The Spirit of the Beehive (Spanish: El espíritu de la colmena) is a 1973 Spanish drama film directed and co-written by Víctor Erice. The film was Erice's feature directorial debut and is considered a masterpiece of Spanish cinema.[1] The film, set in a small town in post-Civil War Spain, focuses on a young girl named Ana. It traces family and school dynamics, her fascination with the 1931 American horror film Frankenstein, her exploration of a haunted home and landscape, making subtle references towards the dark, contentious politics of the time.
Many have noted the symbolism present throughout the film, used both as an artistic device and as a way to avoid censorship under the repressive Franco regime. While censors were alarmed by some of the film's suggestive content about the authoritarian government, they allowed it to be released in Spain based on its success abroad, under the assumption that most of the public would have no real interest in seeing "a slow-paced, thinly-plotted and 'arty' picture."[2]
The film has been called a "bewitching portrait of a child's haunted inner life".[3]
