THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
Once upon a time...
Somewhere on the Castilian plain around 1940...
The movie's coming!
The movie, the movie, the movie!
Kids, you're going to fall.
- Hi! How are you? - Fine.
Kid, get out of here!
It fell down!
Look! Boxes full of movie reels.
Boxes full of movie reels.
Movie reels!
Let me through!
- What's the movie about? - It's amazing.
It's...
Is it a horror movie?
Is it a cowboy movie?
It's the most beautiful movie in the world!
It's tremendous!
The best I've shown in this town.
Imagine what a great movie it'll be!
Tremendous!
A brilliant movie!
This evening in the town hall,
at 5:00
there will be a special showing
of the film "Frankenstein".
Tickets are one peseta for adults,
and two reales for children.
Come on, Tomasa. What's the matter'?
- I hope this one's better. - It's magnificent!
Now, don't start a fire.
Be careful with the heater!
The film's producers do not want it to be shown
without a preliminary warning.
It is the story of Dr. Frankenstein,
a man of science
who tried to create a human being.
But he forgot that only God was able to do that.
It's one of the strangest stories ever told.
It concerns the great mysteries of creation:
life and death.
Prepare yourselves.
You may be shocked,
or even horrified.
Few films have had a greater impact worldwide.
But I advise you
not to take it too seriously.
Though nothing can bring back the happy hours we spent together
I ask God to grant me the joy of seeing you again.
That's been my constant prayer
ever since we parted during the war.
And it's still my prayer here
in this remote spot where Fernando, the girls and I
try to survive.
Except for the walls
little is left of the house you once knew.
I often wonder what happened to all the things we had there.
I don't say it out of nostalgia.
It's difficult to feel nostalgic
after what we've been through these past few years.
But, sometimes, when I look around
and see so much loss,
so much destruction and so much sadness,
something tells me that our ability
to live life to the full has vanished along with it.
I don't even know if you'll receive this letter.
The news we get from the outside world is so scant and confused.
Please write soon
to let me know you're still alive.
With all my love,
Teresa.
Sh' down!
See? He understands.
Look at that!
Teresa!
Milagros!
Have you seen my wife?
I think she went out a while ago.
- And the children? - At the movies.
- Is there anything to eat? - I guess so.
You should eat at mealtimes, and come back to earth.
Come and sit down, Doctor.
You must be patient.
Do you expect perfection at once?
This creature of yours should be kept under guard.
Mark my words, he will prove dangerous.
Dangerous?
You surprise me.
Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous?
Where would we be if no one tried to find out what lies beyond?
Have you never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars?
Or to know what causes the trees to bud
or what changes darkness into light?
But if you talk like that
people call you crazy.
Well, if I could discover just one of these things,
what eternity is, for example,
I wouldn't care if they did think I was crazy.
You're young,
dazed by your success.
Wake up and face facts!
Here we have a fiend whose brain
must be given time to develop.
It's a perfectly good brain, Doctor.
Well, you ought to know.
It came from your own laboratory.
The brain that was stolen from my laboratory
was that of a criminal.
- Will you be long, father? - No, I 'll just fix the wall.
Father?
- Won't you stay and play with me? - I'm too busy, love.
You play with the kitten.
- Bye, father. - Goodbye.
And be a good girl.
Who are you?
I'm Maria.
Will you play with me?
Would you like one of my flowers?
You have this one and I'll have this one.
It's like a boat.
See how they float?
You stay here, Maria.
I'll just take a look at my traps.
Then we'll go to the village and have a grand time.
Isabel.
Did he kill her?
Silence!
- I'll see that justice is done. - I'll tell you later.
What a tragedy!
Frankenstein!
By the sign of the holy cross
free us from our enemies,
Lord our God.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Where did you hide the matches?
In the drawer.
- Isabel! - What?
Tell me what you were going to tell me.
- About what? - The movie.
Not now. Tomorrow.
Now. You promised.
Why did the monster kill the girl
and why did they kill him aftenlvard?
You don't know. You're a liar.
They didn't kill him, and he didn't kill the girl.
How do you know?
How do you know they didn't die?
Everything in the movies is fake.
It's all a trick.
Besides, I've seen him alive.
Where?
In a place I know near the village.
People can't see him.
He only comes out at night.
Is he a ghost?
No, he's a spirit.
Like the one Dofia Lucia talks about?
Yes, but spirits don't have bodies.
That's why you can't kill them.
But he had one in the movie.
He had arms,
and feet.
He had everything.
It's a disguise to go outside.
If he only comes out at night, how can you talk to him?
I told you already, he's a spirit.
If you're his friend,
you can talk to him whenever you want.
Close your eyes
and call him.
"It's me, Ana."
Someone to whom I recently showed my glass beehive,
with its movement like the main cogwheel of a clock,
someone who saw the constant agitation of the honeycomb,
the mysterious, frantic commotion
of the nurse bees over the nests,
the bustling bridges and stairways of wax,
the invading spirals of the queen,
the endlessly varied and repetitive labors of the swarm,
the relentless yet futile effort,
the feverish comings and goings,
the call to sleep always ignored,
undermining the next day's work,
the final rest of death
far from a place that tolerates neither the sick nor tombs,
someone who observed these things
after the initial surprise had passed,
looked away quickly
with an expression of sad, inexplicable fright.
Two plus two equals four.
Four plus two equals six.
Six plus two equals eight.
Plus eight equals 16,
plus eight equals 24, plus eight equals 32.
Holy souls, we kneel before you.
All right. Put away your things.
