Year of Release: 1998
Director: Andy Tennant
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey, Timothy West, Patrick Godfrey, Judy Parfitt, Jeroen Krabbe, Lee Ingleby, Kate Lansbury, Walter Sparrow, Jeanne Moreau, Anna Maguire, Richard O'Brien, Peter Gunn
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review
Andy Tennant who prior to directing features had a long career in television, directing episodes for a series of TV shows including "The Wonder Years" and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", firstly got a taste of middling success with "Fools Rush In", but his visibility increased substantially after the success of "Ever After". The narrative follows the adventures of Danielle de Barbarac during the French Renaissance. In the years since her father passed away, she has become a de facto chambermaid/servant to her stepmother, the Baroness Rodmilla, and her two daughters. One day while out and about she meets a young man, who turns out to be Prince Henry, who is attempting to flee the area in order to avoid an arranged marriage. Henry notices Danielle once again when she heads to the palace to buy back a family servant. He becomes so impressed with her passion he orders the man to be released. Henry's father, King Francis negotiates a deal with his son in the meantime: there's a masquerade ball to be held in a few days, upon which Henry will announce his engagement to the woman of his choosing by midnight, or marry the one they have chosen for him. Rodmilla accelerates her efforts of getting one of her daughters to become more visible to Henry, while he is secretly spending more and more time with Danielle.
"Ever After: A Cinderella Story" much like its title implies, gets its inspiration from Charles Perrault's book "Histoires ou contes du temps passé" (which includes "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Cinderella", to name but a few), but adds a more modernist vibe courtesy of the screenplay by Susannah Grant, Andy Tennant, and Rick Parks. The film sadly doesn't have much substance to it, lacking the magical and delight that the original Walt Disney version originally rendered in its animated version from 1950 (directed by the team of Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske). There's attempts at modernizing Danielle, by making her more humane and in touch with the plight of her employees (wouldn't you know, she's the original Norma Rae), and also by making her more tomboyish (a bit rough around the edges, means personality wise, you're that much more likely to be less judgmental or artificial). All these attempts at portraying the virtues of Danielle through a more modern prism, versus the not so friendly embodiment of selfishness and villainy from Rodmilla and her daughters, tries to slightly distance the narrative from the black or white aspects of these tales when it comes to defining characters' traits, while still retaining its core message intact. It would have been far more interesting if the narrative did attempt a more radical departure, by illustrating the challenges of women's roles during that time, as opposed to once again pitying them against each other. Even if the script is indeed superficial, it does provide Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston a few opportunities to shine and demonstrate what makes them always so watchable, even if the material doesn't do them enough justice. The rest of the cast is solid, particularly Melanie Lynskey, Judy Parfitt, and the magical Jeanne Moreau, who has a wonderful cameo in the film. The production team is equally solid, particularly the wonderful costumes authored by Jenny Beavan. It's watchable, but also forgettable, which seems to be an undercurrent with all the films from this director.
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