Set during 1920s Spain, Blancanieves is, like The Artist, a black-and-white and silent movie. It is a take on the Snow White tale, adapted for the era and, specifically, with bullfighting as the theme. A famous matador has an incident and turns quadriplegic at the same time as his wife dies while giving birth to their daughter, Carmen. Kept away from her father and raised as a servant by the evil stepmother (previously the father’s nurse), Carmen eventually learns the art of bullfighting by sneaking into her father’s room whenever the stepmother is away or busy. Like the fairytale, the rest of the movie shows us “Snow White” taken into a forest, escaping, being poisoned – well, you know the tale. Like the films of the silent era, the movie features exaggerated expressions, text-cards and a melodramatic score. Alas, since it comes after last year’s The Artist, Blancanieves loses the novelty value that THE ARTIST held. Even so, it is a well-made film that has good production values and is well-directed. Though the story drags early on (we don’t come to the dwarves until half the movie has played out), and there is only so much excitement another adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves can generate, Blancanieves is a good attempt, especially to showcase the director’s talent.
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