THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
"Once upon a time..."
"Somewhere on the Castilian plain, around 1940..."
The movie's coming! The movie's coming!
You boys are gonna fall.
How are you?
What are you doing? Get out of here!
Look at all the cans of film!
Let me through.
- What's the movie about? - The movie?
It's wonderful.
Is it a horror movie?
Is that all?
Is it a cowboy movie?
It's a beautiful movie.
Are there Indians in it?
It's tremendous! The best I've ever shown in this town.
You can't even imagine.
All I can say is: olé!
This evening, in the town hall,
at 5:00
there'll be a special showing
of Frankenstein.
Ticket prices will be
one peseta for adults
and two reales for children.
How's it going, Tomasa?
I hope it's good this time.
It's magnificent.
Don't start a fire, now.
Careful with that brazier.
The film's producers do not wish to present it
without a preliminary word of caution.
This is the story of Dr. Frankenstein,
a man of science
who sought to create a living being,
without recognizing that that's something only God can do.
It's one of the strangest stories ever told.
It's about the great mysteries of creation:
Life and death.
Prepare yourselves.
You may be shocked,
or even horrified.
Few films have had greater impact all over the world.
But I would advise you
not to take it too seriously.
Though nothing can bring back the happy moments we spent together,
I pray that God grant me the joy of seeing you again.
That's been my constant prayer
ever since we parted during the war,
and it's my prayer still here in this remote spot
where Fernando and the girls and I try to survive.
Little but the walls are left of the house you once knew.
I often wonder what became of everything we had there.
I don't say that out of nostalgia.
It's hard to feel nostalgic
after what we've been through these past few years.
But sometimes, when I look around me
and see so much loss,
so much destruction and so much sadness,
something tells me perhaps our ability to really feel life
has vanished along with all the rest.
I don't even know if this letter will reach you.
The news we get from outside
is so scant and confusing.
Please write soon
to let me know you 're still alive.
With all my love, Teresa.
Sit down.
See that? He understands!
Look at that!
Teresa.
Milagros.
Have you seen my wife?
I think she went out a while ago.
- Where are the girls? - At the movie.
Is there anything to eat in the house?
I'm sure there is.
But you should eat regular meals
and come down out of the clouds.
Sit down, Doctor.
Try to be patient.
Did you expect immediate results?
You must keep a close eye on your creature.
Listen to me. It could be dangerous.
Dangerous? You surprise me.
Haven't you ever wanted to take a chance?
What if we never went beyond the limits of the known?
Have you never wished to see beyond the clouds and stars?
Or to know what makes trees grow
and changes shadows to light?
But speak like this and they call you a madman.
Yet if I could answer just one of these questions -
what eternity is, for example -
I wouldn't care if they called me mad.
You're young, dazed by your success.
Wake up and see reality.
A demon whose brain -
You must give it time to develop.
It's a perfect brain, Doctor.
I can tell you this now: It came from your laboratory.
The brain stolen from my laboratory
belonged to a criminal!
- Will you be long, Papa? - No, I'll just fix the wall.
Why don't you stay and play with me?
I have things to do, child.
Play with your kitten.
- Good-bye, Papa. - Good-bye.
And be good.
Who are you?
I'm Maria.
Will you play with me?
Would you like one of my flowers?
This one's for you and this one's for me.
It's like a boat.
See how they float?
Get ready, Maria.
I'll check the roof
and then we'll go to the village.
Isabel.
Why did he kill her?
Silence!
I'll tell you later.
It's Frankenstein!
By the sign of the holy cross
free us from our enemies,
Lord our God.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Where did you hide the matches?
In the drawer.
What?
T ell me what you were going to tell me.
- About what? - The movie.
Not now. Tomorrow.
Now. You promised.
Why did he kill the girl,
and why did they kill him after that?
You don't know. You're a liar.
They didn't kill him, and he didn't kill the girl.
How do you know?
How do you know they didn't die?
Everything in the movies is fake.
It's all a trick.
Besides, I've seen him alive.
Where?
In a place I know near the village.
People can't see him.
He only comes out at night.
Is he a ghost?
No, he's a spirit.
Like the spirit Dona Lucia talks about?
Yes, but spirits don't have bodies.
That's why you can't kill them.
But he had one in the movie.
He had arms and feet.
He had everything.
It's a disguise they put on when they go outside.
If he only comes out at night, how can you talk to him?
I told you he was a spirit.
If you're his friend,
you can talk to him whenever you want.
Just close your eyes
and call him.
"It's me, Ana."
"Someone to whom I recently showed my glass beehive,
with its movement like the main gear wheel of a clock -
Someone who saw the constant agitation of the honeycomb,
the mysterious, maddened commotion
of the nurse bees over the nests,
the teeming bridges and stairways of wax,
the invading spirals of the queen,
the endlessly varied and repetitive labors of the swarm,
the relentless yet ineffectual toil,
the fevered comings and goings,
the call to sleep always ignored,
undermining the next day's work,
the final repose of death
far from a place that tolerates neither sickness nor tombs -
Someone who observed these things,
after the initial astonishment had passed,
quickly looked away
with an expression of indescribable sadness and horror. "
Two and two is four
Four and two is six
Six and two is eight Plus eight is 16
Plus eight is 24 Plus eight is 32
Holy souls, we kneel before you.
All right. Put away your things.
