History Film / PansLabyrinth

* CoupDeGrace

* TooDumbToLive: Ofelia, in ignoring the warnings of the fairies, during her disastrous face-off against the Pale Man. Though, in following the fairy tale motif, it was ''faerie'' food which is almost always glamoured to make it seem like irresistible, ImpossiblyDeliciousFood. YMMV.

** And lest we forget: Captain Vidal + Sunglasses = Devil. (then again, Captain Vidal - Sunglasses = Devil too, so yeah)

* HumansAreBastards: Played with. The depiction of Franco's fascist regime, as well as the Holocaust imagery hinted at in the Pale Man's lair, certainly has echoes of this, as does the Faun's insistence that Ofelia not be tainted by human contact. As the film goes on, though, we see many examples of courage, integrity, and compassion from various human characters, even in the grim and hopeless circumstances they find themselves in.

* AdultFear: For a film with supernatural terrors as scary as the Pale Man, it's an accomplishment that the most chilling moments in the film come from the evils of Fascism and the authoritarian, sociopathic figures that it attracts.

* ItGotWorse

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Mercedes and the rebels find Ofelia mortally wounded and the heartbroken Mercedes holds and sings to her as she dies.]]

* TheFairFolk

* [[FantasyForbiddingFather Fantasy Forbidding Mother]]: Ofelia is chided for reading too many fairy stories when she's supposed to have outgrown them.

* FollowTheWhiteRabbit: On the way to her new home, she follows a big bug to find a pagan-esque statue in the woods, later she follows the same bug to find the large stone structure in the labyrinth by her house, and the Faun.

* FootFocus: While there are two shots of Ofelia's bare feet, they aren't important to the scene. However, [[http://www.awardannals.com/images/1/11/Pan's_Labyrinth_(soundtrack).jpg the cover to the soundtrack]] places them front and center.

* FauxFluency: Doug Jones, the Faun, actually learned his lines ''and'' Ofelia's lines in phonetic Spanish, despite speaking none of the language. His voice was dubbed over anyway ... but ''still!'' Not only did he need to learn Ophelia's lines so he would know when to speak, but he couldn't ''hear the actress'' because the servos in the costume were so loud.

* WickedStepmother: Father actually, Vidal to Ofelia. But "wicked" is [[CompleteMonster a bit too mild]].

* KillHimAlready: Mercedes' should probably have [[spoiler: killed Vidal when she had him at her mercy to avert the BittersweetEnding, However, according to WordOfGod: ercedes' knife was intended to be too small to inflict serious damage on as formidable an opponent as Captain Vidal. On a symbolic level, such a fearsome monster as Captain Vidal needed something equally fearsome to finish him off. Such is the nature of a fairy tale.)]]

** [[spoiler:KillTheCutie]]

* DiedHappilyEverAfter:

* PsychoForHire

It's set in 1944, just after the SpanishCivilWar (a favorite period for Mexico-born [[GuillermoDelToro Guillermo del Toro]], the film's writer and director), with Spain's democratically elected socialist government overthrown by the Falangists (Spanish Fascists or "National-Catholics") and the new government attempting to weed out the last traces of LaResistance. The story centers on Ofelia, an only child whose widowed mother Carmen [[GuessWhoImMarrying has agreed to marry]] the ruthless Captain Vidal to provide for them. In turn, he expects her to bear him a son.

* ChekhovsGun: The knife Mercedes rolls up in her dress after cutting potatoes.

* DiedHappilyEverAfter:

* ShoutOut: In the commentary, GuillermoDelToro points out many shoutouts to Creator/CharlesDickens, StephenKing, several surrealist painters, and many others.

* EveryoneHasStandards: The faun [[WhatTheHellHero pretty much loses his shit]] when he finds out Ophelia got his two fairy buddies eaten by the Pale Man.

Imagine ''AliceInWonderland'' [[XMeetsY meeting]] ''TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas'', then joined by ''TheWindThatShakesTheBarley'' with a sizable portion of [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm The Brothers]] [[{{Grimmification}} Grimm]] thrown in.

* BilingualBonus: Unsurprisingly, there are moments when the actual Spanish lines have deeper layers of meaning than the English subtitles. The most prominent is when Captain Vidal welcomes Ofelia's mother in the beginning of the movie; rather than saying "bienvenida," as one normally would to welcome a woman, he says "bienvenidos," as one would to welcome a group of people including males. His word choice instantly makes it clear that he values the son she is carrying more than her.

* BittersweetEnding:

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: For Vidal - "It's the right hand." He's in the movie for less than ten seconds and we already have him pegged as a cold bastard. Then he murders to prisoners a bit later, just in case you didn't get it the first time.

* ChildEater: The Pale Man. This is made very clear just from looking at his lair, which includes among other things his collection of children's shoes. This is over Holocaust imagery.

