Blancanieves
| Blancanieves | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Pablo Berger |
| Written by | Pablo Berger |
| Produced by | Ibon Cormenzana Jérôme Vidal Pablo Berger |
| Starring | Macarena García Maribel Verdú |
| Cinematography | Kiko de la Rica |
| Edited by | Fernando Franco |
| Music by | Alfonso de Vilallonga |
| Distributed by | Wanda (Spain) |
Release dates | |
Running time | 105 minutes[2] |
| Countries | Spain France |
| Languages | No dialogue (Intertitles and songs in Spanish) |
| Box office | $240,310 (US)[3] |
Blancanieves (known as Blancaneu in Catalan) is a 2012 Spanish black-and-white silent drama film written and directed by Pablo Berger. Based on the fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm, the story is set in a romantic vision of 1920s Andalusia.[4] Berger calls it a "love letter to European silent cinema."[5]
Blancanieves was Spain's 85th Academy Awards official submission to Best Foreign Language category, but it did not make the shortlist.[6] The film won the Special Jury Prize and an ex-aequo Best Actress "Silver Shell" Award for Macarena García at the 2012 San Sebastián International Film Festival.[7] It was also nominated in every category for which it was eligible at the 27th Goya Awards (except for Best Sound), winning ten Goya Awards, including the Best Film.
Cast
- Macarena García as Carmen Villalta / Blancanieves
- Maribel Verdú as Encarna, the evil stepmother
- Daniel Giménez Cacho as Antonio Villalta, the father
- Ángela Molina as Doña Concha, the grandmother
- Inma Cuesta as Carmen de Triana, the mother
- Sofía Oria as Carmencita, little Carmen
- Josep Maria Pou as Don Carlos, the impresario
- Ramón Barea as Don Martín, Antonio's manager
- Pere Ponce as Genaro Bilbao, Encarna's chauffeur
- Emilio Gavira as Jesusín ("Grumpy")
Production
The inspiration for the film began when writer-director Pablo Berger saw a photograph of bullfighting dwarves in España Oculta (1989, ISBN 8477820686),[5] by Cristina García Rodero. By 2003, Berger had written Blancanieves and was working to raise funds for it soon after his film Torremolinos 73 was appearing at festivals; eight years later, in May 2011, he was working on the storyboards for Blancanieves and about to begin principal photography when news reached him that The Artist had been shown at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival:[5]
"Nobody knew about The Artist until it appeared in Cannes. It was completely out of the blue. I was in my office in Madrid, doing the storyboards for my film, when a producer friend sent me a text message from the festival saying, 'I've just seen The Artist, it's black and white and silent and it's going to be huge.' I almost threw my phone against the wall. The high concept was gone."
According to Berger, Blancanieves is a "love letter to European silent cinema, ... especially French. Abel Gance for me is God. Movies like Napoleon, J'Accuse!, La Roue are extraordinary."[5]
Reception
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called it "extraordinarily enjoyable", awarding it five stars out of five and saying Pablo Berger "finds new life and heart in the old myth – certainly more than the recent Hollywood retreads – and daringly locates possibilities for both evil and romance in the ranks of the dwarves themselves"; the director "takes inspiration from Hitchcock, with hints of Rebecca and Psycho, Buñuel, Browning and Almodóvar, and conjures a fascinatingly ambiguous ending: melancholy, eerie and erotic. A film to treasure."[8]
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, writing that the film "Is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors."[9] Later, he chose it to be shown at the 2013 Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival.