Quiet!
Or else Don José will get angry.
Good morning, Don José.
Poor Don José!
Who left him like that?
You did, teacher!
Let's see, Paulita.
What is Don José missing?
- His heart. - Good. Put it on him.
Mari Carmen,
what's the heart for?
For breathing.
All you smarty-pants laughing so hard,
what do we breathe with?
The lungs.
Show them to us.
Put his lungs on.
Put them on him.
Very good.
What is the stomach for?
To put food in.
Put it on him.
Very good. Sit down.
Now pay attention.
Don José can walk. He can breathe.
He can eat.
But...
there's still something very, very important
that's missing.
His bones.
His ears.
Ana.
You're very quiet.
What is Don José still missing?
His eyes.
Quiet, Isabel.
Answer when I ask you.
- His eyes. - Very good.
Come and put them on him.
Now Don José can see.
See the house with the well?
- Does he live there? - Yes.
You want to go there?
All right.
Isabel!
Mama asked about you this afternoon.
She wanted to know where you were.
I said you were still at school.
Did you go to the well?
Yes.
Did you see him?
Because he doesn't know you.
Papa's coming!
Papa, here's one.
- Papa, here's another one. - I'm coming.
It's bad.
How much you wanna bet?
Don't touch it.
- It's good, isn't it? - Let's see.
Yes, sir, that's a good mushroom.
See?
Who knows what it's called?
- A brittlegill. - A flyswatter.
No, flyswatters are poisonous.
Look closely.
Trum... - Trumpet!
Very good.
You can tell by the brown color
and these wavy edges.
Papa, have you ever picked a poisonous mushroom?
- No. You know why? - Why?
Because I always do like my grandfather told me.
If you're not sure a mushroom's good, don't pick it.
Because if it's bad and you eat it,
it's your last mushroom, and your last everything else too.
You two understand? - I do.
Grandfather wasn't crazy about eating them.
What he liked was looking for them,
even if it meant a full day's hike.
He never got tired.
See that mountain?
What he called "the mushroom garden" is up there.
You know why? - Why?
Because the best mushroom grows there - the chanterelle.
- Why don't we go? - It's too far.
We'd never make it with you two weaklings.
We'll go some other day.
But first you have to promise
never to tell your mother.
Look what we have here.
A real devil.
It smells so good.
Sure, the young ones fool you,
but the older ones are a different story.
Look very closely.
Look at the color of the cap
and the black gills.
Never forget, girls: This is the worst of all.
The most poisonous.
Whoever eats this hasn't got a chance in the world.
Fernando.
See you later.
- Good morning, Don Fernando. - Good morning.
We're getting a late start.
- You hit me! - I did not!
That's enough! Stop being so boisterous.
- Dummy! - Pig!
Good Lord!
What's all this ruckus?
- She started it. - That's enough!
She's lying.
Come on. It's time to wash up for school.
First you get the brush wet.
Okay.
Then you rub it all over your face.
Then you get it soapy.
Now you rub it on your face.
Okay.
Now I shave off the little hairs?
Yes, and then you put on some cologne.
Mama, do you know what a spirit is?
You don't know and I do.
A spirit is a spirit.
Are they good or bad?
With good little girls, they're very good,
but with bad girls, they're very bad.
But you're always a good girl, aren't you?
Give me a kiss.
It's coming!
"Now neither malice nor hatred,
nor even the fear of change.
I only feel thirst,
a thirst for I know not what.
Rivers of life, where have you gone?
Air, I need air.
What do you see in the darkness that makes you silently tremble?
I see not but only stare like a blind man
facing straight into the sun.
I shall fall where the fallen never rise."
"To... my...
dear...
misanthrope."
Come here.
What's wrong with you?
Come on, get up. Stop playing around.
He's not here anymore. He's gone.
Isabel, tell me what happened.
Milagros!
- Careful, you'll get burnt. - Isabel!
Careful, Raquel.
What are you doing here, child?
Come on, let's go.
Let's go home. Your father's back.
Let's go.
Come on, let's go.
Where were you?
Here.
Hello.
Come in.
- May I, sir? - Come in.
- He's here. - I'll be right there.
Ana, come here!
Get back!
Ana, what happened to you?
- Miguel, how is she? - Fine. Still a little weak.
She hardly sleeps. She won't eat or speak.
Light bothers her.
She looks our way but doesn't recognize us.
It's as if we didn't exist.
Ana is still a very small child.
She's under the effect of a powerful experience.
But she'll get over it.
Really, Miguel?
Bit by bit she'll begin to forget.
The important thing is that your daughter's alive.
She's alive.
She's gone to sleep.
Don Miguel, she's asleep.
Give her this medicine. The dose is right here.
Yes, sir. I'll go right to the pharmacy.
She should eat. Something easy to digest.
Soup without too much fat,
a boiled egg.
And you need rest too, Teresa,
as much as she does.
If anything happens, send Milagros for me. I'll come right away.
Yes, Miguel.
Someone to whom I recently showed my glass beehive,
with its movement like the main gear wheel of a clock -
Someone who saw the constant agitation of the honeycomb,
the mysterious, maddened commotion
of the nurse bees over the nests,
the teeming bridges and stairways of wax,
the invading spirals...
If you're his friend,
you can talk to him whenever you want.
Just close your eyes
and call him.
"It's me, Ana."