* Pre-MortemOneLiner: "He won't even know your name." -BANG!-

* {{Determinator}}: Captain Vidal, who is beaten up and down but still keeps kicking so many times in the movie's finale that it's almost a RasputinDeath.

* {{Badass}}: The film has plenty of them, but there's a surprising one when [[spoiler: Mercedes proves the kitchen knife [[NeverBringAKnifeToAFistfight beats]] TortureAlwaysWorks.]]

** Captain Vidal may be an asshole, but the man stitches his own face and walks off the fact that he's been stabbed, and later, drugged.
* BerserkButton: If one is to [[spoiler:hurt children]], one will provoke a level of wrath one would not expect to see from [[ActionGirl Mercedes]].
** The Faun ''really'' hates being disobeyed, especially when it results in the death of his fairy pets.

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler: Ofelia, when she's dying]], overlapping with DeadlyNosebleed, and Captain Vidal, but in his case it's justified, because [[spoiler: Mercedes gave him half of the GlasgowGrin.]]

** At the end, the Faun tells Ofelia that [[spoiler:she needs a drop of blood from her baby brother to open the portal to the Underworld, but it turns out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter]].

* ChangelingFantasy an early scene even emphasizes that Ofelia is Left Handed, a feature of changelings from folklore.
* ChekhovsGun: The knife Mercedes rolls up in her dress after cutting potatoes. [[spoiler: Cue another CrowningMomentOfAwesome.]]

** [[spoiler: And the chalk.]]
* ChildEater: The Pale Man. This is made very clear just from looking at his lair, which includes among other things his collection of children's shoes.
** WordOfGod says that the Pale Man was visually inspired by a movie poster (from the ''Film/{{Phantasm}}'' film) of a woman with hands in front of her eyes, partially transparent so that the eyes were still visible. And the rest of the creature was supposed to resemble a morbidly obese man who had lost his fat and muscle mass during the endless years of sitting paralyzed in front of the cursed banquet, according to rumours partially inspired by Guillermo del Toro himself after a vigorous diet.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The various [[spoiler: faeries and the Faun]]. It's humans you should watch out for. On the other hand, there's also the Pale Man.

* {{Determinator}}: Captain Vidal. [[spoiler:''It takes him a full 5 seconds to die from a headshot!'']] This is also after he is nearly gutted, stabbed repeated times, and drugged.
** [[spoiler: It could be said that it was actually not the headshot that finished him off, but the insight that his precious name and bloodline would be erased from history, forever.]]
*** Confirmed by WordOfGod. [[spoiler: del Toro said that Mercedes's line-- "He won't even know your name"-- kills Vidal before the bullet even enters his head. Probably more metaphorical than physical, but as far as karmic deaths go, it's pretty damn satisfying.]]

* DiedHappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler: Ofelia.]]

* EnvironmentalSymbolism: From the obvious (the tree the frog resides under is shaped like a ram's head) to the more subtle (the bannisters in the house ''also'' have ram's heads, and the headboard of the mother's bed has details shaped like ram's horns
** Alternately, you have to assume a variation on the idea that the Faun and the faeries are in one world, and everybody else is in another and the only reason Ofelia can see them is because she belongs to both worlds. Either that or you go down the pathway of delusions and schizophrenia.
** You can go with the latter if you choose to ignore the various supernatural happenings, including [[WhenTreesAttack a wall of bushes magically opening and closing for a little girl]], leaving a grown man unaware to where she went, the fact that the mandrake root actually made her mother better [[TooDumbToLive before she burned it just to prove "there is no magic" (and subsequently died)]], probably some others and at least one of a flying baby before a [[CompleteMonster Complete but logical Monster]] and the townspeople with torches and forks.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: For Vidal - "It's the right hand." And if that didn't convince you, him stomping two [[spoiler:(innocent, as it turns out later)]] suspected rebels' faces in and then repeatedly shooting them, hopefully will.

** They're on his plate first... And then he puts them in the empty sockets in his hands... ''Gah!'' indeed...

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:Captain Vidal]] appears to have given much, much thought to his last words. [[spoiler: Only to have it brutally yet satisfyingly subverted: "He will not even know your name."]]
** [[spoiler:Doctor Ferreiro's last words could be considered to fit under this trope as well.]]

* FauxFluency: Doug Jones, the Faun, actually learned his lines ''and'' Ofelia's lines in phonetic Spanish, despite speaking none of the language. His voice was dubbed over anyway ... but ''still!''

*** It means that the Faun's MouthFlaps line up beautifully, meaning that his wonderfully deep voice is seamless. So, Doug Jones, you rock.
*** ''[[UpToEleven It gets even more awesome]]'': Not only did he need to learn Ophelia's lines so he would know when to speak, but he couldn't ''hear the actress'' because the servos in the costume were so loud.

