PAN’S LABYRINTH: Del Toro’s Masterpiece Deciphered

First, he created The Devil’s Backbone, which was appreciated by both critics and audiences. The film, set in 1939, tells the story of a boy who ends up in an orphanage after the end of the Spanish Civil War. With this production, del Toro paved the way for greater opportunities. By directing the sequel to the comic book adaptation Blade, he had the chance to utilize his ideas on a larger scale, focusing on the visual details of this dark story about an unusual vampire. This film was successful enough that the Mexican director received another proposal: to create a movie from scratch about the adventures of a brash but fundamentally good-hearted demon — Hellboy. The adaptation of Mike Mignola’s comic allowed del Toro to spread his wings and draw freely from his rich imagination. Creating a much less dark world than in the original, the Mexican director presented a fairly classic superhero story, heavily infused with demonic elements. The most important thing, however, is that he managed to showcase his unique vision and imprint the film with his distinctive style: attention to detail, beautifully crafted props, recurring symbols and motifs, and the use of traditional special effects whenever possible. Pan’s Labyrinth

Once Guillermo del Toro had established himself as a filmmaker animating frames from comic books, he began working on a fully original project as both director and screenwriter. The project was titled Pan’s Labyrinth and was intended to be a cinematic sibling to The Devil’s Backbone. The story follows young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who, along with her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil), moves into the home of Captain Vidal (Sergi López), a leader of Francoist soldiers hunting local rebels. The girl immediately feels uncomfortable in the household ruled by the military despot and increasingly escapes into a world of imagination. One night, she meets a mysterious faun (Doug Jones), who tells her that she is actually a princess and assigns her tasks.

INSPIRATIONS

In realizing his own screenplay, del Toro wanted to create an adult fairy tale, drawing from genre classics and his childhood memories to craft a dark, moving, and beautiful story. Known for designing preliminary sketches of costumes, fantastical characters, and sets himself, the director began seeking inspiration for Pan’s Labyrinth.

Fragments of del Toro’s sketches and notes, which he used to create the film’s world and characters

In order to realize a film blending brutal realism with childhood fantasy, del Toro had to design the appearance of the magical characters. To do so, he turned to old, rich illustrations of fairy tales and fables, as well as the canvases of well-known masters.

He sought the right prototypes for the fairies, the faun, Ofelia, and other characters and phenomena. Each inspiration was filtered through his artistic sensitivity and adapted to fit del Toro’s dark, distinctive style.

1. Illustrators

The young protagonist, fleeing from the problems of the real world, escapes into a fairy-tale-like world, discovering extraordinary elements and phenomena in her surroundings and eventually delving deeper into the labyrinth. The similarity to a certain Alice and her rabbit hole is no coincidence. Guillermo del Toro drew from Lewis Carroll and the works of the illustrators of his stories. Sir John Tenniel, in 1865, gave the characters their shape, and his depictions are canonical, often only expanded upon by successors. Further illustrations were made by Marjorie Torrey for the 1955 edition, and it is to her portrayal of the character that del Toro refers. Carmen, Ofelia’s mother, gives her a dark green dress with a white apron to wear to a formal dinner. Despite the festive attire, the girl ventures into the forest, where through a magical book, she receives her next task. Her outfit, as well as her need to enter a burrow (in this case, a crack in a tree), are clear nods to both the illustrators and Carroll’s prose.

In Pan’s Labyrinth, there are also small magical creatures that the protagonist calls fairies. One of them appears early in the film and looks like a large stick insect. This unusual bug accompanies Ofelia during her first night in the new home, and when the girl shows it a book’s illustration of a fairy, the magical insect transforms into a small humanoid with dark skin, pointed ears, and large wings. This initial depiction of the magical being is directly inspired by fairy tale drawings by English illustrator Arthur Rackham. Rackham adorned works by Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, J.M. Barrie, and Shakespeare. Del Toro drew upon Rackham’s distinctive vision of trees — always twisted, unusual, and often human-like. In the prologue of Hellboy, set in a ruined abbey in Scotland, one of the trees is named Rackham’s Tree by del Toro. For Pan’s Labyrinth, he was also inspired by the appearance of Rackham’s fairies. The small helpers were digitally generated but retain an elegance suited to their fairy-tale world. The delicate craftsmanship of the tiny creatures would not have been as convincing using traditional methods.

Since Ofelia is the protagonist and the fairies serve as magical helpers, it can be argued that del Toro drew from fairy tale illustrations when creating the good characters. On the other hand, neutral or evil characters were inspired by works of painting, considered more serious and intended for a mature audience.

2. Painters

The connection between the fantastical and the real world is the faun. He is also the counterpart to the archetypal elder figure who helps the protagonist broaden her horizons and assigns her a series of tasks—trials. His presence in the labyrinth is associated with the symbolism of initiation. The figure of a horned magical creature is a popular theme in painting, notably in the works of Jacek Malczewski. The Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro, also mentioned in interviews the strong influence of Spanish artist Francisco Goya and Carlos Schwabe, a German-Swiss symbolist painter. Their depictions of fauns inspired del Toro’s cinematic vision.

