---
title: "Blancanieves"
year: 2012
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/blancanieves"
fi1m_id: "blancanieves"
imdb_id: "tt1854513"
tmdb_id: 127864
wikidata_id: "Q1589300"
fi1m_score: 81
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 18
published: "2026-09-27T08:12:39.220902+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-27T08:12:40.320623+00:00"
region: "IT"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Blancanieves (2012)

Directed by Pablo Berger · 1h 44m · Drama, Fantasy

## Identity

Blancanieves

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/blancanieves
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** blancanieves
- **IMDb ID:** tt1854513
- **TMDB ID:** 127864
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1589300
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854513/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/127864, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1589300

**Fi1m score: 81** · Critics 78 from 18 reviews

*In a sentence:* A silent Snow White where the dwarfs fight bulls and the stepmother dresses for the occasion

> Pablo Berger’s silent, black-and-white Snow White, moved to the bullrings of 1920s Spain, is the most inventive version of the tale we have seen and, in its father-and-daughter scenes, a moving one. Maribel Verdú’s stepmother is drawn with a broad brush, and the middle hurries.

## Synopsis

Seville, in the 1920s. Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is gored in the ring while his pregnant wife, the flamenco singer Carmen de Triana (Inma Cuesta), watches from the stands. She goes into labour and dies giving birth to a daughter; he is left paralysed. His nurse, Encarna (Maribel Verdú), marries him and takes charge of his house and his money. The child, Carmencita (Sofía Oria), grows up with her grandmother Doña Concha (Ángela Molina) in Triana. When the grandmother dies, Carmencita is sent to Encarna’s estate, where she is put to work in the coal cellar and forbidden to climb the stairs to the rooms where her father is kept.

## Review

Pablo Berger’s idea is simple and slightly mad: tell Snow White as a silent film, in black and white, in Andalusia in the 1920s, with a matador for a father and a bullring where the fairy tale usually has a forest. It sounds like a stunt. It is not. Berger, who wrote and directed and is one of three credited producers, has plainly watched a great deal of silent cinema and understood that the close-up, the iris and the sparing intertitle are a way of telling a story, not a costume to dress one in. *Blancanieves* is the best Snow White we have seen, and we have sat through more of them than we wanted to.

The opening sets out how it will work. Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is in the ring at Seville, his wife Carmen de Triana (Inma Cuesta) in the stands, and Fernando Franco cuts the afternoon as a rising rhythm: hands, hooves, a photographer’s flash, the singer’s face, the bull arriving as an edit rather than a picture. We flinched, and there is not a drop of blood on screen. Ten minutes later the fairy tale is in place, a dead mother, a broken father, and a nurse (Maribel Verdú) whose eyes go to the house before they go to the patient.

Kiko de la Rica shoots it in a black and white with real black in it. The coal cellar where the child is put to work is a hole with one lamp; Encarna’s rooms upstairs are white walls and hard shadow. Alain Bainée’s estate is all staircases and locked doors, which is what a stepmother’s house should be. Paco Delgado dresses Verdú in gowns that look as if they arrived from Paris that morning and the child in a smock the colour of the cellar. Alfonso Vilallonga’s score does the talking. Guitar, handclaps and orchestra carry the plot, and the score also supplies the noises the film refuses to make, so a cockerel or a slap is a note rather than a sound. It is the most useful score we have heard in a long while.

The film is at its best when it forgets the villain and stays with the father. Carmencita (Sofía Oria) creeps upstairs, finds the man in the wheelchair, and he teaches her the cape from his chair with a tablecloth. There is a scene in which she puts a record on and dances with him, swinging the chair in circles while the camera looks up at them, and it moved us far more than we expected a silent pastiche to manage. Oria is remarkable, stubborn and watchful, and when Macarena García takes over as the grown Carmen she keeps the same set of the chin. García does the bullring scenes herself, or appears to, and she carries them.

Verdú is having a wonderful time as Encarna, a woman who has got everything she schemed for and found it dull. She poses for magazine covers, keeps the chauffeur Genaro (Pere Ponce) on a lead, and treats the child as a problem in housekeeping. She is funny, and she is broad. Berger writes her as a series of set pieces rather than a person, and the fetish joke with the chauffeur is done once, then done again for anyone who missed it. The middle of the film, once Carmen leaves the house, goes by too quickly as well, as if Berger were impatient to get to the ring. We will not say how she gets there. We will say that the travelling troupe of bullfighting dwarfs she falls in with is the film’s warmest invention, and the stretch on the road with them is where it relaxes and lets its people be funny.

Comparisons with [*The Artist*](https://film.one/film/the-artist) were inevitable and are not very useful. Berger is closer to Murnau and to Spanish gothic than to Hollywood, and his film is darker in every sense. The ending takes a turn we will not describe. It unsettled us, we are still not certain it is the right note, and we are glad Berger did not take the obvious one.