Accolades
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain | Best Film | Won | |
| Best Director | Pablo Berger | Won | |
| Best Actor | Daniel Giménez Cacho | Nominated | |
| Best Actress | Maribel Verdú | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Josep Maria Pou | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Ángela Molina | Won | |
| Best Cinematography | Kiko de la Rica | Won | |
| Best Editing | Fernando Franco | Won | |
| Best New Actor | Emilio Gavira | Nominated | |
| Best New Actress | Macarena García | Won | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Pablo Berger | Won | |
| Best Score | Alfonso de Villalonga | Won | |
| European Film Awards[10][11] | Best Film | Nominated | |
| Best Director | Pablo Berger | Nominated | |
| Best Costume Designer | Paco Delgado | Won | |
| Fotogramas de Plata Awards | Best Spanish Film | Won | |
| Best Movie Actress | Maribel Verdú | Won | |
| 5th Gaudí Awards | Best Film in Catalan Language | Won | |
| Best Director | Pablo Berger | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay | Pablo Berger | Nominated | |
| Best Female Lead | Ángela Molina | Nominated | |
| Maribel Verdú | Nominated | ||
| Best Cinematography | Kiko de la Rica | Nominated | |
| Best Art Direction | Alain Bainée | Won | |
| Best Costume Design | Paco Delgado | Won | |
| Best Film Editing | Fernando Franco | Nominated | |
| Best Make-Up and Hairstyles | Fermín Galán and Sylvie Imbert | Nominated | |
| Best Original Score | Alfonso de Villalonga | Won | |
| Best Special/Visual Effects | Reyes Abades and Ferrán Piquer | Nominated | |
| 27th Goya Awards | Best Film | Won | |
| Best Director | Pablo Berger | Nominated | |
| Best Actor | Daniel Giménez Cacho | Nominated | |
| Best Actress | Maribel Verdú | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Josep Maria Pou | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Ángela Molina | Nominated | |
| Best New Actor | Emilio Gavira | Nominated | |
| Best New Actress | Macarena García | Won | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Pablo Berger | Won | |
| Best Cinematography | Kiko de la Rica | Won | |
| Best Editing | Fernando Franco | Nominated | |
| Best Art Direction | Alain Bainée | Won | |
| Best Production Supervision | Josep Amorós | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects | Reyes Abades and Ferrán Piquer | Nominated | |
| Best Costume Design | Paco Delgado | Won | |
| Best Makeup and Hairstyles | Sylvie Imbert and Fermín Galán | Won | |
| Best Original Score | Alfonso de Villalonga | Won | |
| Best Original Song | No Te Puedo Encontrar by Pablo Berger and Juan Gómez "Chicuelo" | Won | |
| Latin ACE Awards | Best Film | Won | |
| Best Actress | Maribel Verdú | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Daniel Giménez Cacho | Won | |
| 26th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Original Score | Alfonso de Villalonga | Nominated |
| 14th Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Nominated | |
| 14th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Nominated | |
| 11th International Cinephile Society | Best Film Not in the English Language | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography | Kiko de la Rica | Nominated | |
| Best Production Design | Alain Bainée | Nominated | |
| Best Original Score | Alfonso de Villalonga | Nominated | |
| 39th César Awards | Best Foreign Film | Nominated | |
See also
- List of black-and-white films produced since 1970
- Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, a 1995 documentary on the origin of European cinema
- List of submissions to the 85th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Spanish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ^ Sanchez, Diana. "Festival – Discovery: Blancanieves". TIFF. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ "BLANCANIEVES (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- ^ "Blancanieves (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ Bonet Mojica, Lluís (28 September 2012). "'Blancanieves': Una 'Blancanieves' torera". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
- ^ a b c d Matheou, Demetrios (11 July 2013). "Pablo Berger: 'A movie's like a paella, you put all of your obsessions in there'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Hopewell, John (27 September 2012). "Spain sets 'Blancanieves' for Oscar race". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ "Official Selection Awards". San Sebastián International Film Festival. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (11 July 2013). "Blancanieves – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (11 July 2013). "Blancanieves". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Winners 2013". European Film Awards. European Film Academy. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
- ^ "Nominations 2013". European Film Awards. European Film Academy. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
External links
- Official website
- Blancanieves at IMDb
- Blancanieves at Box Office Mojo
- Blancanieves at Rotten Tomatoes
- Blancanieves at Metacritic
