Ever After

This article is about the 1998 film. For other uses, see Ever After (disambiguation).

Ever After: A Cinderella Story
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andy Tennant
Written by	Charles Perrault (Cinderella) Susannah Grant (screenplay) Andy Tennant (screenplay) Rick Parks (screenplay)
Produced by	Mireille Soria Tracey Trench
Starring	Drew Barrymore Anjelica Huston Dougray Scott Megan Dodds Melanie Lynskey
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn
Edited by	Roger Bondelli
Music by	George Fenton
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	July 29, 1998
Running time	121 minutes (approx.)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$26 million (estimated)
Box office	$98,005,666

Ever After: A Cinderella Story is a 1998 film inspired by the fairy tale Cinderella, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston and Dougray Scott. The screenplay is written by Tennant, Susannah Grant, and Rick Parks. The original music score is composed by George Fenton. The film's closing theme song "Put Your Arms Around Me" is performed by the rock band Texas.

The usual pantomime and comic elements are removed and the story is instead treated as historical fiction. It is often seen as a modern, post-feminism interpretation of the Cinderella myth.

Plot

The movie begins with the Grimm Brothers visiting an elderly woman, the Grande Dame of France, who while thoroughly enjoying their stories questions their story of the little cinder girl. The Grimm Brothers reply that there was no way for them to verify the authenticity of their story as there were so many different versions. After one of the brothers expressed curiosity about a portrait showing a young woman, the Grande Dame replies that the woman was Danielle de Barbarac (Drew Barrymore) and proceeds to tell her story.

In 16th century France, Danielle de Barbarac's father, Auguste, marries a baroness with two young daughters, but dies shortly afterward. The Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent (Anjelica Huston) was already jealous and resentful of Danielle, and ensures her life is miserable. By the time Danielle is eighteen, the estate has fallen into decline, as the Baroness has no interest in farming and wishes to get back to court as soon as possible. The elder daughter Marguerite (Megan Dodds) has grown to be as cruel and arrogant as her mother, who favors her for her cunning and calculating personality. The younger daughter, Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey), neglected by her mother, is sweet-tempered and forgiving but powerless. Danielle has been reduced to a servant in her own house; she sleeps near the kitchen fireplace and her most prized and virtually only possession is the last present her father gave her, a paperback copy of Thomas More's Utopia.

While collecting apples, Danielle hears the thunder of hooves, and runs to find a strange man attempting to steal her father's horse. Enraged, she calls him a thief, and proceeds to throw an apple and hit him squarely on the forehead. The man, stumbling and bleeding slightly from the apple's blow, is revealed to be the local Prince. Danielle falls to the ground in a low bow, embarrassed, and fearing for her life because of her rash action. The Prince, Henry, hurredly explains that he was stealing her horse to flee from the royal guard and escape his 'gilded cage'. He takes the horse and pays her 20 gold francs for her silence on the matter. Astonished by the amount of money, Danielle hides the gold from her step-mother and conceives of a plan to rescue one of the maidservant's husbands, and long time servant friend, Maurice.

Prince Henry, who continues to run and elude the castle guards that pursue him, comes across a small caravan of gypsies who are sacking an old man's carriage. The man wails and flags down Henry, claiming that one of the gypsies has stolen his painting. Henry pauses for a moment, and nervously recognizes that the guards are hot on his trail. He tries to shake off the man and race away, but the elderly fellow claims that "it's a matter of life and death." Henry grudgingly agrees to chase the bandits, and after an elaborate flight and fight, recovers the painting. Henry returns the prized painting (later shown to be the Mona Lisa) to the elderly man, who reveals himself to be Leonardo Da Vinci, the famed painter who is paying a visit to the King and Queen (Henry's parents). Sadly, the castle guards catch up with the Prince, and he is escorted back to the castle followed by Da Vinci.

Meanwhile, deciding to dress in disguise and use her mother's name - Comtesse Nicole de Lancret - Danielle goes to the royal prison to buy back Maurice, and save him from being sent to the New World colonies, since he had been sold by the Baroness because of her past due taxes. After meeting Prince Henry (Dougray Scott) during an argument with the prison guard, (luckily he does not recognize her as the commoner who threw the apples at him previously) he is impressed with her forthrightness and strong personality. They have a series of secretive encounters, with Henry becoming intrigued with her wit and intelligence but is unaware of her true identity as well as the fact that it is her stepmother and stepsister that are openly trying to court his favour for marriage. Unbeknown to Danielle, Henry feels just as trapped by circumstance as she does: his only real companion being Laurent, captain of the royal guard, with many courtiers and nobles wooing him in exchange for favours because of his position, not his personal identity. With some aid from a travelling Leonardo da Vinci, who is in fact on his way to the palace, Henry is able to find the confidence to act naturally with Danielle.

After much deliberation The King and Queen of France give their son an ultimatum: either he announce his engagement to a woman of his choosing at the upcoming masquerade ball, or he will wed the Princess of Spain. Thinking of Danielle, Henry agrees. Danielle, her stepmother, and stepsisters all receive invitations to the ball. When Danielle catches Marguerite trying on Danielle's mother's dress, Marguerite makes a callous comment about Danielle's mother being dead and having no use for the fine vestments. Danielle, infuriated, punches her in the face and chases her around the manor, but Marguerite retaliates by seizing and threatening to burn Danielle's copy of Utopia. Although Danielle gives in and allows Marguerite to take the dress and the glass shoes which come with it, Marguerite, out of simple spite, burns the book anyway. Under orders from her stepmother, the Baroness, Danielle is beaten and whipped. Jacqueline attempts to comfort her and heal her wounds.

Danielle, deciding that she must tell the Prince the truth about her commoner status, finds him in the forest and attempts to tell him the truth. Henry, now love-sick, fails to hear what she says and pours his heart out to her, claiming that he loves her. Danielle is on the verge of tears, knowing that their love cannot last. The couple kiss, and Henry moves to pull Danielle into an embrace, but she cries out in pain, as he has pressed against the deep lash-marks upon her back. Danielle makes a quick exit, and bids him farewell.

On the evening of the ball, Danielle's stepmother discovers the interludes between Danielle and Henry, and locks her in the manor's larder as punishment. Leonardo da Vinci, who figured out from the first meeting between Henry and Danielle she was not a noble, frees her and the manor's servants give her the dress and slippers, which they had hidden. Danielle goes to the ball, where her stepmother humiliates her by exposing her true identity. Henry publicly rejects Danielle, labelling her a hypocrite like everyone else around him. Devastated she runs away, leaving one slipper behind which is discovered by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo reprimands Henry for abandoning Danielle when she had risked everything for him.

Danielle is sold to a vile landowner, Pierre Le Pieu (Richard O'Brien), in exchange for all the missing household goods, that Rodmilla had accused Danielle and the servants of stealing but in reality had been sold to him to pay off the debt. Henry is about to go through with his arranged marriage to the Spanish princess, who is so distraught she comes to the altar sobbing. Realizing that he could not in good conscience marry someone so obviously unhappy with the arrangement - just as he is - Henry calls off the wedding in mid-ceremony, encouraging her to be with her true love, another Spanish nobleman attending the wedding. He leaves the church with renewed resolve and encounters Jacqueline, who tells him Danielle is the prisoner of Le Pieu. As Henry sets off to save her, Danielle is shown to be Le Pieu's house servant in shackles; he tries to make a sexual advance towards her, but instead finds himself held by Danielle at sword-point, and gives her the literal key to her freedom. She walks out of the castle just as Henry arrives. He begs for her forgiveness and using her real name asks for her hand in marriage, presenting to her the slipper she left on the night of the ball.

The Baroness and her daughters are summoned to visit the royal court, assuming that Henry plans to propose to Marguerite based on a lie Jacqueline tells them. Instead, they are told that they are guilty of treason for lying to the Queen about Danielle's identity and martial status among other things-an offense punishable by death. Upon hearing this, Margurite tries to cover up her part in her mother's schemes by pinning the whole blame on Rodmilla, leading to a argument between them that is soon stopped by the King. It's then that Jacqueline reveals her deception to her mother and sister. The Queen then strips the Baroness and Marguerite of their titles and tells them that they will be deported to the colonies, unless someone asks for mercy on their behalf. When no one speaks up for her, Rodmilla realizes just how alone she truly is. Danielle, whom Henry introduces as his wife, steps forward to ask the King and Queen to be as kind to her stepmother and stepsister as they were to her. Rodmilla and Marguerite are sent to work in the royal laundry for the rest of their days. Jacqueline, who had always been kind to Danielle, is spared punishment. She falls in love with Captain Laurent, whom she met at the ball. As the story ends, the elderly lady reveals to the Brothers Grimm that she is Danielle's great-great-granddaughter, and still has her glass slipper and Da Vinci's portrait, leaving the Brothers Grimm with the real lesson of the fairy tale - not merely that they lived happily ever after, but that they really did live and the story is true.

Cast

• Danielle de Barbarac, portrayed by Drew Barrymore
• Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent, portrayed by Anjelica Huston
• Prince Henry, portrayed by Dougray Scott
• Marguerite de Ghent, portrayed by Megan Dodds
• Jacqueline de Ghent, portrayed by Melanie Lynskey
• Grand Dame, portrayed by Jeanne Moreau
• Leonardo da Vinci, portrayed by Patrick Godfrey
• Maurice, portrayed by Walter Sparrow
• Louise, portrayed by Matyelok Gibbs
• Paulette, portrayed by Kate Lansbury
• Gustave, portrayed by Lee Ingleby
• King Francis and Queen Marie of France, portrayed by Timothy West and Judy Parfitt respectively
• Pierre Le Pieu, portrayed by Richard O'Brien
• Auguste de Barbarac, portrayed by Jeroen Krabbé

Production

Head of a Young Woman with Tousled Hair

Ever After was filmed in Super 35 mm film format, but both the widescreen and pan-and-scan versions are included on the same DVD. This is also the only Super 35 mm film ever directed by Andy Tennant. The Tennant-directed films before this were filmed with spherical lenses. The ones after it were filmed with anamorphic lenses.

The castle shown in the film is the Château de Hautefort. Filming also occurred in Dordogne, France at the Château de Fénélon and the Château de Losse.

The painting of Danielle seen in the film is based on Leonardo's Female Head (La Scapigliata).

Critical reception

Ever After has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 90% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 61 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. The critical consensus is: Ever After is a sweet, frothy twist on the ancient fable, led by a solid turn from star [Drew] Barrymore. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 76% based on 17 reviews. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a favorable score of 66 based on 22 reviews.

Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly gave the film an B-, saying: "Against many odds, Ever After comes up with a good one. This novel variation is still set in the once-upon-a-time 16th century. But it features an active, 1990s-style heroine -- she argues about economic theory and civil rights with her royal suitor -- rather than a passive, exploited hearth sweeper who warbles "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes"." She also praised Anjelica Huston's performance as a cruel stepmother: "Huston does a lot of eye narrowing and eyebrow raising while toddling around in an extraordinary selection of extreme headgear, accompanied by her two less-than-self-actualized daughters -- the snooty, social-climbing, nasty Marguerite, and the dim, lumpy, secretly nice Jacqueline. "Nothing is final until you're dead", Mama instructs her girls at the dinner table, "and even then I'm sure God negotiates"."

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, while praising the film with 3 out of 4 stars, wrote that it is "The movie [...] is one of surprises, not least that the old tale still has life and passion in it. I went to the screening expecting some sort of soppy children's picture and found myself in a costume romance with some of the same energy and zest as The Mask of Zorro. And I was reminded again that Drew Barrymore can hold the screen and involve us in her characters. [...] Here, as the little cinder girl, she is able to at last put aside her bedraggled losers and flower as a fresh young beauty, and she brings poignancy and fire to the role."

Both Newsweek and Rolling Stone magazine praised the movie's intelligence and wit, although some critics also noted its "confusing switch between humor and seriousness."

DVD release

The film was released on DVD with minimal extras. It is currently unknown if there will be another DVD release with more substantial content.

Musical adaptation

A musical version of the film is currently in the works, with the book and lyrics by Marcy Heisler and music by Zina Goldrich. The musical was scheduled to have its world premiere in April 2009 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, but the pre-Broadway run has been postponed.

Trailer

The theatrical trailer was noted for its use of contemporary dance music with images of a classic fairy tale. This signaled to the public that this would be a modern interpretation of a traditional story. The two pieces of music used in the trailer are "The Mummers' Dance" by Loreena McKennitt and "Fable" by Robert Miles.

See also

• Ever After, the novel by Wendy Loggia, based on the screenplay by Susannah Grant, Andy Tennant and Rick Parks

External links

• Ever After at IMDb
• Ever After at AllMovie
• Ever After at Rotten Tomatoes