Excellent, but not for children

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2007)

My wife and I have been married for getting on for 28 years. I've always been a movie fan and, in broad terms, she hasn't. I've always tended towards fantasy in my tastes, while she is very rooted in the real world. This tends to make joint movie watching something of a painful experience - on the rare occasions when I can persuade her to watch something with a fantasy element, I spend most of the film fending off variations on "Who's that?" "Why is he doing that?" "Where did they go?" and so on.
I've wanted to watch Pan's Labyrinth for some time. I put it in the DVD player at about 11pm, expecting my other half to watch for about 10 minutes and then go off to bed (11pm is already late by her body clock).
She was still there at the 10 minute mark. She winced and looked away at some of the violence (she's very squeamish), but said absolutely nothing throughout the film. At the end, she said "What a beautiful film," and I almost sighed with relief, for that is exactly what I felt. Yes, it's violent: the violence reflects the reality of the time and place. The fantasy and real life exactly balance each other and, for her, the film was totally rooted in real life, which is why she related to it so strongly.
No other comments to make about the film itself - they have all been made by others.
I've just been reading the negative comments here with interest. I have no quarrel with anyone whose tastes differ from mine, and much of one's appreciation (or not) is down to a matter of personal taste. The only criticism which holds any water, I think, concerns violence. But here in the UK this film is a certificate 15 and, if the fact that a fantasy film is certified for 15 year olds doesn't give you a hint that it might have some disturbing content, well....
It is NOT a kid's film, and anyone showing it to a child is pretty irresponsible.