At 104 minutes it is over before the objection forms. If you have never sat through a silent film and suspect you could not, start here, with the sound up, because half of it is in the music.

*Fi1m score 81, published 27 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Blancanieves worth watching?**

*Blancanieves* is worth watching for anyone willing to try a silent, black-and-white film, and we scored it 81. Pablo Berger moves Snow White to the bullrings of 1920s Spain and the father-and-daughter scenes moved us more than we expected. The stepmother is played broadly and the middle hurries, but at 104 minutes it is over before that matters.

**How long is Blancanieves, and what is it rated?**

*Blancanieves* runs 1h 44m. It is a drama and fantasy film.

**Where can I watch Blancanieves in Italy?**

*Blancanieves* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Italy, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from €2.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does Blancanieves compare to The Artist?**

*Blancanieves* is the darker and more substantial of the two modern silent films, and [*The Artist*](https://film.one/film/the-artist) is the sunnier and slighter one. Berger draws on Murnau and Spanish gothic where Hazanavicius draws on Hollywood, so one is a fairy tale with a coal cellar and the other a romance with a scene-stealing dog. Start with *The Artist* if you want ease; choose *Blancanieves* if you want to be got at.

**What should I watch after Blancanieves?**

After *Blancanieves*, try [*The Artist*](https://film.one/film/the-artist) (2011, Fi1m 82): The other modern silent, sunnier and slighter, with a dog who steals it. Then [*Sunrise*](https://film.one/film/sunrise-a-song-of-two-humans) (1927, Fi1m 88): Murnau’s marriage melodrama, the film every silent pastiche is secretly trying to be; and [*Cría Cuervos*](https://film.one/film/cria) (1976, Fi1m 83): Another Spanish child in a dark house, watching the adults and forgiving nothing.

### Reviews we read (18)

- **Empire**, David Parkinson (90/100, inferred): The review finds the film irresistible, praising its elegant silent-film style. It singles out Macarena García and Maribel Verdú as sublime. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/blancanieves-review/)
- **IndieWire**, Annette Insdorf (90/100, inferred): Insdorf considers this the most thrilling of the Snow White adaptations and finds it both celebratory and emotionally charged. She singles out its evocative 1920s Spanish setting and its shift toward the growing bond between father and daughter. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/blancanieves-review-snow-white-spanish-style-198742/)
- **Sight and Sound** (90/100, inferred): The review finds the film a fantastically entertaining, warm reworking of Spanish history and Snow White. It especially praises its visually ravishing imagery and layered play with film history. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-blancanieves)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Bradshaw calls the film extraordinarily enjoyable and a film to treasure. He praises the superb bullring scenes and the eerie, erotic ambiguity of its ending. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/11/blancanieves-review)
- **Evening Standard**, The Standard (85/100, inferred): The critic finds Berger’s film truly enchanting and more than a mere comparison to The Artist. They praise the flamenco-fuelled mood and single out the wicked stepmother’s schemes for their pleasurable shivers. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/blancanieves-film-review-8703576.html)
- **The AV Club**, Noel Murray (B+): Murray finds the silent Snow White riff stylish and emotionally engaging despite its gimmicky plot. He especially praises the beautifully staged image of the daughter helping her father dance in his wheelchair. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/blancanieves-1798176267)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (80/100, inferred): Rooney finds the film an original, charming reinvention of the Snow White story. He especially praises its alluring black-and-white cinematography and lush, expressive score. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/blancanieves-toronto-review-368847/)
- **Time Out**, Anna Smith (4/5): The review describes the film as enchanting. It singles out the blend of silent-film tribute and Grimm-inspired gothic melodrama. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/blancanieves)
- **Total Film**, Steve O'Brien (4/5): The review is positive about this sumptuously told silent retelling. It praises the painterly visuals, melodic editing, and score for carrying the story through images and music. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/blancanieves-review/)
- **Variety**, Dennis Harvey (80/100, inferred): Harvey calls the film a delightful, high-quality entry in the crowded field of Snow White adaptations. He praises the performances, especially Macarena Garcia and Emilio Gavira, and singles out Alfonso de Vilallonga’s score as a wonder. [Read](https://variety.com/2012/film/reviews/blancanieves-1117948330/)
- **The New Yorker** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film vivid and distinctive, though its dramatic intensity nearly overwhelms the original fairy tale. They praise its flamenco-inflected, silent monochrome style and its grotesque comedy and eerie sorrow. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/blancanieves-2)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (65/100, inferred): Turan finds the film largely successful but ultimately unsatisfying, caught between modern and traditional approaches. He praises its striking black-and-white photography and its recreation of silent cinema through images, editing, and music. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2013-mar-28-la-et-mn-blancanieves-movie-review-snow-white-20130329-story.html)
- **Screen Daily**, Mark Adams (64/100, inferred): The accessible page identifies this as a review but does not reveal the critic’s verdict. The paywall also hides what the critic singled out for praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/blancanieves/5046866.article)
- **The New York Times**, A. O. Scott (64/100, inferred): The article appears to be a review, but its text is inaccessible here. I can’t verify the critic’s verdict or what the review singles out. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/movies/blancanieves-a-spanish-snow-white-by-pablo-berger.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick McCarthy (2/4): The critic finds the film visually polished but emotionally and narratively underdeveloped. He praises the evocative, ambiguous epilogue and the Spanish symphonies, while faulting the flat characters and pacing. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/blancanieves/)
- **Paste**, Annlee Ellingson (8.9): Ellingson calls the film a delightful, disturbing visual feast and musical masterpiece. She especially praises Alfonso de Vilallonga’s expressive score, which develops character and supplies sound effects. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/blancanieves)
- **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B+): The review finds the silent-film approach somewhat gimmicky but says the fable remains rewarding and emotionally effective. It particularly praises Maribel Verdú’s commanding performance as Encarna. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-blancanieves-doesnt-necessarily-transcend-silent-film-gimmick-but-still-proves-to-be-a-rewarding-fable-20130329/)
- **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson (75/100, inferred): Wilkinson finds the film a mischievous, stylish retelling whose dark comedy is balanced by unexpected poignancy. She particularly praises Kiko de la Rica’s cinematography and the performances, while noting that the stepmother’s S&M elements feel out of place. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/blancanieves-2012-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)

