Blancanieves (2012)

Interesting facts

• Based on: Snow White
• Awards: 10 · Nominations: 6. Including: Goya Award for Best Film; Goya Award for Best Actress; Goya Award for Best Original Score; Goya Award for Best Cinematography

Blancanieves is a 2012 black-and-white silent drama film written and directed by Pablo Berger. A Spanish-French co-production based on the 1812 fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm, the story is set in a romantic vision of 1920s Andalusia. However, the film approaches storytelling through the integration of Spanish culture from characters' names to traditions they follow. Additionally, the film alludes to other fairy tales including Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. While it retells stories originally told through tales based in fantasy, it derails from the traditional storytelling method that ends with a happily ever after. Instead, the film is rather dark and ends in tragedy.

Production

The inspiration for the film began when writer-director Pablo Berger saw a photograph of bullfighting dwarves in España Oculta (1989, ISBN 8477820686), 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.

"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."

Pablo Berger emphasized the idea that his silent film adaptation of the fairytale, Snow White, takes a much darker approach than traditional tellings of the tale. Even on the cover of the Blancanieves DVD, there is text that reads, "They never told you the story like this before ..." emphasizing the idea that this interpretation is different from the others.

While the silent, black and white aesthetic was applied to the film as an homage to films from the 20th century, it additionally used modern techniques to give the film a unique look. The cinematic techniques and style included depth throughout many shots. The styling of each shot provides a dynamic effect on the visuals in the film. Techniques like this were not possible during the time when silent films were popular.

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