** Also, you know, the [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic fruit ]] was ''forbidden.''

* ForegoneConclusion: The film opens with Ofelia, lying on the ground, with [[spoiler: BloodFromTheMouth -- or, in this case, her nose.]]

* GlasgowGrin: Vidal gets half of one [[spoiler: from Mercedes]]. He stitches it himself [[spoiler: since he already killed his doctor]].
* GoodIsNotNice: Going along with DarkIsNotEvil above, the Faun is frightening and downright mean at times, but he's on Ofelia's side.
* GrievousBottleyHarm: In a horrific scene, [[spoiler: Vidal beats a man's face in]] with a bottle.
** Many audience members had been expecting a GoryDiscretionShot but the fact that there wasn't one didn't disturb people nearly as much as how [[DissonantSerenity perfectly calm]] [[CompleteMonster Vidal]] was while doing it.

** Also worth mentioning, [[spoiler: two of the faeries, who died trying to help Ofelia escape the Pale Man.]]
*** No love for the [[spoiler: doctor?]]

* HumansAreBastards: Mostly just the Fascists though.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Horrifyingly]] [[AvertedTrope Averted.]]]]

* InvertedTrope: According to WordOfGod, in this movie, set in Falangist Spain, [[spoiler: it's courageous ''dis''obedience, rather than blind obedience, that is the true virtue.]] This is nearly the opposite of pretty much any normal fairy-tale.
** Perhaps best summed up in the last words of [[spoiler: doctor Ferreiro: "But captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only [[CompleteMonster people like you]] do."]]

** Played straight when Mercedes hums Ofelia a lullaby as [[spoiler:she is dying in her arms.]]
* ItGotWorse: * Shudder*
* {{Jerkass}}: When he finds out that [[spoiler: she disobeyed his instructions and let the Pale Man wake up, leading to the deaths of two of the fairies]], the faun ''shouts at Ofelia and says he's abandoning her for disobeying him'' over that one. Ofelia is understandably hurt and confused.
** Her disobedience lead to the [[spoiler:truly horrible deaths of the fairies who were trying to help her.]] It's understandable that he would be pissed, especially considering [[spoiler:how affectionate the faun is towards them.]]
** On the other hand, the ending implies that the faun's cruelty is something of an act - [[spoiler:he becomes angry with Ofelia, tells her that he won't help her go to the fairy kingdom anymore, tells her she only has one more chance and can't blow it, and then, with the stakes so high, sees if she still has the courage to draw blood from her innocent baby brother.]]

* KillHimAlready: Mercedes' should probably have [[spoiler: killed Vidal when she had him at her mercy]] to avert the BittersweetEnding, However, according to WordOfGod: [[spoiler: Mercedes' knife was intended to be too small to inflict serious damage on as formidable an opponent as Captain Vidal. (Not on a literal level, because she could have slit his throat, [[EyeScream stabbed him in the eye,]] or stunned him with the knife and then finished him off with the torture implements. But on a symbolic level, such a fearsome monster as Captain Vidal needed something equally fearsome to finish him off. Such is the nature of a fairy tale.)]]
** [[spoiler:She's strong but she's not a fighter, and she's up against a man in his prime. She'd have a hard time hitting a vital spot with that small knife once he got over his shock enough to fight back.]]
** Mercedes was also shown to be a very gentle person who was clearly scared and nervous for most of the movie. [[spoiler:Probably the act of attacking the Captain freaked her out so much that her first reaction was to run.]]
* LaResistance - the rebels of course
** Overlaps somewhat with TheRemnant, since by the time the movie takes place (1944) the Republicans had already lost the war, and there were only a few isolated pockets of resistance remaining.
* LetsGetDangerous: Mercedes at first comes off as a fairly meek woman, [[spoiler: even if she is TheMole]], and she considers herself a coward. Then, [[spoiler: when she's been captured and is facing ColdBloodedTorture [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome she whips out a knife and gives Vidal a glasgow grin]]]].

** Considering the Captain's character, it's likely meant to give the impression that he's sure the baby is a boy. In his mind, he's convinced he's too strong to have made anything but a boy. At least, that's the impression this troper got.
--->'''Ferreiro:''' Why are you so sure that the baby is a boy?\\
'''Vidal:''' Don't fuck with me.
** The Faun (and later the Fairy court) use the vosotros (2nd person plural) form when adrressing Ofelia, rather than tú. Not only does add a bit of atmosphere to the characters, since this sort of address was the norm in medieval Spanish, but it also overlaps with the ''RoyalWe.''

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Are the fantasy creatures real, or the product of a lonely girl's imagination? (Although, according to WordOfGod, [[spoiler: a few particular details -- most notably the sudden appearance of the chalk in Captain Vidal's room, Ofelia's escape from her guarded room and into Vidal's guarded room, and how she eluded Vidal in the labyrinth -- prove that the magic is real.]])

