Critics reviews

One of the most haunting films I have ever seen. So simple and pure and quiet and dreamlike and stimulating. A fantasy that makes more sense than what passes as reality.

Haunting and ethereal, Victor Erice's debut El Espiritu de la Colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) is considered a canonical work in post-war Spanish cinema... Through symbolism and ellipsis, the film offers a veiled critique of the cultural monotony of the fascist era, as well as the constraints induced by gender socialisation.