Guillermo Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth (Presentation)

Pan’s Labyrinth presentation, an analysis of the Faun

In this presentation I’m going to be looking at El laberinto del fauno, aka Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) a Spanish language fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. I’ll be focusing predominately on the Faun character.

A faun is a forest god of roman origin, it appears half human and half goat. In some tales a faun is good in others bad. The English title is perhaps misleading as Pan, while similar in appearance is a Greek god. Del Toro expresses on the commentary that his character is a faun and not the latter.

The Design of the Faun is influenced by the illustrative work of Arthur Rackham and Celtic art, with a strong emphasis on curves and circles. He his taller and appears less human than previous incarnations of this mythological creature.

The Faun is played by Doug Jones, an American actor who started off learning mime. He his perhaps most famous for playing characters in substantial makeup, such as The Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2005), Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus (1993) and the lead gentleman in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1999). Most notably for this presentation he played Abe Sapien in Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) (as well as two other characters) both directed by Del Toro. He also plays the Pale Man in the film, a point that will become important later on.

It took Doug Jones around 5 hours each day to get into full makeup. The legs were done with a combination of puppetry and CGI. Designed by the director the Fauns legs were attached to the actor from about the knee the actors leg was then chroma keyed out. This allowed the actor to operate is own legs. While getting into makeup Doug would practise his lines, not being a Spanish speaker before he was offered the role.

We first see the Faun when Ofelia enters the labyrinth. The camera movements become more elaborate, utilising a Technocrane. The camera alternates between Ofelia’s level and quite high angles occasionally favouring the newly formed fairy. This allows you to identify with Ofelia while at the same time giving you a sense of exploration and reveal. The palette has changed to a green, using a filter developed from Mimic (1997)(a film in which Doug also stars). This colour is accented by the amount of moss in shot. In the pit we see a statue in the centre that features imagery important to the film , then The Faun almost literally emerges out of the environment. He his covered in moss and appears to be part tree. You get the hint that he has been waiting there for a long time his hair is white, his eyes are blind, the voice is rougher than later, his teeth are black and his movements are jerky as if he hasn’t moved his joints recently. He interacts with the fairy that led the girl there and releases the others from his pouch/case, again a cylindrical object. When the fairies float around the girl she clutches her cardigan, hinting that she is a little afraid or wary. From her expression and question it is clear that curiosity drives her on. He explains his position in mythology expressing that he is ‘I am the mountain, the woods and the earth’. He is not filmed in a particular grand way, the camera tends to favour the child’s perspective, we are looking up at him and when the camera is on Ofelia we see his waist rather than the back of his head. He presents her with three tasks, a common theme in storytelling. The first two tend to be straightforward with little variants while the last tends to be a twist or surprise. In this case you have:

FROG

PALE MAN

LETS SEE IF YOU’ll ALLOW ME TO MURDER YOUR BABY BROTHER, SO YOU CAN BE A PRINCESS.

We see the Faun again after Ofelia has completed the first task and she returns to the pit. He appears from the shadows eating red meat, adding a level of ambiguity to him. He then avoids Ofelia’s question about the baby in the statue and comes across slightly menacing, caressing her in a slightly condescending manner. Del Toro expresses on the commentary that he did not want the fantasy world to be portrayed as good or bad.

The next couple of times the faun appears it is in Ofelia’s bedroom. In an interview in Talking movies : contemporary world filmmakers in interview (J. Wood 2006) Del Toro says that has a child he would ‘Lucid Dream’ and would frequently be visited by monsters in his room, he asked them to be his friend so that he would be not be afraid and able to go to the bathroom. These dreams have become a huge influence on his work and it is here we see a clear example of that. It becomes clearer that the faun is getting younger, his movements are becoming more fluid, his eyes and teeth are clearing up and there is less bark and moss upon him.

After the Pale Man tasks the faun shouts at Ofelia condemning her for failing. A subversion of most fairytales she is doomed to live in the human world rather than being trapped in the fantasy one, also it is worth noting that she is rewarded for her disobedience (choosing a different door, refusing to give up her brother). In common fairytales it is the naughty children that get ‘gobbled up’. The final time he appears in her room she is at her lowest point, the end of the second act. The final test begins here with him asking her to obey him completely and bring him her newly born brother.

In the labyrinth he wants the baby, as innocent blood opens the portal. This is in keeping with the characters Celtic influence. In that mythology fairies and magical creatures are often kidnapping children and behaving untrustworthily.  The Faun has grown younger again, his eyes are completely clear his movements are smoother, his hair is red and there is less tree elements to him, by this point his teeth are completely straight and white. This transformation can be seen in relation to the moon cycle which is present in the film, as a symbol of reveal and fertility.

At the start of the film the faun can be seen as the opposite of Vidal and his world. Vidal is ordered, clean and precise his world is full of straight lines and minimal design. The faun is organic, ambiguous, his world is full of curves and strange shapes. As the film progresses these lines blur and you see images of the faun and the fantasy world reflected throughout the film. In the architecture you can see the fauns head in the banisters and above archways. In the tree with the frog its horns are implied in the branches. When the book begins to bleed it reflects both the fallopian tubes and the fauns horns. If you look at the DVD cover and posters for the film you can see this in effect. He is the embodiment of the fantasy world and his influence is felt strongly throughout the film. While his appearance grows younger and less abrasive Vidal’s becomes more monstrous and chaotic, primarily with his face wound.

Earlier I mentioned that Doug Jones also played the pale man, this helps to hint that the faun and pale man are one and the same. Another is in the illustration of the pale man in the book, his arms again reflect the fauns horns. Perhaps the most significant clue is at the end of the film three fairies appear, where two had been previously eaten by the pale man. The design of the pale man was influenced by Goya’s black paintings especially Saturn Devouring his Son, it is no surprise that one of the other paintings in the series Witches’ Sabbath, features Satan in a faun-esque form.

In comparison to other works by the director the faun is in keeping with the theme of children identifying with the surreal and abnormal. In Cronos (1993) a child sympathises and helps her grandfather who is transforming into a vampire. In this films companion piece The Devil’s Backbone (2001) a child aids a ghost. Towards the end of these films these characters are more sympathetic than their human counterparts: Captain Vidal, Angel de la Guardia and Jacinto respectively.

Carl

Bibliography

Books
Jones, T. Studying Pan’s Labyrinth (2010)
Noble, A. Mexican National Cinema (2005)
Rose, J Studying The Devil’s Backbone (2009)
Wood, J Talking movies : contemporary world filmmakers in interview (2006)
Wood, J The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema (2006)

Films
Del Toro, G Cronos (1993), Mimic (1997), The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
Ortega, K Hocus Pocus (1993)
Story, T Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2005)