Her mother dies in childbirth. Her father, a famous toreador, is skewered by a bull and ends up in a wheelchair. He marries his nurse, who turns out to be an evil stepmother. Instead of a mirror on the wall, she has a fashion magazine that tells her who is the most beautiful in the land. In this Spanish version of the Grimm classic, Snow White is called Blancanieves and hangs around with bullfighting dwarfs.
But this is much more than a Spanish remake of a world-famous story; it’s a homage to the heyday of silent film. Pablo Berger, who worked on the film for eight years, situates the story in 1920s Seville.
The stylish set is shot in sharp black-and-white. Dialogues are on inter-titles and are accompanied by a hot-blooded soundtrack with a large dose of flamenco. Blancanieves is a gloomy fairytale with an exotic undercurrent.
Film details
- Countries of production
- France, Spain
- Year
- 2012
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2013
- Length
- 104'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
