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Labyrinth is a 1986 fantasy film directed by the late Jim Henson and designed through the art of Brian Froud and Henson, with screenwriting by Monty Python alum Terry Jones. The human leads are David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King, and a teenage Jennifer Connelly as Sarah. The plot revolves around Sarah's quest in a strange fantasy maze. Most of the other significant roles are played by puppets or by a combination of puppetry and human performance. It was shot on location in New York and at Elstree Studios in the UK.

Synopsis

Sarah is a dreamer, a young woman obsessed with fantasy and playing dress-up who is stuck babysitting her brother after a fight with her step-mother. Even worse, he has her treasured bear Lancelot. Sarah tries to quiet his screaming by telling him the story from her favorite book (also called "Labyrinth), of a young woman granted special powers by the king of the goblins. It tells of how the girl could no longer stand her life and wishes for goblins to take away her screaming baby brother. As she ends the story and turns out the light, she says, "I wish the goblins would come and take you away, right now." Suddenly, Toby's crying subsides, and Sarah enters his room to find Goblins have stolen away with him.

An owl appears and transforms into the goblin king Jareth (David Bowie) and tells her he has taken the baby as a gift to her. Offended but playful when she asks for the baby back, he gives her 13 hours to find Toby before he is turned into a goblin. Now she must find her way to the center of a fantastic labyrinth and bring him back.

It turns out the Labyrinth is not a simple maze as much as its own world, riddled with logic puzzles and tests. She first meets Hoggle, a small dwarf-like man spraying for fairies outside the entrance. She pays him with jewelry to lead her through the maze. He later turns out to be a half-hearted spy for Jareth, though he eventually sides with Sarah. Her other companions are Sir Didymus (a chivalrous fox who rides a sheepdog and guards a bridge to uphold a meaningless sacred oath) and Ludo (a gentle beast she rescues from some of the King's men). After a variety of adventures, including an encounter with detachable-limbed revelers who try to steal Sarah's head, a detour through the Bog of Eternal Stench, and a drug-induced hallucination engineered by Jareth, Sarah makes her way into the castle at the center of its squalid city.

The film climaxes in a multi-dimensional Escher set where Jareth tries to confuse and frighten Sarah, making a final appeal for her to abandon her quest and stay with him as his queen. She instead rejects him at the last moment, echoing the very lines she originally couldn't remember when trying to rehearse for the play Labyrinth: "You have no power over me". The room crumbles away and Sarah finds herself in her front hall at home with the clock striking midnight and an owl flying away—presumably Jareth, with his powers stripped away.

In her room, she collects some of her toys, returning to Toby's room to give him back Lancelot. While clearing her dresser off and clearly confused on whether this is the turning point in her life between being a grown-up or remaining a young girl, Hoggle appears along with Ludo and Sir Didymus, as images in the mirror. They seem to be bidding her good-bye as she leaves behind the fantasies of childhood, but remind her that they will still be available "should you need us." Sarah, however, insists that even as she grows up, she will still need them, and the film closes as the Labyrinth creatures celebrate Sarah's refusal to give up her imagination. Outside, the Jareth owl flies away into the night.

Labyrinth in other media

The filmmakers acknowledged several influences, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the works of Maurice Sendak and M. C. Escher.

Many of the settings and creatures in the film were based on designs by Brian Froud, who had previously collaborated with Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal. Froud and screenwriter Terry Jones later collaborated on the book The Goblins of Labyrinth which depicted some of the incidental creatures from the film.

The soundtrack album Labyrinth includes much of Trevor Jones's strictly instrumental music including "Into the Labyrinth," "Sarah," "Hallucination," "The Goblin Battle," "Thirteen O'Clock" and "Home at Last," and David Bowie's five songs, "Magic Dance" (also credited as "Dance Magic"), "Chilly Down," "As the World Falls Down," "Within You," and the single released for the film, "Underground."

A video game based on the movie was released in Japan for the Nintendo Famicom, but never saw release in America, however a Commodore 64 version was released in 1986.

Tokyopop in partnership with The Jim Henson Company are planning to publish a manga-style comic called "Return to Labyrinth" based on the movie in August 2006 It is to be written by Jake Forbes and illustrated by Chris Lie. It is planned as a sequel to the film and is set to be about Toby, the baby brother in the movie, when he has grown to be 13 years old.

One interpretation (see below), plus the suggestions of decadent sexual tempation in the ballroom, suggest an affinity with another 1980s film: The Company of Wolves, directed by Neil Jordan from short stories by Angela Carter (like Labyrinth, it features a fantasy ballroom scene).

Interpretation

Although primarily seen as a children's film, Labyrinth may also be interpreted as a symbolic tale of a young girl's (non-)acceptance of her sexuality. Scenes at the beginning and end of the film reveal that most of the characters which Sarah encounters echo toys, posters etc from her bedroom—e.g. a Hoggle-like wooden bookend, a board game designed as a maze, a musical doll wearing the gown from the ballroom scene. Most significantly, newspaper clippings on Sarah's actress mother show that she has or had a relationship with her stage partner; Bowie's image is used for these photos.

Notes

  • Artist Brian Froud's infant son Toby played Sarah's brother in the movie.
  • Some of the puppeteers went on to work for computer animation studios.
  • David Bowie's character is seen to contact juggle throughout the film. These manipulations were actually performed by renowned juggler Michael Moschen, who stood behind Bowie during filming.

Credits

Cast

The film received a PG rating in the US and a U in the UK (equivalent to a US G). It runs for 101 minutes.

Quotes

  • Jareth: "Turn back, Sarah. Turn back before it's too late."
    Sarah: "I can't. Don't you understand I can't?"
    Jareth: "What a pity."

  • Jareth: "So, the Labyrinth is a piece of cake, is it? Well, let's see how you deal with this little slice..."

  • Jareth: "I've brought you a gift."
    Sarah: "What is it?"
    Jareth: "It's a crystal. Nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby."

  • Jareth: "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave."

  • Jareth: "You remind me of the babe
    A goblin: What babe?
    Jareth: The babe with the power
    A goblin: What power?
    Jareth: The power of voodoo.
    A goblin: Who do?
    Jareth: You do.
    A goblin: Do what?
    Jareth: Remind me of the babe.

Influences in modern culture

  • The scene with the two guards (one who always tells the truth and one who always lies) was pardodied in the cartoon show The Powerpuff Girls (episode "Him Diddle Riddle"). In the episode, the Powerpuff Girls have to save their teacher, Ms Keane from drowning. However, they are caught in a dilemma when they are faced with two identical Ms Keanes and must decide which is the real Ms Keane before time runs out. As with Labryinth, the girls can only ask one question and one Ms Keane will always tell the truth and one will always tell a lie.

External links

References

1986 films | Fantasy films | Henson films

Die Reise ins Labyrinth | Dentro del laberinto | המבוך (סרט) | ラビリンス/魔王の迷宮 | Labirynt (film) | Лабиринт (фильм)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Labyrinth (film)".

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