Some information to start with
When film of the year was chosen by critics in 2006, it was Labyrinth of the Faun . Guillermo del Toro, the author of the script for this story, had already made several productions then, but none of them brought him world fame. As you know, fate can be contradictory. Twenty-two minutes of a standing ovation after the projection of the Faun’s Labyrinth at the Cannes festival heralded a huge international success and a shower of awards. On February 25, 2007, the Academy Award, (probably) the most prestigious award in the world, was awarded to Guillermo del Toro for the best original script, Guillermo Navarro for the best cinematography, and to Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta for the best scenery. Besides the three Oscars, the Labyrinth of the Faunreceived awards, incl. from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Spanish Academy of Film Arts (Goya). It is worth mentioning that the main inspiration for Guillermo del Toro to create the production became the so-called black paintings by Francisco Goya (eg Saturn devouring his own children ) or illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Cornelia Funke, who undertook the cooperation with the screenwriter, faced a huge challenge. When the director starts working on the screening of the book, he works on the finished material, which he adjusts to his individual artistic concept. In this case, it was Funke who had to recreate the literary story based on the script. The writer undoubtedly coped with this task.
A few words about the book
It wasn’t long since Faun’s Labyrinth appeared on the shelves in bookstores. People who watched the film in 2006, now looking at the literary proposal, could feel a specific déjà vu . Was it? There was no? But it is. The book written by Cornelia Funke is beautifully bound, has a dust jacket, which is intended to protect the inside of the book, but also indicates the publisher’s editorial diligence. In addition, the title and some graphic elements on the cover are drawn twice (shadow effect), which is consistent with the plot concept of the story. The main character lives on the border of two worlds between which there are significant differences. On the inner flaps of the dust jacket there are biographies of Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke and a short review of Ewa Kowalska, the author of the novelTuners . As for the typographic layout on the back cover, there is content that serves marketing purposes. There are no photographs of the authors, but additional excerpts from reviews of famous writers have been included. In addition, there is a short description of the film, in short, Labyrinth of Faun is a dark fairy tale about a fearless girl who believes in the power of good and stands up to evil. The reader may find that the book he is holding is aimed at audiences of all ages. However, it is difficult to agree with this claim. Faun’s mazeis a novel that is currently on the shelves of bookstores dedicated to teenagers over 12 years of age. Some plot elements, such as ruthless murder, bloodletting, a child-eating monster or human cruelty, are intended for a more mature audience than elementary school students.
On the border of the worlds
The most important character of the plot is thirteen-year-old Ophelia, who is forced to change her place of residence and build a new chapter of life under the roof of her stepfather. The girl strenuously defends herself against calling the man – the aforementioned Ernesto Vidal – a father, but she manifests her dissatisfaction in a very gentle way. Watching the film, the facial expressions of the young actress (Ivan Baquero) reveal her emotions immediately, the viewer can feel the situation more freely. At the same time, visual stimuli intensify our fear for the fate of the main character, her mother and child in the womb, or the servant Mercedes, who helps the partisans. It is worth noting that Guillermo del Toro made some sort of a settlement with national history in his story. Spain under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (1944) is a world in which not everyone wants to live.Fauna’s Labyrinth and its course also influences the plot. A thirteen-year-old girl does not understand everything that surrounds her, but focuses on things that are seemingly invisible to others. The reader, together with the little heroine, smoothly moves between the worlds and fulfills three tasks with her. Are you successful? The answer is reserved for those who will take on the three hundred page challenge.
Faith in your own abilities
The proposed story about Ophelia and fauna won the hearts of viewers and gained their recognition already on the day of its premiere in Cannes. As you know, many years passed before Guillermo del Toro decided to start looking for a suitable author to transfer his work to the pages of a novel. As Cornelia Funke admits, initially this project seemed impossible to her. The writer was aware that the book she created must refer to the plot of the film, but it should also stand out with something more. The original quasi-fairy tales Funke, serving as a cut-scene and with illustrations by Allen Williams, are intriguing and for the recipient who has seen the film before, they may constitute the most interesting fragments of the book. The main plot of the story is a full reflection of what is presented on the screen. The characters’ biographies have not been overly developed, which is important from the reader’s perspective. If Funke were to focus on Ernesto Vidal’s traumatic experiences, for example, and devote a large chunk of the chapter to that investigation, and then do the same with other characters,Faun’s Labyrinth would lose its consistency and become a psychological horror. While reading the book, the reader will surely ask himself to what extent such a parallelism of worlds as the one described in the reading is possible. Ophelia believes in fauna and in her alternative future, but the probability that it is only a story created in the child’s imagination is conditional and depends on the reader’s decision.
