Good concept, poorly executed.

Expected more

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

As you can see on IMDb there is a lot of praise for this film. It is my understanding that it was voted within the third greatest Spanish films ever made. It's good but I wouldn't go that far..Many people here have mentioned the historical metaphors within the film but I won't delve into that, I thought the story was completely about the main character Ana. First off, the actress who played Ana was very authentic, with a striking face full of emotion. She genuinely believed a lot of what was happening in the film including the Frankenstein monster being real! Such authenticity means it's worth seeing it for that alone and that is where the films true beauty lies...For all this though, for what is essentially a beautifully shot film with great cinematography and performances, the film was a bit dull! It was only after the first 45 minutes or so that I started to wake up. There was a whole sub-plot between the parents marriage which I felt added little weight to the rest of the story.. There just wasn't a whole lot I felt I hadn't seen before.So for me, I can see the film for what it was worth and why it received such accolades. But it was a little too dull for me to consider it "Great"I recall one of my absolute favourite films ever The Fall, which also included a little girl who believed so much of the movie around her, that film was gripping from start to finish and never dull for a moment. Strange it hasn't gotten the praise it so deserved..

A sensitive seven-year-old girl living a small village in 1940 rural Spain is traumatized after viewing James Whale's "Frankenstein" and drifts into her own fantasy world.This film has the distinguish of being one of the few films that was symbolic of life in Spain under General Franco... at least while Franco was still alive. There is so much with the beehive metaphor and the isolation...I wondered if this film in any way inspired Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth". Both have Spanish children with monstrous friends escaping the horrors of the dictatorship... And a quick search proves my hunch correct. Del Toro has said, "Spirit of the Beehive is one of those seminal movies that seeped into my very soul." Such praise!

Sensational film that dispenses a thought-provoking plot and considered to be one of the best Spanish films , in fact was voted third best Spaniard film by professionals and critics in 1996 Spanish cinema centenary . It deals with a rural Spain soon after Franco's victory , wasteland of inactivity and poorness . It's 1940 in a small, stark Castillian village , there a sensitive seven-year-old girl named Ana (Ana Torrent) , her sister Isabel (Isabel Telleria) along with their parents (Fernando Fernan Gomez , Teresa Gimpera) are living a small village in 1940 rural Spain . The father gets relief by the industriousness of bees in their hives . Ana then is traumatized after viewing James Wale's 1931 "Frankenstein" and drifts into her own fantasy world . The movie leaves a lasting impression on seven year old Ana and she is heavily traumatized . The fragile , single little Anna dreams of meeting the monster and befriends a fugitive man just before he is chased . Sensitive film full of feeling , haunting mood-pieces , wonderful images and sense of wonder . This extraordinary flick spells through intricate patterns of frames , sets , sound and color . Interesting screenplay by the same director Erice based on a story by Angel Fernandez Santos . Luxurious photography by magnificent cameraman Luis Cuadrado helped by another excellent cinematographer , Teo Escamilla , Cuadrado was going blind at the time this film was made , he eventually went completely blind and committed suicide in 1980 . Moving and emotive musical score by Luis De Pablo . Good and evocative art direction by subsequently filmmaker Jaime Chavarri , showing faithfully rural scenarios , as the deserted building next to the well was actually an abandoned sheep-shed , being filmed on location in Hoyuelos, Segovia, Castilla y León and Parla, Madrid . The motion picture well produced by notorious producer Elias Querejeta was stunningly directed by Victor Erice , nicknamed the Spanish Terence Malick . He filmed a total of exactly 1000 shots in the film , exactly 500 are inside, and 500 are outside ; there is no shot of all the family in a single frame in the entire film : even in the dinner-table scene, the actors are shown separately . Erice has made only two films more , the generally well regarded ¨El Sur¨ , ¨El sol del Membrillo¨ and some Shorts too . This touching picture will appeal to Spanish films buffs . Rating : Top-notch and outstanding movie , worthwhile seeing .

A truly mesmerizing attempt, back in 1973, to catch the fully emotionally world of a five year old child after watching Frankenstein she believes that this monster exists in a large abandoned house near their village and she finds It as a wounded fugitive soldier (from local civil war) arrives at this house. Beside this simply, wonderful story of how frightening is to be a child is the metaphor of a very specific political period in Spain where the village itself is an allegorical of an isolated country, the poisonous mushrooms the Franco dictatorship, Ana a whole nation in a dreamy nightmare. That was Erice's masterpiece (with the collaboration of Luis Cuadrado magical cinematography) with an exceptional performance from Ana Torrent. A very slow, graceful and unforgettable experience