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The Spirit of the Beehive
(El Espíritu de la colmena)

Screening on Film
Directed by Victor Erice.
With Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent.
Spain, 1973, 35mm, color.
Spanish with English subtitles.

Set in post-Civil War Spain, The Spirit of the Beehive is a haunting, allegorical film about innocence and illusion. Ana and Isabel, two lonely young sisters, see the film Frankenstein at a makeshift theater. Ana is unsettled by the brutal acts of the monster and the townspeople in the film, and desperately seeks an explanation. Taking her to an abandoned barn, Isabel claims to see the immortal spirit of the monster in the well, prompting Ana to become obsessed with the idea of befriending it. The Spirit of the Beehive is at once a deceptively lyrical tale of idyllic childhood memories and a disturbing portrait of isolation.

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Treasures From The Harvard Film Archive

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Treasures from the Harvard Film Archive: Directors E–J

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The Afterlives of Frankenstein

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Victor Erice, Full Circle

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