Pan's Labyrinth

Originally Posted by el jacko

Spoiler:

I don't think they should have shown her dying after she enters the special kingdom; rather, it should have cut straight from the shot of her there to black, and then to the tree reblooming. I think it takes away from the mysticism of her quest (essentially confirming that all she went through was her imagination, and that it can't possibly be real). A little childish, perhaps, but I think the film would've benefited from it.

Spoiler:

Actually when I saw that bit I interpreted it as her physical earth body dying (because that is mortal) whilst her soul returns to the other world. Because remember at the beginning they say that the princess' 'soul' would be born again in some way and return, I took that to mean that her physical form or appearance was negligible as it was her soul that needed to return. And the bit where she is talking to the creature, but the man doesn't see it, could of been simply because he doesn't believe in such things, I wouldn't imagine him to of thought of her as anything other than an 'insane evil' little girl considering how quickly he killed her, so he perceived what he wanted.

So I think it could still go either way.

However it can also be interpreted as just her imagination. Especially as she always had to be alone for most of the things that happened, like the book etc. I was just giving an idea of how it could still be interpreted the other way.

Either way it's an amazing film, I was very impressed and stunned by it. The gory graphic moments were pretty painful to watch but you can always look away, I think thats better than leaving those out for censorship. I think those moments were there to show just how mortal 'earth' is, there seemed to be quite a few mentions of immortality like the story she told.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Spoiler:

There wasn't really a point where I thought it wasn't real actually. It was only after looking in the thread here that I reconsidered. So I pretty much agree with you there Dizzy, and those are really good points. I think the root may of been just something she found but it seems too big of a coincidence, especially when she throws it in the fire and her mother returns back to the bleeding state she had been in not long before the Mandrake root had been placed under her bed. The Captain could probably see the root since Mandrake roots are real things, but he and her mother would of just seen it as a plain (oddly shaped) root and not of been able to see it as alive. Although her mother was in excruciating pain I imagine she might of at least glanced at the root in the fire since it was screaming pretty loudly and writhing as it burned. So she, like the Captain probably couldn't see such things. Its brought up a couple of times in the film, that whole idea of grown-ups losing their belief in fantasy, and thats the whole topic of that Peter Pan spin-off film Hook so I definitely agree with it seeming like a Peter Pan fairy belief thing

There's nowhere I can't reach.