The Spirit of the Beehive

El espíritu de la colmena

A dazzling cinematic jewel about a family living in Franco’s Spain, and the daughter’s fateful first encounter with the movies.

  • Director

    Víctor Erice

  • With

    Fernando Fernan Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent

  • Spain 1973. 98min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    PG

  • English subtitles

In rural Spain under Franco, a small girl watches James Whale’s Frankenstein shortly before encountering a fugitive soldier; the ideas growing in her lively mind stand in contrast to the listless behaviour of the adults around her. Erice – a self-confessed Bressonian since he saw A Man Escaped in the 50s – creates a world of secrets and lies with meticulously interwoven images and sounds.