The Spirit of the Beehive

Set in a Castilian village in 1940, shortly after the Spanish Civil War, The Spirit of the Beehive follows Ana, a young girl whose imagination is set alight when a travelling projectionist shows James Whale's Frankenstein in the town hall. Fascinated and unsettled by the monster, she presses her older sister, Isabel, with questions, and Isabel tells her that the creature did not really die but lives on as a spirit near the village. Ana begins searching for it, retreating into a private world of fantasy while her parents remain absorbed in their own distant routines: her father keeps bees and studies them closely, and her mother writes letters to someone far away.

The film was directed by Víctor Erice, who wrote the screenplay with Francisco J. Querejeta and Ángel Fernández Santos, and produced by Elías Querejeta. It was Erice's first feature, followed chronologically by El Sur, 3.11 A Sense of Home Films and Close Your Eyes. Ana Torrent plays Ana, with Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Isabel Tellería, Laly Soldevila and Miguel Picazo in supporting roles.

Released in 1973 and running 98 minutes, the film holds a 7.7 rating on IMDb from around 23,000 votes and a 7.7 on TMDB, while a critics' rating stands markedly higher at 9.3 from 29 reviews.