It’s difficult to approach 20th century Spanish filmmaking without needing to make plenteous reference to the Spanish State, and the effect Franco’s regime had upon it. Not merely because the authoritarian dictatorship had a heavily censorial influence upon the history and art being created in the country, but also the heavy effect it had on the mindset and people.

Victor Erice’s El Espíritu de la Colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) was made in the final years of Franco’s power, before the return to democracy, but still needed to be vague enough in its criticism to escape the censor’s grubby little scissors. The result is a film that borders on the abstract, as it tells a nearly wordless story of rural oppression, othering and the search for meaning, while never actually pointing the finger too clearly. It’s a technique that gives the film a unique quality that only serves to add to its beauty and surreal nature.

The story, such as it is, centres around young Ana (Ana Torrent), a timid and curious child, living in a rural village. After being captivated by a showing of Frankenstein, she begs her older sister Isabel (Isabel Telleria) to explain the story to her, only to be lied to and spun a story about a local friendly spirit, which leads her to return to an abandoned farmhouse and try to speak to the spirit. Meanwhile, her mother (Teresa Gimpera) and father (Fernando Fernán Gómez) lead disparate lives in the same household, as he obsesses over his beekeeping, while she writes endless letters to an long lost old friend.

The resulting experience is one which is gentle, slow and touching, particularly when the camera lingers on Ana and the deep black pools of her wonder-filled eyes. It also draws a clear contrast between the constrained lives of the adults, each fastened into their routine, and the children, with their play, itself straying in and out of strange and curiously dark imagery. It’s a beautiful film, and one which still remains powerful and affecting. That said, it certainly is an arthouse film, and the languid pace, unconventional filmmaking and extremely long takes might prove too much for some. Nonetheless, somewhere between the dapped shades of golden light and the washed out landscape, there is a world of meaning in this story.

Screening as part of Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival 2020