“Ever After” is a smartly written romance that never fails to make me smile (or cry a bit too). It is supposed to be the true story of the servant girl that was the inspiration for the fairy tale “Cinderella.”
Danielle De Barbarac (Drew Barrymore) lives with her widowed father in France, around the 1540s. He frequently travels for business leaving young Danielle to fend for herself with help from their trusted servants. After one trip, he returns home with the Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent (played perfectly by Angelica Huston) and her two daughters Jacqueline and Marguerite. He tells Danielle that they have been married and that she is to welcome them with open arms. Rodmilla and her daughters are only at the estate a short time when Danielle’s father dies. Danielle is devasted, and to make matters worse, Rodmilla makes it very clear that she is now in charge and basically banishes Danielle to the life of a servant.
Danielle lives serving her step-mother and step-sisters for the next several years. Even though her life has been difficult, she still is able to find some joy. But when Rodmilla suddenly sells one of the servants to pay the taxes, Danielle knows she must do something to bring the old man back to his wife. So she goes to the castle in hopes of finding him and pleading for his release. It is there that she encounters Prince Henry for the second time (the first was when he basically stole a horse from their estate to escape the guards hunting him down), and she pretends to be a courtier, using her mother’s name and title. He doesn’t recognize her, and she is able to argue his release, and of course, catches the eye (and perhaps the heart) of the prince while she argues about how terribly servants and the poor are treated.
Soon Henry starts to seek her out, not knowing her true position or name. Danielle struggles to balance her two lives, and the servants are more than happy to help her. Henry’s not without his own problems, though. His parents are worried that he hasn’t chosen a princess to marry and tell him that they are going to throw a ball where he is to choose his bride.
As Henry and Danielle grow closer, both of their lives become exceedingly difficult, though Danielle’s more so because of her deception. While “Ever After” doesn’t have a ton of action, it is a wonderfully moving story. It does have its faults, though mostly in that Barrymore can’t really do an accent very well, but it’s easy to overlook that. I definitely recommend this movie for most ages, though younger boys might find it a bit boring. It’s also a great movie, because it shows that you don’t need magic to find your happily ever after, you just need to be yourself.
Be sure, if you are renting or purchasing the film, that you select the appropriate rating for your family. There are two versions of this film. One is rated PG-13 for momentary language, and the other PG for thematic elements. I’m not sure if both are available (Amazon only seems to have one version), but apparently after its release, they wanted a PG rating and edited the movie for VHS and DVD release.
Related Blogs:
Into the Woods
The Myth of Cinderella