Ever After (1998)

Ever After - 1998

Coming up next is 1998's megahit "Ever After", a unique telling of the Cinderella story starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston.

The film's supporting cast includes Dougray Scott, Patrick Godfrey, Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey, Timothy West, Judy Parfitt, Jeanne Moreau, Toby Jones, and Virginia Garcia.

The film begins with the Brothers Grimm being summoned to the bedside of an old royal lady.  She tells them that she's read their fairy tales, but was disturbed by their version of Cinderella.

The literary brothers inquire about a painting in the room.  The old lady tells them that her name was Danielle de Barbarac, and then produces a glass shoe which she tells them belonged to the lady.  The brothers are intrigued that the story they thought was fiction is actually true.  The old lady begins, "Once upon a time..."

Danielle's father brings home a new wife, the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent, and her two daughters, Marguerite and Jacqueline.  The staff is suitably impressed.  However, Danielle's father looks around for his daughter, but can't find her.

Eventually, she makes an appearance, although she's covered in mud.  It's not a great beginning to the relationship between stepmother and stepdaughter.

When Danielle's father is called away on business, he has a heart attack before he can even leave the property line.

As he lies dying, he tells Danielle how much he loves her, yet says nothing to his wife.  This causes the Baroness to hate her stepdaughter.

Ten years later, Danielle is considered nothing more than a servant in her own home.

One day, Prince Henry (who happens to be trying to escape his royal life and an arranged marriage) borrows her father's horse.  Not knowing it's him, she throws apples at him until he stops.  When he reveals himself to her, she's horrified that she assaulted him that way.  He drops a purse full of coins at her feet in payment for her silence.

Danielle goes to the house where she tells one of her fellow servants (and lifelong friend) that she knows just what to do with the money: buy back the servant's husband who was sold to pay the Baroness's debts.

Upstairs, Baroness Rodmilla and her eldest daughter continue to make Danielle's life miserable by continually disparaging her every chance they get.

While trying to duck the Royal Guard, Henry comes to the aid of an old man who has been robbed.  Retrieving the property, Henry comes to realize that this man is Leonardo da Vinci and the painting he returned to him was the famous Mona Lisa.  The Royal Guard by now has caught up with him and informs him that Signor da Vinci is going to be the artist in residence at the palace.  Henry immediately enlists his help in getting his parents to cancel his engagement to a Spanish princess.

When he returns their horse later, Prince Henry catches the Baroness and her daughters unawares.  The eldest, Marguerite, flirts shamelessly, while the youngest, Jacqueline, does her level best to gain some notice, but fails miserably.

Meanwhile, Danielle has dressed as a noblewoman (an offence punishable by five days in the stocks) to rescue her friend Maurice from being shipped to the Americas to pay the Baroness's debts.

She again meets the Prince, who finds her very familiar and is intrigued by her.  He asks her name, but she is coy and refuses to give one.  Upon being further pressed, she gives him her mother's name and adds the title of Countess to it.

When the Queen appears, Danielle hurriedly makes an exit while Prince Henry's attention is otherwise engaged.  He's surprised to find her gone once he turns his attention back to her.

When Danielle brings Maurice back to his wife, everything seems right as she is embraced by her surrogate family.

Henry, meanwhile, can talk of nothing but Nicole (the name Danielle gave him).  His mother doesn't know who she is.  Later, the King comes to Henry and tells him that he's throwing a ball in honor of da Vinci, a masked ball.  Henry must find the girl he wants to marry within five days, or his engagement to the Spanish Princess Gabriela will be announced.

Word spreads rapidly about the Prince's search for a bride, and the Baroness takes a dress that belonged to Danielle's mother and offers it to her own daughter Marguerite.

When Danielle comes in and asks what they are doing, the Baroness hastily says they are just airing out the dress for Danielle to wear to the ball.  She can go if she gets all her work done.  Danielle is thrilled.

One day, Danielle decides to take a swim in a nearby river.  Prince Henry and Leonardo da Vinci are also in the vicinity.  When Signor da Vinci decides to try out some new "boat shoes", he and Danielle startle each other, and the painter falls into the water.

Prince Henry is overjoyed to see "Nicole" again.  Danielle also finds herself glad to see him.

As they chat and get to know each other better, Danielle finds that she and Henry have vastly different ideals and values.  He is still quite charmed by him.  She finds him interesting, but his views are infuriating to her.

The Baroness, meanwhile, has bribed a royal servant to give her information on the prince in order to give her daughter an advantage.  Marguerite tries her hardest to impress Henry at every turn.

When the Baroness and her daughters are at church, Henry makes an unannounced visit to the manor.  Danielle greets him, and he invites her out with him.

The day turns out to be an interesting one.  First they visit a Franciscan monastery, where Danielle marvels at all the books.  Later, Danielle must save Henry from gypsies by carrying him away on her back.  They also share their first kiss before Danielle returns home very late at night.

Demanding their breakfast, the Baroness and her daughters break into Danielle's room the next morning.  She tells them to make it herself as she wants to get back to sleep.  The Baroness furiously leaves the room.

They go for Danielle's mother's dress.  This time there's no pretense.  The Baroness says Danielle may not go to the ball due to her disrespectful behavior, and the dress is now Marguerite's.  Marguerite says some horrible things to Danielle about her mother, for which she is rewarded with a punch in the eye.  Marguerite retaliates by burning the last book Danielle's father ever gave her.

