EVER AFTER: A CINDERELLA STORY
The ultimate Mr. Right story, of course, is Cinderella, in which a dashing prince (and a fairy godmother) rescue a pathetic girl from a life of poverty and abuse. A lot is changed but the charm definitely remains in this 1990’s feminist (and much more realistic) version. It is set in an artfully re-created Renaissance France, in which poor Cinderella battles to control her own destiny. The prince is cute but no brain surgeon, and the godmother role is undertaken by Leonardo da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey), who happens to be passing through.
The main point of this lush production (including some eye-pleasing use of medieval chateaus and a monastery) is to take the legend to some credible historic roots for a skeptical modern audience. As played by impressive Drew Barrymore, the Cinderella character, Danielle, is admirable. She’s a role model of a loving, dutiful daughter, deeply attached to her dead parents and her father’s last gift to her (a copy of Thomas More’s Utopia). She yearns for the love of stepmother Rodmilla (deliciously played by Anjelica Huston) who rejects her time after time.
Danielle’s pretense at the palace is not self-indulgence but part of a plan to save the life of a beloved family servant. The lost shoe becomes a symbol rather than a literal search for a dainty foot. Danielle is a clever and athletic country girl who gets herself out of tight jams and rescues the virile but dim-bulb prince (Dougray Scott).
The romance is largely preserved, along with humor that decently avoids destroying the mystique. Thus, Rodmilla and pretty blonde daughter Marguerite (Megan Dodds) are transparently greedy and selfish, the royal parents are typically frustrated by their nonconformist son, the inventive da Vinci is always trying stuff.
This is director and cowriter Andy Tennant’s first big-budget effort (he and Barrymore collaborated on TV’s Amy Fisher Story) and it’s class all the way. Even the punishment devised for the gold digging step ladies seems fair and just. My guess is that young women will love this film, as well as just about everyone else.
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