Jesusín. During a corrida in Seville’s main arena, the frustrated character resolves to play a trick on her by switching the heifer she would faced to an adult bull. 

The shock of seeing a full-sized animal charge in her direction triggers Carmen’s memory of her father back; and despite the challenge, she emerges victorious. Jesusín, forced to honour her courage and artistry, readily accepts the young torero as one of theirs. In the quality of Shapeshifter, he finally confirms his position as Ally when he leads a revenge rampage against Encarna who, using one last subterfuge, has coerced Blancanieves into a death-like sleep. 

In an eerily macabre closing act, Carmen’s body is exhibited as the centrepiece of a freak show entitled “Miracle or curse?”, whilst onlookers perversely buy tickets to rouse her with a kiss. A sorrowful Rafita, whose pure and innocent love makes him the Maiden of the story, is shown to have loyally stayed by her side as he tends her body backstage. Just as he leans over, kissing her goodnight with contrasting sensibility, a single tear flows from under Blancanieves’ shut eyelids. A simultaneously sombre and hopeful last shot, capturing poetically the ambiguity of the tale and the  Heroin's place — a miracle... or a curse?

Figure 4.

Illustrations.

Figure 1. Corrida Still. (2012) From: Blancanieves. Directed by: Berger, P. [Film still] Spain, France: Wanda. At: http://www.bossa-nova.info/actualite/2013/blancanieves/ecrans_blancanieves/galerie_blancanieves.htm (Accessed on 11/10/15).

Figure 2. Blancanieves (2012)  [Poster] At: http://www.civinova.com/2012/10/08/blancanieves-un-maravilloso-ejercicio-de-hipnosis-visual/ (Accessed on 11/10/15).

Figure 3. Bullfighting lesson Still. (2012) From: Blancanieves. Directed by: Berger, P. [Film still] Spain, France: Wanda. At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/film-week-blancanieves (Accessed on 11/10/15).

Figure 4. Coffin Still. (2012) From: Blancanieves. Directed by: Berger, P. [Film still] Spain, France: Wanda. At: http://www.bossa-nova.info/actualite/2013/blancanieves/ecrans_blancanieves/galerie_blancanieves.htm (Accessed on 11/10/15).