## Details

- **Director:** Pablo Berger
- **Director:** Pablo Berger
- **Writer:** Pablo Berger
- **Cinematography:** Kiko de la Rica
- **Editor:** Fernando Franco
- **Music:** Alfonso Vilallonga
- **Production design:** Alain Bainée
- **Costume design:** Paco Delgado
- **Producer:** Ibon Cormenzana, Jérôme Vidal, Pablo Berger
- **Cast:** Maribel Verdú as Encarna; Macarena García as Carmen/Blancanieves; Daniel Giménez Cacho as Antonio Villalta; Ángela Molina as Doña Concha; Inma Cuesta as Carmen de Triana; Sofía Oria as Carmencita; Ramón Barea as Don Martín; Josep Maria Pou as Don Carlos
- **Runtime:** 1h 44m
- **First release (Canada):** 8 September 2012
- **Genres:** Drama, Fantasy
- **Box office:** $279,735
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNlG0nAxX9I

## Where to watch in Italy

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Amazon Prime Video: rent €2.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy €5.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-27.*

Also available in: CA, ES, FR, GB, IT, MX, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- European Film Award for Best Costume Designer 2013: European Film Award for Best Costume Designer (won)
- European Film Award for Best Director 2013: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Film 2013: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated)
- Gaudí Award for Best Film in Catalan Language 2013: Gaudí Award for Best Film in Catalan Language (won)
- Goya Award for Best Actress 2013: Goya Award for Best Actress (won)
- Goya Award for Best Art Direction 2013: Goya Award for Best Art Direction (won)
- Goya Award for Best Cinematography 2013: Goya Award for Best Cinematography (won)
- Goya Award for Best Costume Design 2013: Goya Award for Best Costume Design (won)
- Goya Award for Best Film 2013: Goya Award for Best Film (won)
- Goya Award for Best New Actress 2013: Goya Award for Best New Actress (won)
- Goya Award for Best Original Score 2013: Goya Award for Best Original Score (won)
- Goya Award for Best Original Screenplay 2013: Goya Award for Best Original Screenplay (won)
- Goya Award for Best Production Supervision 2013: Goya Award for Best Production Supervision (nominated)
- Goya Award for Best Special Effects 2013: Goya Award for Best Special Effects (nominated)
- International Submission to the Academy Awards 2013: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Artist* (2011), Fi1m 82: The other modern silent, sunnier and slighter, with a dog who steals it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-artist.md)
- *Sunrise* (1927), Fi1m 88: Murnau’s marriage melodrama, the film every silent pastiche is secretly trying to be — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sunrise-a-song-of-two-humans.md)
- *Cría Cuervos* (1976), Fi1m 83: Another Spanish child in a dark house, watching the adults and forgiving nothing — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/cria.md)
- *Tabu* (2012): Miguel Gomes goes half silent for a colonial love story told in black and white
- *Talk to Her* (2002), Fi1m 84: Almodóvar on a gored bullfighter and the men who wait at her bedside — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/talk-to-her.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/blancanieves