--- title: "The Spirit of the Beehive: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-spirit-of-the-beehive/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-spirit-of-the-beehive" critics_score: 85 critics_reviews: 10 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." --- # The Spirit of the Beehive (1973): what the critics said Critics' score 85 from 10 reviews: 10 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews are uniformly positive, with praise clustering around Erice’s photography, his handling of childhood imagination and Ana Torrent’s performance. Most critics admire how the film conveys the unease of post-Civil War Spain through a child’s limited understanding, rather than direct explanation. Muted colours, still compositions and mysterious images receive particular attention. Torrent’s presence gives the film an emotional focus, while several reviews find its exploration of creation, death and illusion quietly moving. The differences concern how readily that elusive approach draws viewers in, with enthusiasm ranging from warm approval to unreserved praise. Slant Magazine admires the visual atmosphere but finds that the film sometimes indulges in its own prettiness. Eye for Film praises the understated imagery and central performance while finding the allusive style difficult to engage with. These are reservations about beauty and accessibility within a positive consensus, rather than dissent over the film’s achievement. ## The AV Club — Noel Murray Rating A. 20 September 2006. The film is praised for its dreamy imagery and subtle symbolism that lingers with viewers. Erice's meditation on what animates us becomes cumulatively moving as the sisters experiment and explore the mysteries of creation and death. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-spirit-of-the-beehive-1798201989) ## Evening Standard — Derek Malcom Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 5 April 2012. Erice's first feature is a masterpiece and arguably the best Spanish film ever made, with gorgeous photography, haunting music and amazing performances by the child leads that create an unforgettable mood with political undertones. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/the-spirit-of-the-beehive-7381509.html) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 November 2012. The film is a masterpiece and one of the most beautiful ever made, a poetic work about children's imagination set against the backdrop of post-Civil War Spain. Ebert singles out the cinematography and the open, innocent performance of young Ana Torrent for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-spirit-of-the-beehive-1973) ## The Guardian — Derek Malcolm Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 September 1999. The film is one of the most beautiful and arresting ever made in Spain. It perfectly sums up childhood imaginings while also evoking the shadow of Franco's Spain through its muted colors and controlled direction. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/sep/16/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1973. This sensitive, beautifully wrought film about two girls in a Castilian village after the Spanish Civil War is authentically Spanish yet transcends borders with its suggestivity and lyricism. The review highlights superb acting, especially by Ana Torrent, and the touching simplicity of its scenes. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1972/film/reviews/el-espiritu-de-la-colmena-1200423041/) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Victor Erice's film is a masterly, elliptical discourse on juvenile psychology and an exploration of myth, misunderstanding and illusion. It features sublime photography with long static shots and yellow filters to evoke the gloom of post-Civil War Spain. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/spirit-beehive-review/) ## Time Out — TR Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. Erice's film portrays rural Spain after Franco's victory as a wasteland of inactivity contrasted with the bees' industriousness. It singles out the fragile spark of liberation in young Ana's mind as she dreams of the Frankenstein monster and befriends a fugitive soldier. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-spirit-of-the-beehive-1) ## Slant Magazine — Dan Callahan Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 23 January 2006. Every image is filled with mysterious dread as the story unfolds from a child's point of view in post-Civil War Spain. The critic singles out the cinematography's voluptuous quality and Ana Torrent's unflappable presence while noting the film sometimes indulges in its own prettiness. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/spirit-of-the-beehive/) ## The New York Times — A. O. Scott Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 27 January 2006. Erice's oblique, enigmatic film probes the buried traumas of Franco's Spain through the eyes of two young sisters in 1940. Scott praises its lucid yet mysterious images that balance adult longing with childlike innocence. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/movies/sorrowful-knowledge-and-startled-innocence-in-francos-spain.html) ## Eye for Film — Rebecca Naughten Rating 4/5. 17 November 2014. The critic finds it an undoubted classic of the period with one of cinema's best child performances, but notes that its allusive and elusive style is difficult to engage with. It praises the film's quiet, understated visual poetry as a paean to the transformative power of cinema. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-spirit-of-the-beehive-1973-film-review-by-rebecca-naughten) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-spirit-of-the-beehive.md