A haunting dark fantasy woven into the brutal reality of the Spanish Civil War. Through the eyes of a young girl, it explores the cost of innocence and the power of disobedience against a backdrop of fascist oppression.
Pan's Labyrinth
El laberinto del fauno
"Innocence has a power evil cannot imagine."
Director:
Guillermo del Toro
Cast:
Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones
Drama
War
Fantasy
Budget:
$19,000,000
Box Office:
$83,258,226
Pan's Labyrinth - Easter Eggs & Hidden Details
Easter Eggs
Saturn Devouring His Son
The Pale Man biting the heads off the fairies is a direct visual reference to Francisco Goya's painting Saturn Devouring His Son. This links the monster to themes of time, madness, and a father figure destroying his own children (paralleling Vidal).
Hidden Faun Faces
Throughout the film, the architectural elements (trees, ruins, gates) are often shaped to subtly resemble the Faun's head, suggesting the magical world is always present in the environment.
The Wizard of Oz Reference
Ofelia's dress and the concept of the red shoes (though here she wears muddy boots) loosely reference Dorothy. Like Dorothy, she is a girl lost in a strange land, but del Toro subverts this by making the fantasy world dark and dangerous.