Be quiet!
Quiet!
Or else Don José will get angry.
Good morning, Don José.
Good morning, Don José!
Poor Don José.
- Who left him like that? - You did.
Let's see, Paulita.
What is Don José missing?
- His heart. - Good. Put it on him.
Mari Carmen,
what's the heart for'?
For breathing.
All you smarty-pants
laughing so hard,
what do we breathe with'?
The lungs.
Show us.
Put his lungs on.
Put them on him.
Very good.
What's the stomach for'?
To put food in.
Very good. Put it on him.
Well done. Sit down.
Now pay attention!
Don José can walk.
He can breathe.
He can eat.
But...
there's still something
v60'
very important
missing.
His bones.
His ears.
Ana.
You're very quiet.
What is Don José still missing?
His eyes.
Quiet, Isabel.
Answer when I ask you.
- His eyes. - Very good.
Come and put them on him.
Now Don José can see.
See that house with the well?
- Does he live there? - Yes.
Do you want to go there?
All right.
Isabel...
Mom asked about you this evening.
She wanted to know where you were.
I told her you were still at school.
Did you go to the well?
Yes.
Did you see him?
No.
Because he doesn't know you.
Daddy's coming!
Daddy, here's one.
- Daddy, here's another one! - I'm coming.
It's bad.
How much do you bet?
Don't touch it!
- It's good, isn't it? - Let's see.
- Yes, sir, that's a good mushroom. - See?
Who knows what it's called'?
- A tricholoma. - A fly agaric.
No, fly agarics are poisonous.
Look closely.
- El... - Elfin saddle!
Very good.
You can tell
by the brown color
and these wavy edges.
Have you ever picked a poisonous mushroom?
- No. You know why? - Why?
Because I always do what my grandpa told me.
If you're not sure that a mushroom is good,
don't pick it.
Because if it's bad,
and you eat it,
it's your last mushroom and your last everything else.
- Do you understand? - I do.
My grandpa didn't really like eating them.
What he liked was looking for them,
even if it meant walking for a whole day.
He never got tired.
See that mountain?
What he called "the mushroom garden" is up there.
- You know why? - Why'?
Caesar's mushroom grows there. The best of all.
- Why don't we go? - It's too far.
We'd never make it with you two weaklings.
We'll go some other day.
But you have to promise something.
Don't tell your mother.
Look at what we have here.
A real devil.
It smells so good.
Sure, the young ones fool you,
but the older ones are completely different.
Look very closely.
Look at the color of the cap
and the black gills.
Never forget, girls.
This is the worst of all.
The most poisonous.
Whoever eats it has got no chance
of surviving.
Fernando.
See you later.
- Good morning, Don Fernando. - Good morning.
Seems like we're running late.
- You hit me. - I did not.
Enough!
That's enough! Stop being so boisterous!
- Dummy! - Pig!
Good Lord!
What's all this ruckus?
- She started it. - Enough!
She's lying.
Come on. It's time to wash before school.
First you wet the brush.
Okay-
Then you rub it all over your face.
Then you get it soapy.
Now rub it on your face.
That's it.
- Now I shave off the little hairs? - Yes.
And then you put on some cologne.
Mom, do you know what a spirit is?
You don't know and I do.
A spirit is a spirit.
Are they good or bad?
With good girls, they're good,
but with bad girls, they're very bad.
But you'll be good, won't you?
Give me a kiss.
It's coming!
Ana!
"Now neither malice nor hatred,
nor even the fear of change.
I only feel thirst,
a thirst for I know not what.
Rivers of life,
where have you gone?
Air, I need air.
What do you see in the darkness
that makes you silently tremble?
I see not
but only stare like a blind man
facing straight into the sun.
I shall fall where the fallen never rise."
"To... my...
dear
mis-an-th rope."
Come here.
What's wrong with you?
Come on, get up. Stop fooling around.
Isabel...
He's not here anymore. He's gone.
IsabeL tell me what happened you.
Milagros!
- Careful, you'll get burned. - lsabel!
Careful, Raquel.
What are you doing here, child?
Come with me.
Let's go home.
Your father's back.
Come on. Let's go.
Let's go.
Where were you?
Ana...
Where were you?
Here.
Good morning.
Come in.
- May I, sir'? - Come in.
- He's here. - I'll be right there.
Good morning.
Ana, come here!
Ana, what happened to you?
- Miguel, how is she? - Fine. Still a little weak.
She hardly sleeps. She won't eat or speak.
The light bothers her.
She looks at us but doesn't recognize us.
It's as if we didn't exist.
Teresa...
Ana is still a child.
She's under the effect of a very disturbing experience.
But she'll get over it.
Really, Miguel?
Bit by bit
she'll start to forget.
Teresa...
The important thing is that your daughter is alive.
She's alive.
She's asleep.
Don Miguel, she's asleep.
Give her this medicine. The dose is written here.
Yes, sir. I'll go to the pharmacy right now.
She should eat.
Something easy to digest. Soup without too much fat.
A boiled egg.
And you need to rest too, Teresa,
as much as she does.
If anything happens,
send Milagros for me. I'll come right away.
Yes, Miguel.
Someone to whom I recently showed my glass beehive,
with its movement like the main cogwheel of a clock,
someone who saw the constant agitation of the honeycomb,
the mysterious, frantic commotion
of the nurse bees over the nests,
the bustling bridges and stairways of wax,
the invading spirals...
If you're his friend,
you can talk to him
whenever you want.
Just close your eyes.
And call him.
"It's me, Ana."