'Pan's Labyrinth' Opening and Ending scene analysis/comparison

Youtube link: 'Opening' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMnp-XmMiEg
Youtube link: 'Ending' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvjiQTdcCRU

The film, 'Pan's Labyrinth', (directed by Guillermo Del Toro,) opens and ends with two near identical scenes. Beginning with little to no visual detail, the viewer(s) is only given the faint sound of (semi-fast) breathing; the sound is non-diegetic at first, creating a sense of ambiguity as well as emphasising the sound as it is not contested by any visual distractions. As the shot pans (no pun intended) upward, it is revealed that the source of the (now diegetic) sound is a (presumably severely) injured girl who is bleeding profusely from her nose; this indicates that she is possibly suffering from either internal bleeding or brain damage, given the setting she is in, one would assume that she wouldn't be able to receive the necessary treatment required to heal such wounds in time, further emphasising the morbidity of this scene. As the scene progresses, the blood streaming from her nose can be seen moving backwards (leaving no stains or markings upon the skin), suggesting that time within this scene is actually moving backward to provide a small amount of context to the girl's current state as well as her character.
The main colour pallet within this scene consists almost entirely of cold, blues and dark tones, the blood on the girl's hand and face are the only providers of any visual contrast within this shot and are therefor emphasised greatly as the camera scans over her frail, injured form. This was likely done to convey a sense of urgency since we humans associate unsettling concepts such as gore and blood with (impending) death and the presence of danger; through subtle perceivable mediums, this scene creates a small yet sufficient amount of visual context to capture the audiences attention and allows for the organic continuation of the scene without having to provide any audible narration.

The ending scene for 'Pan's Labyrinth' provides the viewer(s) with a large amount of visual and audible contrast compared to the first scene, however this instance would lack a greater sense of meaning should the opening scene not have been a flash forward. It is here that we see the girl (now known as Ophelia) has been transported to a fantastical, golden setting that greatly contrasts the cold blue colour pallet of the first scene. There is also non-diegetic music that plays as the scene continues, providing us with a soothing tune that resembles something one would hear in a place of worship, suggesting themes of a biblical nature; the audio itself shows obvious contrast to the lack of music within the opening scene however its presence is somewhat unsettling, almost haunting as it conveys a sense of finality (for better of worse), relative to the film's general plot we can assume that Ophelia is not safe as that opposes most of the morbid themes that have been greatly emphasised during the film's running time. Although we are lead to believe that Ophelia has been returned to a place of fantasy and bounty through the sacrifice of her mortal coil, the viewer(s) is torn back to the real world through a radiant transition as the scene fades to a continuation of the opening scene where we are shown Ophelia's dying/dead body yet bathed in a cool blue light that visually disturbs the transition and grounds the situation, further removing the hope that she has actually moved on to a better place. By returning to the real world, Guillermo Del Toro has been able to convey the overall disparity that is brought about by Ophelia's death and how her end removes any sense of victory from the film's conclusion.