From the start, the film’s faun fascinates Ofelia, guiding her into a mystical world where she is the lost Princess Moanna, finally found. However, before she can return to her forgotten world, she must complete three tasks to prove she has a pure heart—following the classic structure of a magical fairy tale, with all the accompanying tropes.

Doug Jones, a frequent collaborator of del Toro, played the horned character. Tall and extremely flexible (having once been a professional contortionist), Jones has often portrayed fantastic, monstrous, or alien creatures. To embody the faun, he wore special stilts, a mask with mechanical ears, and the character was designed with a unique, elderly gait. Only Jones’s legs, from the knees down, were digitally erased; the rest of the impressive costume was created using traditional methods. Since Jones does not speak Spanish, his dialogue was dubbed.

THE FOLLOWING SECTION DOES NOT REVEAL THE ENDING BUT CONTAINS PLOT DETAILS

While completing her first task, Ofelia retrieves a key that she must use in the next one. Using magical chalk, she creates a door and descends into an extraordinary chamber—the setting of the film’s most significant scene. Moreover, the creature that resides there embodies both the fantasy world and the violent, fascist reality in which the girl lives. Passing through the chalk-drawn portal, Ofelia enters a room with a grand, lavishly set table, and at the head sits the Pale Man—a grotesque monster in a deep sleep. Ofelia is safe as long as she doesn’t eat anything from the table. However, unable to resist, she eats a few grapes, and the creature awakens.

When designing the monster, del Toro aimed to depict a once obese man who had suddenly lost a great deal of weight, leaving his skin hanging in folds. During the development of the character, del Toro decided to remove the Pale Man’s face, as he wanted the creature to symbolize the faceless terror of fascism. This design choice felt fitting to him. The lack of eyes on the skull was inspired by iconography, specifically representations of St. Lucy. Like the Catholic and Orthodox saint, the Pale Man is portrayed with his eyes resting on a plate. When the monster awakens, Ofelia flees, and the Pale Man rises, placing his eyes into stigmata-like sockets on his hands, then holding them up to his blank face. This grotesque gesture evokes a twisted version of the childhood game of hide and seek. Once again, Doug Jones portrayed this monstrous character in a traditional costume (with only his legs digitally thinned).

In an interview, Guillermo del Toro precisely explained the references he intended for the Pale Man character—he wanted the creature to represent political power and something from church hierarchy. On the other hand, the Pale Man is also a devourer of children.

This figure accumulates the most references, from folklore to painting. Stigmata and the placement of the eyes are inspired by iconology. During the pursuit of Ofelia, the monster catches two fairies, killing them by biting off their heads and feeding on them. The frescoes on the walls and a pile of shoes in the corner of the room suggest that the Pale Man devours children, evoking associations with both the folkloric Krampus and the mythological Saturn.

The theme of child-devouring resonates strongly in culture and art, as reflected in Pan’s Labyrinth.

There is another monster in Pan’s Labyrinth—Captain Vidal. He is Ofelia’s stepfather, yet he shows no care for her or her mother. His only concern is his wife’s pregnancy, and he is obsessed with having an heir. Guillermo del Toro infused this fascist military commander with the tyranny and totalitarianism that took hold of Spain under Franco’s rule. Like Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in Hellboy, Vidal is often seen near machinery (he occupies the control room of a mill and frequently tinkers with his pocket watch). He is always impeccably dressed and groomed, devoid of human emotions, like a machine focused solely on the task. Del Toro wanted Vidal to embody the soullessness of fascism and the monstrous father figure. This is another reference to the myth of Cronus-Saturn, and a connection with the Pale Man. In fact, Vidal and the faceless monster mirror each other (the film features two scenes with lavishly set tables—Vidal in the real world is replaced by the child-devouring monster in the magical world).

3. Color Symbolism

In the world of Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro employed a triadic color scheme to represent the different dimensions in which the film’s action takes place. Each realm is marked by a distinct color, adding visual depth and helping viewers identify the sphere in which the characters are operating. For the human world, he chose blue; for the magical realm, a warm yellow; and for the borderland between the two worlds (the faun’s domain), dark green—according to the logic of color mixing.

SUMMARY

Although Guillermo del Toro stamped his individual style on every frame of the film, he did not shy away from drawing inspiration from earlier masters of still art, including Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Carlos Schwabe, Arthur Rackham, and Marjorie Torrey. However, the Mexican filmmaker never stole their visions, instead transforming and shaping them into his own. This combination of so-called high art with del Toro’s visionary filmmaking craft has produced stunning results. The dark fairy tale of little Ofelia continues to gain new fans each year. The story still resonates deeply, and the film’s visual design evokes admiration for the creativity and ingenuity of its creators.

A condensed form of cinematic magic, a high-proof solution.