Episode 163 – Victor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive

Scott, David, Trevor, and Ryan discuss memory, growing up, the remnants of war, and cultural exports in Erice's 1973 landmark film.

This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee, Trevor Berrett, and Ryan Gallagher to discuss Victor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive.

About the film:

Criterion is proud to present Víctor Erice’s spellbinding The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena), widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s. In a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country’s devastating civil war, six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes possessed by the memory of it. Produced as Franco’s long regime was nearing its end, The Spirit of the Beehive is a bewitching portrait of a child’s haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made.

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Buy the film on Amazon:

Watch the trailer:

Episode Links:

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) – The Criterion Collection
The Spirit of the Beehive – Spanish Lessons
The Spirit of the Beehive – IMDb
The Spirit of the Beehive – Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Roger Ebert’s Great Movies Essay

Episode Credits:

Scott Nye (Twitter / Battleship Pretension)
David Blakeslee (Twitter / Criterion Reflections)
Trevor Berrett (Twitter / Mookse and Gripes)
Ryan Gallagher (Twitter / Website)

Music from this episode is by Luis de Pablo.