Special Exhibit: EVER AFTER

Year: 1998

Duration: 121 minutes

Where to watch: Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple iTunes.

I’ve often heard that fairytales are timeless, but how true is that assessment? Yes, they’ll probably be told as long as humanity exists, but we might be a little too used to them to realize that their content is often objectionable by today’s standards. Due to the time they were created in, they frequently come across as sexist and far from enlightened in their original versions.

Even so, revisionism can be misguided at times (Maleficent and its ilk), but when it’s well-handled, you can get something truly special. That is the case of Ever After, a retelling of Cinderella which might not be the exact version I would choose to tell my prospective little daughter, but which comes pretty close.

The first bold choice of Ever After is to present the film as historical fiction rather than fantasy. Gone are the frequent animal companions, replaced by servants. Likewise, this Cinderella doesn’t need a Fairy Godmother, so she gets a bit of help from Leonardo Da Vinci and, most importantly, her own brains.

That’s the second, even more important change this version makes. Far from being a damsel in distress, our heroine (called Danielle here and played by Drew Barrymore) is a scholarly, brave and never helpless girl. Moreover, her relationship with the Prince (Dougray Scott) is primarily based on intellectual bonding and clever banter, which makes it much more interesting than the usual melodramatic declarations of love found in most of the romance genre.

The stepmother role is portrayed by Anjelica Huston, who makes for a great version of the character, both perfidious and yet more human than any other I’ve seen. The complex feelings she and Danielle share are among the highest points of the film. Her daughters are played by Megan Dodds and Melanie Lynskey and are given, unusually, distinct personalities of their own.

The production design and general look of the film is also of note, and though the dialogue is deliberately artificial, I found it funny and engaging. Both elements make the film a fetching blend of realism and self-aware theatricality, which was uncommonly well balanced for a product of the nineties.

Based on the title and premise, you might be excused if, like I did for years, you avoid this film thinking it’s yet another “chick-flick” fairytale. This is a revisionist adaptation that actually has something valuable to add to its well-trodden story.