* MilkyWhiteEyes: The Faun has these when Ofelia first meets him, though as the movie progresses they become more normal. Whether this is of any significance isn't stated, although it's notable that the Faun seems to de-age in other ways as the film nears the climax, signaling his growing power.

** Although Ofelia's "sick with baby" comment is such an apt expression under the circumstances.

* PointThatSomewhereElse: It doesn't actually work. Captain Vidal aims his pistol at a wounded revolutionary, who weakly pushes it away once, twice, then rests his hand over the barrel. Vidal shoots him in the head, through his hand.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: The band of guerrilla fighters in the hills.
** True, for the most part. But they're not completely idealized. Most notably, they have a subtle moment that's pointed out by WordOfGod in the DVDCommentary: [[spoiler: when they defeat Vidal's forces, they shoot their captives in the head, in a scene that cleverly mirrors an earlier scene in which the Falangists had shot captive rebels.]]
*** Subtle? That's considered a war crime.
*** The Falangists had shown no mercy to them, so they obviously weren't inclined to give any back. Also, it's not as if they could take prisoners, and fighting without uniforms as they do is also considered a war crime.
**** Technically [[spoiler: the rebels shooting Captain Vidal at the end after capturing him also was (at least without a trial) - though the viewer is generally sympathetic since he had just shot Ofelia, to add to all his other atrocities]].
* RightPlaceRightTimeWrongReason: [[spoiler:Mercedes makes two big mistakes. First, she tries to escape from the compound the same night that she finds Vidal has grown suspicious of her. Her attempt to flee proves to Vidal that she is, in fact, guilty of helping the rebel forces. Her second mistake is that when she escapes, she stabs Vidal in several non-critical points. As a result, instead of being killed by a subordinate, Vidal staggers out and orders them to capture her instead- guaranteeing that she's in for horrific torture. By complete random coincidence, though, the rebel forces are in the same part of the woods where she is surrounded by Vidal's soldiers. The soldiers are surprised and massacred by the rebels, the result being that the compound now has too few soldiers to adequately defend against a rebel attack.]] Seriously. TheChessmaster couldn't've planned a better strategic turn of events than that.
** Mercedes [[spoiler:was scheduled to flee with Ofelia anyway]], so the rebels were waiting for her there for a reason.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Towards the end, when [[spoiler: the Faun asks Ofelia to draw blood from her baby brother]] to return to the fairy kingdom and escape her very enraged [[spoiler:stepfather alive. She refuses, and she passed because she spilled her ''own'' blood instead of that of an innocent]]

* ShutUpHannibal: Towards the end of the movie...
-->'''[[spoiler:[[CompleteMonster Captain Vidal]]:]]''' Tell my son the time his father died. Tell him.
-->'''Mercedes:''' No, he won't even know your ''name''.
-->''[[spoiler:Pedro then [[PayEvilUntoEvil shoots Vidal in the face]].]]''
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: This movie simultaneously pits the two ends of the scale against each other..

** He's using the bottom of the bottle, which is usually the thickest part, especially when it comes to wine bottles.

* TooDumbToLive: Ofelia, in ignoring the warnings of the fairies, during her disastrous face-off against the Pale Man. Though, in following the fairy tale motif, it was ''faerie'' food which is almost always glamoured to make it seem like irresistible, ImpossiblyDeliciousFood.
** That, and it's supposed to show how she doesn't blindly obey orders, unlike Captain Vidal. It was just unfortunate that this was done via a test that anyone GenreSavvy with fairy tales could recognize.
** It's also worth noting that immediately before, she only found the right hiding place by following her own will and not listening to the fairies.
** YMMV. Ofelia likes fairy tales, and the movie is set up like one. In some fairy tales (but not all), the main character will fail to listen to advice, or do something they were told specifically not to do--and no clear reason is given. In some cases the tale ends here, otherwise the main character must do something to redeem themselves in the eyes of their quest-giver. So Ofelia is just acting in accordance with the fairy-tale princess that she believes she is--or else she can't act any other way because she IS a fairy-tale princess.

* {{Unperson}}: [[spoiler: Mercedes tells Vidal his son will not even know his name.]]

** As noted under TooDumbToLive, Ofelia is just acting like a character in a fairy tale.

** WordOfGod says that the Pale Man was visually inspired by a movie poster (from the ''{{Phantasm}}'' film) of a woman with hands in front of her eyes, partially transparent so that the eyes were still visible. And the rest of the creature was supposed to resemble a morbidly obese man who had lost his fat and muscle mass during the endless years of sitting paralyzed in front of the cursed banquet, according to rumours partially inspired by Guillermo del Toro himself after a vigorous diet.