Although the world didn’t end in 2012 as doomsday conspiracy theorists believed, it was a busy year for those who love fairy tales. Two English-language adaptations of Snow Whitewere released into theaters, where movie audiences could go see Charlize Theron or Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen unleash their wrath onto Kristen Stewart or Lily Collins as the princess who was the “fairest one of all.” A third retelling went under the radar that same year, one that was a departure from the other versions. Although it’s a Spanish production, Blancanieves (or Snow White) is an elegant black-and-white throwback to silent cinema that reimagined the fairy tale as an erotic, haunting story about a young woman who is no longer a princess but has grown up to become a bullfighter.