Danielle is whipped severely for what she did to Marguerite.  Jacqueline, however, kindly dresses her wounds for her, and tries to be friendly with her.

While having a meeting at the palace, the Queen brings up this "Nicole" to the Baroness and Marguerite.  She's thrilled when the Baroness tells her that yes she does exist and that she is staying with them.

When the Baroness tells Marguerite who "Nicole" really is, Marguerite gets up and has a hissy fit right in the palace gardens in front of the Queen.

Meanwhile, Danielle meets with Henry in order to break off their relationship.  She can't manage it, however, and the two kiss.  Henry, however, can tell that there is something she's not saying.

He finds out from his mother that "Nicole" is engaged to a Belgian and would be leaving soon by boat.  He's very unhappy, and now looks on Danielle's earlier reserve as a sign that something was amiss.

On the night of the ball, the Baroness locks Danielle away so she can't go.  However, one of her friends goes to find Leonardo da Vinci, and he comes to help.  Danielle tells him her whole story.  He tells her that she needs to go to the ball to tell Henry, because he deserves to hear the truth from the woman he loves.

With her mother's dress and some wings made by da Vinci, Danielle arrives after the ball has gotten underway.

In fact, the King is just about to announce Henry's engagement.  Marguerite and her mother are sure that it's going to be her.

Just as he is about to announce, Henry stops the King as he sees Danielle waiting.  He runs to her.

He's overjoyed when Danielle tells him he's not engaged and that his mother was misinformed.  When she tries to get him alone to tell him the truth about herself, Henry just wants to introduce her to his parents.  Before she has a chance to explain, Henry whisks her to the royal dais.

Before they can get there, the Baroness stops them and exposes "Nicole" as Danielle, a servant in her home.

Henry is furious at her deception and leaves the ball.  Distraught, Danielle runs in the opposite direction.

As she stumbles on the gravel, Danielle leaves behind one of her glass slippers.

The next day, Danielle is given to a man who has wanted her for years in exchange for all the things that the Baroness has sold him to make ends meet.

In her absence, Leonardo begins to pain her portrait, the one in the old lady's room at the beginning of the film.

Henry has decided to go ahead with his arranged Spanish marriage.  The bride, however, is extremely distraught and loudly cries as she walks up the aisle.  She points to a man in the congregation who is also crying.  Henry laughs and tells her that he knows exactly how she feels.

The princess runs to her lover and they embrace and kiss repeatedly.  Henry walks out of the church to find Danielle.

A funny moment comes when the King and Queen of Spain start to argue and blame each other in the church.  The King and Queen of France sit back and laugh as they watch the scene unfold.

When he's told what happened to her by Jacqueline, Henry goes to where Danielle is in order to rescue her.  However, she's already ingeniously done that for herself.

He proposes marriage and she accepts.  Henry pulls out her glass slipper and places it on her foot before they embrace.

A little while later, the Baroness and her daughters receive a summons to court.  They are told to arrive in style.  They waltz in and bow before the King and Queen.

Thins quickly turn south for the Baroness and Marguerite, when the Baroness is asked "Did you or did you not lie to Her Majesty the Queen of France?"

When Marguerite tries to feign ignorance and disowns her mother publicly, they arguing mother and daughter are silenced by the King.  The Queen tells them that the Baroness is stripped of her title and that she and Marguerite will be shipped to the Americas on the next available boat...unless, someone will speak for them.  The Baroness looks around urgently for a friend in the crowd to save her.

Suddenly, a familiar voice that says, "I will speak for her," sends a shiver up the Baroness's spine.  The entire assembly bows.  "She is, after all, my stepmother," says Danielle.

Henry smiles and tells Marguerite that she probably hasn't met his new wife.  Marguerite is shocked.  Jacqueline is genuinely pleased for her stepsister.

When the Baroness grudgingly bows before the new princess, Danielle says that all she wishes is for the Baroness to be shown the same courtesy that she had extended to her.

That means straight to the royal laundry with the Baroness and Marguerite, who are absolutely livid with having to work there and, after trying to pull rank, get tossed into a pool of purple dye.

All's well that ends well.  Leonardo presents his portrait of Danielle, and all are pleased with it, and Henry and Danielle lived happily ever after.  We find out that Danielle was the great-great-grandmother of the old royal lady from the beginning of the film.  As the Brothers Grimm leave her palace, she says, "My great-great-grandmother's portrait hung in the university up until the Revolution.  By then, the truth of their romance and been reduced to a simple fairy tale.  And, while Cinderella and her prince did live happily ever after, the point, gentlemen, is that they lived."

Cast rundown:

   Drew Barrymore...............................Danielle de Barbarac

   Anjelica Huston.................................Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent

   Dougray Scott..................................Prince Henry

   Patrick Godfrey.................................Leonardo da Vinci

   Megan Dodds...................................Marguerite de Ghent

   Melanie Lynskey...............................Jacqueline de Ghent

   Timothy West...................................King Francis

   Judy Parfitt......................................Queen Marie

   Jeanne Moreau.................................Grande Dame

   Toby Jones.......................................Royal Page

   Virginia Garcia..................................Princess Gabriela

And that's it for Ever After.  According to IMDb, Drew Barrymore has said that this is her favorite of all her films.  An interesting tidbit here: in the film the Mona Lisa is depicted as having been painted on canvas.  In reality, the famous painting was made on a piece of wood and could not be rolled up as it was in the film.

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