Despedida (Ana’s Farewell) is a fairy tale, make no mistake.  This is a great thing for it to be, for the best fairy tales throughout history have not truly been stories for children at all. They have always been an exploration of the human condition, of our hopes and our fears, our joys and our sorrows, and–most commonly of all–the loss of a loved one. Despedida centers on that very same theme and weaves a beautiful tale of a child seeking her dead grandmother through a magic forest only to find the end of the tale is something very different than she believes it to be.

Directed by Vinicius Lopes and Luciana Mazeto, Despedida begins as all good fairy tales do, with a lovely animated “once upon a time” sequence that turns out to be the dream of a girl named Ana (Anaís Grala Wegner). Her grandmother, Alma, has just died and Ana is on the way to the funeral with her mother, Inés. Inés and Alma had not seen each other in years, for reasons that are unclear to Ana, but the tension over their past is palpable from the beginning of the film.

As Inés and Ana settle into Alma’s home, strange events occur. Inés begins to go blind. Her aunt seems determined to take control of the house, at any cost. Another family on the land gets an eviction notice. Through it all, Ana desperately tries to find her grandmother, who she believes still resides behind the house, in a forest that is a doorway between the living and the dead.

Despedida is a wonderfully strange little beast of a movie. While it follows the classic fairy tale idea of a girl wandering into a magical forest in order to find something lost, the fantastical elements are actually being used to tell a story of someone who went missing many years ago. It’s a clever plot that keeps the true purpose of the story well-hidden until a lovely reveal near the end finally lays it all bare.

Even more exciting, however, are the fantastic uses of animation styles that are peppered throughout the film’s live-action story. Stop-motion animation, hand-drawn animation, shadow-play, under-water CGI–all of these are more are used to great effect as a way of drawing the audience into the magical, fantastical world that Ana explores as she seeks the answers to her questions. Utilizing so many types of animation styles can make a film feel overstuffed but Despedida uses them all perfectly, helping to keep the film’s story and themes very well-balanced.

Despedida also works because of Anais Grala Wegner’s great performance. As the film works almost entirely from Ana’s point of view, Wegner’s exceptional work is crucial to the success of the film. Fortunately, she nails all of the characteristics needed here and stays grounded and believable, even as the elements of the film become more fantastical and strange. It’s a wonderful performance.

Like all great fairy tales, Despedida hides a dark, scary, sad story behind a facade of magic and wonder. What begins as the loss of a grandmother becomes a journey to find the real cost of grief and loss and how the mind can completely bury the truth behind a beautiful lie. It is a weird, beautiful, entrancing film that deserves to enthrall audiences around the world.