Ever After (1998): Cinderella's Fairy Tale Reimagined - Movie Review

 -May contain major spoilers-

Ever After is a romantic period drama film inspired by the fairy tale "Cinderella"; It was directed by Andy Tennant with music by George Fenton and was released on July 31, 1998. Starring Drew Barrymore, Dougray Scott, Anjelica Huston, Megan Dodds and Melanie Lynskey. 

Summary

During the 16th century, Danielle de Barbarac (Drew Barrymore) is treated as a servant by her evil step-mother Baroness Romilla de Ghent (Anjelica Huston) and her two step-sisters Marguerite (Megan Dodds) and Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey) -Jacqueline is kinder though-. Danielle's father, Auguste (Jeroen Krabb), was a widower who married Romilla (who was also a widow) but died on his way to a trade voyage days after the wedding, leaving a young Danielle orphaned and in the care of Romilla.

One morning, while Danielle is picking apples in her garden, she sees a thief steal her father's horse. She hits him in the head with an apple only to notice afterward that the thief is none other than Prince Henry (Dougray Scott), the heir to the French crown (who was running away from an arranged marriage). He tells her he was only borrowing it after his own horse slipped a shoe; An apologetic Danielle tells him that he should take a younger horse, but the Prince asks her not to tell anyone and gives her some gold coins. 

While fleeing from the palace guards who were looking for him, Prince Henry encounters an old man who was being robbed by some bandits and, after some pleading from the old man (about a painting being his life), decides to help him. That old man is no other than Leonardo da Vinci (Patrick Godfrey), who was on his way to court after being invited by Prince Henry's father, the guards catch the Prince who begs Leonardo to make his father see reason and stop the arranged marriage.

Danielle decides to use the gold coins to try to buy back Maurice (Walter Sparrow), the family servant who had been sold by Romilla to pay her taxes is outside the palace waiting to go to the Americas. Danielle is determined to get Maurice back and wearing her late mother's clothes, disguises herself as a noblewoman, even though impersonating a person above her station is illegal.

Outside the palace, Danielle pleads with the jailer to release Maurice for 20 gold francs, but the jailer ignores her pleas because the King had already sold Maurice. The Prince arrives and listens to Danielle's - whom he didn't recognize because she had lowered her head when they met before - compassionate speech and impressed, orders the jailer to release Maurice.

Prince Henry becomes interested in Danielle and asks her name, so she gives him the name of her mother, Comtesse Nicole de Lancret - he said "Any name" -. The prince gets distracted by the arrival of his mother, Queen Marie (Judy Parfitt), and that gives Danielle a distraction to run away (remember, impersonating a courtier was highly illegal). 

When the Prince enters the palace, he argues with his father, King Francis (Timothy West), about his arranged marriage to the Princess of Spain. Later that night, as Henry asks his mother about "Nicole", the King appears and tells Prince Henry that 5 days from now he will throw a masquerade ball where the Prince will announce his engagement to the girl he chooses or to the Princess of Spain. 

Danielle (as Nicole) and the Prince begin to spend time together secretly and although he knows nothing about her family he falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Romilla plots a marriage between the Prince and Marguerite...

Thoughts

Ever After is one of the best adaptations of Cinderella (I also really like Disney's Cinderella from 2015 and the Czech-German Three Wishes for Cinderella from 1973) and although the movie is from 1998 it still feels fresh.

The cinematography is really well done and with the gorgeous costumes and scenery, it feels accurate to the period in which the movie takes place. 

The acting is great, I think Drew Barrymore did great and she shined in the scene where SPOILER Romilla burns Danielle's Utopia book, which was a gift from her father SPOILER ENDS although I have to say that her accent is a little odd, but it's not so annoying that it took me out of the movie. Dougray Scott was fantastic and I have to say that my favorite scene in the movie is when the Prince wakes up his parents in the middle of the night to tell them he wants to build a university. I think it's great to show the growth of the character. Anjelica Huston does great portraying such a non-caring and mean character like Romilla. The idea of using Leonardo da Vinci instead of a fairy godmother is really unique and Patrick Godfrey did a great job portraying him as an eccentric but lovely character.

This movie is one of the best costume-wise I've ever seen and I think the costumes alone deserve their own post.

The soundtrack is really beautiful, especially the main title song. I really like it when the soundtrack of movies are so well done that they feel special as if they were another character.

I recommend this movie if you like to see a different view of Cinderella, like period pieces and like characters that are very well written. 

Rating

Acting - 10/10

Plot - 10/10

Romance - 10/10 

Soundtrack - 10/10

Costumes - 10/10

Overall Rating - 10/10

Extended Movie Info

Run Time: 120 minutes (2hs).

Release Date: July 31, 1998.

Based on: Cinderella by Charles Perrault.

Directed by: Andy Tennant.

Cinematography by: Andrew Dunn.

Screenplay by: Susannah Grant, Andy Tennant and Rick Parks.

Edited by: Roger Bondelli.

Music by: George Fenton.

Costumes by: Jenny Beavan.

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Dougray Scott, Anjelica Huston, Megan Dodds and Melanie Lynskey.