Release Date: July 31, 1998
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Patrick Godfrey, Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey
Directed by: Andy Tennant
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox Films
MPAA Rating: PG (brief language, mild thematic elements)
Most common Anglo-Saxon fairy tales, like the story of Cinderella and her Prince Charming, date back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but their initial authors most likely wrote them as an ad hoc compilation of regional fables and anecdotes which originated much earlier. The fantastical quality of fairy tales would have only approached its present state several hundred years later, when the writers were dead and gone and the origins had become lost in the murky backwoods of human history. But they are inventive tales if nothing else, and Andy Tennant's romantic drama Ever After seeks to rationalize the story of Cinderella as an epic story of true love whose particulars were reconstructed in later years to make it more appropriate for children.
The girl Cinderella, named so because her servant status meant she slept by the cinders of the fireplace, was in fact Danielle De Barbarac (Drew Barrymore), the daughter of a minor French noble whose wife had died when Danielle was very young. Danielle's father remarried several years later to the icy Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent (Anjelica Huston), but he also died shortly thereafter, leaving Danielle in the care of the Baroness and her two stepsisters, Marguerite (Megan Dodds) and Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey). The Baroness quickly relegated the servant duties to the tomboy Danielle, while she and her daughters carelessly whittled away the small fortune left to them by Danielle's father.
Also at this time, the French court was experiencing a number of changes. The king and queen had contracted a new palace artist, a wise old man named Leonardo da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey); they had also endeavored to marry their son and heir apparent Prince Henry (Dougray Scott) to the Princess of Spain. But the Prince cannot bring himself to love his would-be bride, and the marriage is broken off, to the dismay of his parents and to the joy of the Baroness De Ghent. The Baroness quickly contrived for the Prince to meet her daughters, seeking to marry one of them off and at the same time solving their financial troubles. But the Prince's eye is on the servant girl Danielle, whom he met through a chance encounter when Danielle dressed up as a noblewoman and went to the court to plead for the life of a household servant.
Every detail of this story is told in a grand, romantic fashion that does justice to the fairy tale. It's the sort of vision that very few directors could have captured accurately, and director Tennant does not falter. His adaptation of the story, with Susannah Grant and Rick Parks, is also quite polished, running about 100 minutes in length and dispensing the essentials in a timely fashion. The director understands that although this is an epic romance, it need not be a lengthy one.
Ever After succeeds in its storytelling, but it does not do so well in selling the audience the idea of Drew Barrymore as Cinderella. She seems awkward and ill-equipped to handle the fantasy of the film, and it seems difficult to believe that anyone forced to do manual labor for several years would grow up to be anyone as beautiful as she. But Hollywood's skewed perception of itself permits this casting choice, just as it permits the foppish Dougray Scott to turn in a performance which alternates between moments of manly courage and girlish contempt. Together, the two leads create a forbidden-romance which is anything but extraordinary; their every move is telegraphed before it is made.
The movie's best moments are when Leonardo da Vinci is onscreen. Godfrey portrays him as a wise old bird with more than a few nuggets of common sense and a penchant for stinging wit -- all with a twinkle in his eye. Never mind the fact that da Vinci died in 1519, the year that Prince Henry was born, for if the movie followed the history books to a cue, the audience would miss out on all the fun. Unfortunately Godfrey's screen time is limited, and da Vinci remains a rather minor character in the movie. Also misused is Anjelica Huston as the evil stepmother -- she's not evil enough, and displays practically no spiteful malice at all until the final scene; her comeuppance is a very bittersweet victory for the protagonists.
Ever After, too, has a bit of a bittersweet edge to it. But it's not to say that audiences won't like it, for it's the sort of candy-coated romance that young teenage girls and couples on dates like to see in lieu of big summer blockbusters. As far as fairy tales go, Hollywood could have done better. But the point is not that they could have, but that they did at all.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush