Ever After

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

Ever After
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andy Tennant
Produced by	Mireille Soria Tracey Trench
Screenplay by	Susannah Grant Andy Tennant Rick Parks
Based on	Cinderella  by Charles Perrault
Starring	Drew Barrymore Anjelica Huston Dougray Scott
Music by	George Fenton
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn
Edited by	Roger Bondelli
Production company	Flower Films
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	July 29, 1998 (1998-07-29)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$26 million
Box office	$98 million

Ever After (known in promotional material as Ever After: A Cinderella Story) is a 1998 American romantic drama film inspired by the fairy tale Cinderella. It was directed by Andy Tennant and stars Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, and Dougray Scott. The screenplay was written by Tennant, Susannah Grant, and Rick Parks. The original music score was 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/supernatural elements are removed and the story is instead treated as historical fiction, set in Renaissance-era France. It is often seen as a modern, post-feminism interpretation of the Cinderella myth.

Plot

In the 19th century, a Grande Dame (Jeanne Moreau) summons The Brothers Grimm to her palace, where the brothers discuss their interpretation of the Cinderella story and notice a painting displayed in the room. The Grande Dame shows the brothers a glass slipper and tells them the story of Danielle de Barbarac, the true story of Cinderella. In 16th-century France, widower Auguste de Barbarac (Jeroen Krabbé), father of eight-year-old Danielle, marries Rodmilla de Ghent (Anjelica Huston), a wealthy baroness with two young daughters, Marguerite and Jacqueline, but he dies of a heart attack shortly afterwards. Before dying, Auguste's last words are directed to Danielle, which causes the Baroness to envy Danielle and treat her miserably for the next ten years. While Marguerite (Megan Dodds) is hostile and cruel to Danielle, Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey) is kinder and more respectful to her, though she often stays out of the crossfires to keep the peace. By the time Danielle (Drew Barrymore) 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.

Danielle has been reduced to a servant in her own home, waiting on her stepmother and stepsisters, and clinging to her father's last gift, a copy of Thomas More's Utopia. While collecting apples, Danielle sees a man stealing her father's horse and unseats him with an apple. When she recognizes he is Prince Henry (Dougray Scott), she abases herself. He gives her a bag of gold in exchange for her silence. She decides to use the money to rescue their servant, Maurice (Walter Sparrow), whom the Baroness has sold to pay her debts. Henry's escape from the duties of court is foiled when he encounters a band of gypsies robbing an old man. He learns that the old man is Leonardo da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey), who has been summoned to court. Henry chases a thief and returns the Mona Lisa to da Vinci, then returns with him. Meanwhile, Danielle dresses as a noblewoman and leaves to buy back Maurice, but the guards refuse, saying he is being deported to the Americas. She argues for his release and, when Henry overhears, he orders Maurice's release.

Intrigued by Danielle's mysterious identity, and amazed by her eloquence and passionate pleas, he begs for her name. Danielle gives Henry the name of her mother, "Comtesse Nicole de Lancret", who died giving birth to Danielle. King Francis (Timothy West) and Queen Marie (Judy Parfitt) tell Henry that he must choose a bride before the upcoming masquerade ball, or he will have to wed the Spanish princess Gabriella. All the noble families receive an invitation and Danielle initially believes she is included. When collecting truffles, she meets Henry by the river in the company of da Vinci. Henry and Danielle engage in a lively debate before Danielle runs off after she notices Jacqueline searching for her. Henry invites her to visit the library of a nearby monastery. On the way home, they are ambushed by the gypsies, who are amused by Danielle's outrage and agree to release her with whatever she can carry. When she picks up Henry and begins to walk away, the gypsies offer them a horse. Henry and Danielle spend the night at the gypsy camp, sharing their first kiss and arranging to meet again.

The next morning, Danielle catches the Baroness and Marguerite stealing her mother's dress and slippers for Marguerite to wear to the ball. After Marguerite insults Danielle about her mother's death, she punches Marguerite in the face and chases her around the manor until Marguerite threatens to throw Utopia into the fireplace. Danielle returns her mother's slippers to the Baroness in exchange for the book but Marguerite burns it in the fire anyway in an act of spite. After Danielle is punished by whipping, Jacqueline tends to her wounds and condemns Marguerite for insulting Danielle's deceased mother. When Danielle meets Henry later, she wishes to tell him the truth, but is afraid he will reject her after he confesses his love. During a lunch with the Queen, the Baroness discovers that Danielle is the Countess Henry has been spending time with. In an effort to keep Henry and Danielle apart, the Baroness tells the Queen that Danielle is engaged to a Belgian man. The Baroness confronts Danielle and accuses her of stealing the dress and slippers as they have disappeared. When Danielle insults Marguerite, the Baroness locks her in the pantry.

Danielle's childhood friend Gustave (Lee Ingleby) goes to da Vinci who helps free her, then makes her a pair of wings for the ball with her mother's dress and slippers. Danielle arrives at the ball, but moments before she can tell Henry the truth, the Baroness exposes her identity in front of him. Shocked and enraged over Danielle's deception, Henry refuses any explanation from her. Heartbroken, Danielle flees the castle, losing one of her slippers. Leonardo finds it, and reprimands Henry for his attitude to no avail, leaving him with the slipper. The wedding of Henry and Gabriella begins, but seeing how unhappy she is, Henry calls the wedding off, letting her return to the man she's in love with. Henry runs out to look for Danielle, only to find out from Jacqueline that the Baroness has sold her to vile landowner Pierre le Pieu (Richard O'Brien). When Pierre makes sexual advances towards Danielle, she cuts Pierre's face with a sword and threatens to dismember him, but Pierre surrenders and gives Danielle the key to the shackles that he forced her to wear.

Henry arrives just as Danielle leaves Pierre's mansion. Henry apologizes for his ignorance and proposes to Danielle by putting the glass slipper on her foot. Danielle cries into Henry's arms and they kiss. The Baroness and her daughters are summoned to the court, assuming that Henry plans to propose to Marguerite. The Baroness is publicly accused of lying to the Queen, stripped of her title and she and Marguerite are threatened to be exiled to the Americas if no one will speak on their behalf. At the last minute, Danielle speaks for them. Henry introduces Danielle as his wife and Danielle asks the King and Queen to show her stepmother and sister the same courtesy they had shown her. The Baroness and Marguerite are sent to work as laundry maids for the rest of their lives, while Jacqueline is spared punishment due to her kindness and becomes Danielle's lady-in-waiting. After da Vinci gives the newlywed couple a painting as a gift, Henry and Danielle share a kiss. The Grande Dame tells The Brothers Grimm that Danielle was her ancestor, and that Danielle and Henry did live happily ever after, but the point is that they lived.

Historical Context

While the actual story is fictional, it involves several historical figures, places and events. The film is set in the 16th Century and features either the presence or mentions of Francis I, his queen, Prince Henry, Leonardo da Vinci, the explorer Cartier, the Grimm brothers, Perrault, the French colonies in the New World, the university, the 'ruins' at Amboise and the French Revolution.

Cast

• Drew Barrymore as Danielle de Barbarac / "Comtesse Nicole de Lancret"
  • Anna Maguire as 8-year-old Danielle
• Anjelica Huston as Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent
• Dougray Scott as Prince Henry
• Megan Dodds as Marguerite de Ghent
  • Elizabeth Earl as young Marguerite
• Melanie Lynskey as Jacqueline de Ghent
  • Alex Pooley as young Jacqueline
• Patrick Godfrey as Leonardo da Vinci
• Timothy West as King Francis
• Judy Parfitt as Queen Marie
• Richard O'Brien as Pierre le Pieu
• Jeroen Krabbé as Auguste de Barbarac
• Lee Ingleby as Gustave
  • Ricki Cuttell as young Gustave
• Matyelok Gibbs as Louise
• Kate Lansbury as Paulette
• Walter Sparrow as Maurice
• Toby Jones as Royal Page
• Peter Gunn as Captain Laurent
• Jeanne Moreau as Grande Dame
• Joerg Stadler as Wilhelm Grimm
• Andy Henderson as Jacob Grimm

Production

Ever After was filmed in Super 35 mm film format; however, both the widescreen and pan-and-scan versions are included on the DVD. This is the only Super 35mm film directed by Tennant; his previous films were filmed with spherical lenses, while his subsequent films used anamorphic.

The castle shown in the film is the Château de Hautefort, in the Dordogne region of France. Other featured châteaux are de Fénelon, de Losse, de Lanquais, de Beynac as well as the city of Sarlat-la-Canéda.

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

Reception

Ever After is regarded as one of the best interpretations of the Cinderella story. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 64 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. The critical consensus states: "Ever After is a sweet, frothy twist on the ancient fable, led by a solid turn from star Barrymore." 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 a 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 three out of four stars, wrote that "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."

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated

Home media

The film was released on DVD on March 3, 1999. On January 4, 2011, the film was released on Blu-ray.

Musical adaptation

A Broadway musical is currently in the works, with the book and lyrics by Marcy Heisler and music by Zina Goldrich. The musical was originally scheduled to have its world premiere in April 2009 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, but the pre-Broadway run was postponed. In May 2012, it was announced that the project is back on track with Kathleen Marshall signing on to direct a Broadway run.

A workshop of the musical was held from April 25-May 15, 2013 with Sierra Boggess as Danielle, Jeremy Jordan as Prince Henry, and Ashley Spencer as Marguerite. The musical made its world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse from May 21-June 21, 2015. Christine Ebersole played the role of Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent. Alongside Ebersole, Margo Seibert starred as Danielle, James Snyder as Henry, Charles Shaughnessy as King Francis, and Tony Sheldon as Da Vinci.

See also

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

External links

• Ever After at the Internet Movie Database
• Ever After at Box Office Mojo
• Ever After at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ever After at Metacritic