As a popular fairytale, Snow White has been depicted many, many times, but never quite like the 2012 Spanish film Blancanieves. For starters, it’s the only version where the titular lady is a bullfighter. It was also made as a black-and-white silent drama at a time when color and sound are the norm. But beyond these immediate differences, Blancanieves transforms the original fairytale into a mortifying body horror, where love can’t overcome the body’s destruction, and where death isn’t the only terror that awaits. Blancanieves won’t be the Snow White you remember, but she will be a version you won’t forget.
"As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama."
— Anthony Lane
A black and white silent movie, based on the Snow White fairy tale, that is set in a romantic version of 1920s Seville and centered on a female bullfighter.
Sevilla, 1920s. After being rescued by her evil stepmother, Carmen Villalta, or Blancanieves as she’s called by the townspeople, becomes a bullfighter like her late father.
The idea of focusing on the deep sleep instead of the happier sides of Snow White is brilliant. Horrible to watch, but brilliant, storywise.
Pablo Berger is twisted for thinking this up.
European Film Awards
1 win, 2 nominations
César Awards
1 nomination
Goya Awards
9 wins, 9 nominations
"Blancanieves is painstakingly crafted, emotionally gripping at times, and more authentically Grimm than most interpretations, and it puts a slightly unsettling new spin on Prince Charming and the proverbial happily-ever-after ending."
— Laura Kern