Release Date: 13 Jul 1998
Runtime: 121 minutes
Budget: $26M
IMDb: The Brothers Grimm arrive at the home of a wealthy Grande Dame who speaks of the many legends surrounding the fable of the cinder girl before telling the “true” story of her ancestor.
Drew Barrymore has stated that this is the favorite of all her films. I have to agree with her. In the “it makes me less sad” category, Ever After is in the top three of my favorites.
This is a classic in our house. We have seen it in the double digit times. I will sometimes turn it on for background noise because I know it so well and won’t “pay too close” attention to it. However, there are some scenes I have to watch, no matter how many times consumed.
OMG I watch this movie and hate Angelica Huston. Daughter noted the moment she steps out of the carriage that it is a sign of a good actor that their mere mannerisms, before they even utter a word, has you hating them.
This blog is not going to be a recap or a review. Pretty much just video, pictures and trivia from the movie.
I hope you enjoy.
At the start of the film, when the Grimm brothers talk to the Grande Dame about the many different versions of the Cinderella story, they mention that in some versions she wears fur slippers, rather than glass. This refers to Charles Perrault’s version of the story, the first to mention the glass slipper, which in French is “pantoufle de verre.” Some people believe it was a misinterpretation of “pantoufle de vair,” which means fur slipper.
Although Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519 and Thomas More’s book “Utopia” was first published in 1516, Drew Barrymore’s character is given the book as a present when she is a child and she meets the character of Leonardo 10 years later.
As depicted in the film, the real Leonardo da Vinci kept the Mona Lisa with him all the time until his death. Mona Lisa is painted on a piece of wood and not on canvas as depicted in the film.
When Danielle walked into the room where her step mother and sisters were playing games, after prince Henry returns their horse. Marguerite says “somebody’s in trouble” with the tune of ring around the rosie. That song and/or tune was not even around until the 1700’s so she would not have known about that tune yet.
King Francois I of France (called Francis in the movie) bought the Mona Lisa for 4000 ecus.
When Danielle is putting on her dress to rescue Maurice, we see a zipper on the back of her dress. While trying on the courtier’s dress, Danielle says her stepmother buys presents for her stepsister like she has “money to burn.” At the time, currency consisted of precious metals and stones, which would melt, not burn. Paper currency wouldn’t appear for hundreds of years.
At one point Queen Marie tells Henry to choose a wife wisely, because “divorce is only something they do in England.” This is obviously a reference to Henry VIII of England, who caused a huge scandal when he divorced Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn in the early 16th century.
During the tennis match, Prince Henry’s hair is shorter than it was before. In the next scene, and for the rest of the movie, it’s back to its original length.
Henry gives Marguerite chocolate at the tennis game. Solid, edible chocolate pieces have only existed for about 100 years. The Spanish brought cocoa from New Spain, but the French started using it, as a drink with vanilla, in the 1800s.
The prince picks up the same piece of chocolate twice when he is talking to Marguerite.
The pale blue dress Danielle wears the day she and Henry visit the monastery is the exact same dress Marguerite refused to wear to the ball because “fifty other girls will be wearing the exact same color.”
In the movie, Danielle rescues the prince from gypsies by carrying him on her back. According to legend, when King Conrad III defeated the Duke of Welf (in the year 1140) and placed Weinsberg under siege, the wives of the besieged castle negotiated a surrender which granted them the right to leave with whatever they could carry on their shoulders. The king allowed them that much. Leaving everything else aside, each woman took her own husband on her shoulders and carried him out. When the king’s people saw what was happening, many of them said that that was not what had been meant and wanted to put a stop to it. But the king laughed and accepted the women’s clever trick. “A king” he said, “should always stand by his word.”
At the gypsy camp Henry tells Danielle that “it is your mouth that has me hypnotized”. The term “hypnotized” was not coined until around 1841 by Scottish surgeon James Braid.
Danielle punches Marguerite and chases her down the stairs. Megan Dodds reaches the foot of the stairs, pauses and takes a step back to give Drew Barrymore and the cameraman a few seconds to catch up, and then continues running.
Prince Henry exclaims that Danielle is marrying a Belgian. Belgium was established in 1830 as a buffer between France and Germany, to prevent them from going to war so often. Before 1830, the area was a collection of villages that were repeatedly occupied by various European kingdoms. The name Belgium comes from a tribe who lived there during Julius Caesar’s conquests of Gaul. He wrote, “Of all Gauls, the Belgians are the bravest.” (De Bello Gallico, book I, 1.3).
Danielle’s portrait, which Leonardo da Vinci paints in the film, is actually modeled after another da Vinci work, “La Scapigliata” (also known as “Testa di fanciulla detta la scapigliata”).
Throughout the film, Leonardo da Vinci is referred to as “Signor da Vinci,” and “da Vinci.” While referring to the artist as “da Vinci” has become acceptable in modern vernacular, the term means “From Vinci,” and is not a surname. Da Vinci would not have been used alone to refer to Leonardo during his lifetime; he would have been called simply “Leonardo” or “Leonardo da Vinci.”
At the end of the movie, when the camera pans away from the carriage and castle, cars can be seen parked in the town to the right.
The same necklace that Marguerite returns to the Queen outside of the church is later worn by Danielle in the scene where Marguerite and her stepmother are being stripped of their titles and sentenced to work as laundry women.
In the film, Prince Henry marries Danielle. In real life, Henry II of France was the 2nd son of King Francis I. In 1533, he married Catherine de Medici of Italy, a noblewoman from Florence. They were both 14, and had ten children. Henry II also had three illegitimate children. He became heir to the throne in 1536, when his older brother, Francis, died.
Starring:
| Drew Barrymore | Danielle |
| Anjelica Huston | Rodmilla |
| Dougray Scott | Prince Henry |
| Patrick Godfrey | Leonardo |
| Megan Dodds | Marguerite |
| Melanie Lynskey | Jacqueline |
| Timothy West | King Francis |
| Judy Parfitt | Queen Marie |
| Jeroen Krabbé | Auguste |
| Lee Ingleby | Gustave |
| Kate Lansbury | Paulette |
| Matyelok Gibbs | Louise |
| Walter Sparrow | Maurice |
| Jeanne Moreau | Grande Dame |
| Anna Maguire | Young Danielle |
| Richard O’Brien | Pierre Le Pieu |
| Peter Gunn | Capt. Laurent |
| Joerg Stadler | Wilhelm Grimm |
| Andy Henderson | Jacob Grimm |
| Toby Jones | Royal Page |
Thoughts and Ponderances 