Cinderella (2015)
Certified: U
Duration: 113 minutes
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter, Stellan Skarsgård, Derek Jacobi, Hayley Atwell, Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Nonso Anozie, Ben Chaplin
KRS Releasing Ltd
Disney’s 1950 animated classic is the clear inspiration for this live action treatment featuring Lily James of Downton Abbey fame in the title role.
Cinderella (James) is a happy girl: she lives in the country and her parents (Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin) love her. However, this carefree and pleasant life is cut short when her mother gets sick and dies.
Skip a few years and Cinderella’s life has changed drastically. Her father has remarried and her stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett), is devious and sees Cinderella as an obstacle. She has two daughters of her own, Anastasia and Drizella (Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera), who are constantly fighting and are obnoxious to say the least. When Cinderella’s father dies, Lady Tremaine turns the girl into the house servant to wait and serve her and her two daughters. Cinderella is constrained to live in the attic where her only friends are the mice.
One day, while out in the forest, she meets Kit (Richard Madden), a Prince Charming come to life. His father is the King (Derek Jacobi), who is serving his last days and wants his son to get married in order to preserve the kingdom. Kit wants to marry Cinderella but she disappears so quickly that he does not even have time to ask her who she is. So a ball is held where all fair maidens are invited in order for Kit to choose his bride to be.
Various elements come into play: the Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgård) tries to get Kit to marry a real princess and Lady Tremaine does everything possible to have one of her daughters marry the Prince. Meanwhile, Cinderella gets some unexpected help from her Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter), including some magic and the all-important glass slippers!
Like a painter, Branagh brushes the screen with colours and washes to represent the mood and swing of the story and characters
Well the Empire of the Mouse has found a new way of making money: turn animated classics into live action movies.
It does not hurt that the films produced so far, Alice In Wonderland (2010) and Maleficent (2014), which garnered $1 billion and $750 million respectively, have not only been successful but also delivered spectacular special effects and made for big screen cinema experiences.
The decision to have Kenneth Branagh direct Cinderella was a wise choice indeed. This time there are special effects but they are not all encompassing, and Branagh manages to walk that fine line neatly and properly. He knows where to inject character, spectacle and, most of all, emotion of which this film has plenty.
The director is both inspired by, and also remodels, the 1950 classic format. Social sensibilities have changed and presenting a classic Disney princess waiting for Prince charming to come and save her is not a good role model. The film does not eschew comic elements but no longer makes them the focus, thus the mice’s role is diminished.
Branagh gives the film a vibrant and colourful look. Like a painter, he brushes the screen with colours and washes to represent the mood and swing of the story and characters. He is helped amply by the production design whose spatial settings give the film its grandiose view.
The new Cinderella is no longer presented as being at the beck and call of the Prince’s fantasies. The two are brought together on an equal footing and thus the romance and the subsequent relationship is one that does not belong to a stereotype. Even the glass slipper moment takes on a new meaning as it becomes more a moment of liberation than anything else.
Blanchett delivers wicked and maleficent stepmother evil perfectly; James ends up not being a perfect princess but the perfect Cinderella, while Jacobi as the dying King also comes out well.
Next up after this success, will be Beauty and the Beast and Disney fans will rejoice even more.