Mercedes Torture Scene

• MS foregrounding Vidal, dominating the frame conveys the power dynamic of his natural dominance as an authoritative man and Falangist captain exerting control over his housekeeper - who is physically and socially beneath him.
• As the framing shifts, Navarro keeps Vidal in the depth of field, blurring Mercedes in their shared MS.

  
  

  She continues to be out of focus when Vidal orders her to sit down, and when the camera tracks her as she stands up, the audiences view replicating his sexist blindness to her, she is second class, her existence does not matter and he will kill her with no remorse.

  
  

  The sequence is all in one take, bring the tension and fear that Mercedes feels onto the audience.
• Mercedes then attempts to escape with Ofelia, but is caught by Vidal and his fascist team.

  
  

  In the forest, the camera arcs around M + O, using the umbrella to seamlessly reveal the haunting Vidal ( he appears almost magically - magic realism)

  
  

  Blue toned lighting = harsh aesthetic
• In an OTS, Mercedes strength is portrayed through Verdu's eyes: portraying her simultaneous fear and strength as she matches Vidal's strong glare in the SRS, not letting her slip before him.
• LA MS emphasises Vidal's physical dominance over Ofelia as he grips her arms, shaking and slapping her. This shot shows the brutality of the fascist rule that spared no one.

  
  

  Del Toro represents masculinity through Vidal and fascism.

  
  

  He shows it as the lack of imagination, need to control, dominate: the masculine expression of power.
• Shot expands into an ELS of Ofelia, the pain performed by Ivana Baquero as the cold blue lighting closes in on her sobbing.

  
  

  He powerfully uses shadows to reveal the ultimate darkness that was Spain under Franco's regime: it left children alone, cold and afraid in the shadows (the darkest form of self)

  
  

  The real movie monster is Vidal.
• Mercedes represents the women who played pivitol roles under franco rule.
• Del Toro tests the boundaries of Vidal's pleasure from torture when MS, three shot shows him undoing his top buttons as he prepares to torture Mercedes, his diegetic comment 'for god sake, she's just a woman' of his true sadistic villain status.
• The initial power dynamic framing of the shot dominates V, a LA two shot.

  
  

  Yet, M's dialogue conveys her constant fight, she is a progressive woman so revolted by Vidal and in this moment she cannot give him the respect of looking at him.

  
  

  This framing is flipped, allowing Mercedes (woman) to take the dominant role.
• The LA shot employed as he looks down upon her emphasises his disgust at her rebellious nature that he sees as a masculine trait.

  
  

  Patriarchal disgust at women who revolted in society.
• MLS with his back turned on Mercedes, highlighted in the low lit room, as he dismisses his guard, leaving himself alone with 'just a woman.'

  
  

  With his ignorance in lock, his back turned, a CU insert shots of Mercedes unveiling the knife she placed in her apron (a symbol of domesticity) reveals her setting herself free; once again defying Vidal's expectations of her as a woman.

  
  

  Again, his arrogant masculine pride is his ultimate downfall.
• The subtle note changes in the score connote an uneasy and unpredictable atmosphere.

  
  

  LA tilts upwards after pleonastic stabbing him in the back, quickening the pace as Rezende cuts to a MCU as stab his shoulder, Verdu's shocked performance humanising her against the monster.

  
  

  This is symbolic of the morality of the rebels, they are not inherently evil like the fascists; they have been pushed into violence to fight evil.
• The previous MCU as Mercedes hides the knife in her apron mirrors Ofelia's journey in the underworld, they act as parallels to one another: Ofelia has to use the fantasy world to escape from the tortures of the real world that Mercedes is traversing.

  
  

  In contrast, insert shot of Vidal's plate of torture devices, most notably the hammer he picks up, is symbolic of his takedown of communism.

  He drops the hammer, the fascists are losing power.
• The LA MS as she symbolically inserts the phallic weapon into his mouth, pleonastic = shock, cutting it open unnaturally wide both disrupts Vidal's male domination and marks him with a permanently gaping maw: symbolic of his greed.

  
  

  Female vengeance is stronger than any form of masculinity.

  
  

  Audience root for M as she finally receives the opportunity to fight against the gender restrictions that have been inflicted upon her.
• Much of the magic in the film is concerned with the theme of moral disobedience that the doctor and Mercedes mirror for Ofelia: Mercedes disobedience that saves her life in this scene.