Ever After (PG-13)
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Caution: potential spoilers.

This came out in 1998, but I didn't see it until 2017. I wasn't quite sure if I'd put my review in "period pieces" or "romantic movies," but I ultimately chose the latter. It's basically a retelling of "Cinderella," but without any fantasy elements.

It begins with a noblewoman summoning the Brothers Grimm to her estate, where she tells them that she enjoyed their stories. However, there's one story she knows they didn't get quite right, because it was about an ancestor of hers. So she tells them the real story.

There was an 8-year-old girl named Danielle de Barbarac, whose widower father, Auguste, married a baroness named Rodmilla de Ghent (Anjelica Huston). Actually, I should say that I was never quite sure whether she was a baroness in her own right, or acquired that title by marrying Auguste, but I suppose she must have been a baroness before she married him. So I suppose Auguste himself had no title, but I can't quite think of him as a commoner, because he did have several servants. Anyway, shortly after he brings his new wife and her two daughters home, the story jumps forward a couple weeks to him setting off on a business trip. However, before he gets very far, he dies. I kind of wondered whether it would turn out Rodmilla had poisoned him, or something, but at the same time, her grief over his death seemed genuine. And while she doesn't seem to be a particularly nice person, there's never any indication that she had anything to do with his death. And it seems as if the reason she ends up later mistreating Danielle may be due to jealousy that her husband's final words of love were addressed to his daughter, rather than her.

Anyway, after Auguste dies, the story jumps forward ten years. Danielle (now played by Drew Barrymore), works as a servant for Rodmilla and her daughters, Marguerite and Jacqueline (Melanie Lynskey). I kind of felt like Danielle wasn't treated quite as badly in this version of the story as Cinderella is in most versions. But still, she certainly was treated poorly. Except by Jacqueline, who herself isn't treated very well by her mother and sister, which may be why she sympathizes with Danielle. (Though this sympathy is mainly conveyed by facial expressions, rather than words or actions, and for most of the film it's unclear whether Danielle is even aware of it. There's also one comment Marguerite makes at one point that's meant to turn Danielle against Jacqueline, though nothing comes of that.) Also, it seemed really weird to me that Rodmilla and Marguerite both acted like Jacqueline was fat, when she clearly wasn't. (In fact, my first thought when seeing them as adults, before the story revealed anything about them, was like, "Oh, Cinderella's stepsisters are both beautiful in this version. I wonder if they'll also turn out to be nice, instead of wicked.")

Meanwhile, Henry, the prince of France, runs away from home, since his father has arranged a political marriage for him with the princess of Spain, whom he's never met. The king sends the guards out to bring him back. Apparently he loses his horse at some point, so he takes one that belonged to Danielle's household. She tries to stop him, thinking him a thief, but apologizes when she recognizes him. He gives her some money for the horse, and goes on his way. Later, he meets up with some people who had been waylaid by gypsy bandits, and an old man begs him to give chase and retrieve a painting that had been stolen. When Henry gets it back, he learns that the old man is Leonardo da Vinci, whom his father had invited to his court. Unfortunately, helping him meant letting the guards catch up to him, so Henry has to return home. But from that point on, he and Leonardo become friends.

Later, Danielle puts on a fancy dress and pretends to be a courtier, using the money Henry had given her to try to buy back a servant named Maurice, whom Rodmilla had sold to the king, to pay off a debt. (I should say, various household items go missing throughout the film, and the baroness accuses the servants of stealing them, and therefore docks their wages. Though all along, I rather suspected she herself had been selling them to cover debts.) Anyway, Henry again crosses paths with Danielle, though he doesn't recognize her as the peasant he'd met before. He helps her gain Maurice's freedom, and wants to learn her name. She ultimately gives him her mother's name, Nicole de Lancret, and claims to be a comtesse (countess). But she runs away before he can learn any more about her.

Eventually, the king decides to hold a masquerade ball, at which time Henry will have to either choose a bride or accept the previously arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Rodmilla does everything she can to try to get Henry to choose Marguerite. (She gets help from a royal page played by Toby Jones.) Unbeknownst to them, Henry and "Nicole" continue running into each other (before the ball even happens), and gradually fall in love. I must say, Danielle/Nicole definitely made Henry into a better person than he was to begin with. Despite the fairly common trope of the royal who feels trapped by royalty, he'd never really given much thought to any other classes being trapped by their own stations in life, and she made him think about that, and actually try to do something about it. And... gosh, there's just so much going on in this movie, it's hard to remember everything, or know when to mention it. I want to say that Leonardo sort of plays the role of "fairy godmother" to Danielle, at one point. Though it's really a group effort that also involves a few of Rodmilla's servants (former servants of Auguste who have cared for Danielle her whole life), as well as Danielle's best friend, Gustave. (I kind of thought he should have had a larger role in the story, but actually it was probably large enough. I could imagine writers turning him into a potential love interest for Danielle, and I'm kind of glad that didn't happen.) I should also mention the captain of the guard, Laurent, whose role really is smaller than it should have been, considering an eventual plot development that I don't want to spoil. But I'll say he's a good guy, anyway. And then there's a bad guy, Pierre le Pieu, about whom I don't want to say anything specific. (He's a fairly minor character, but he plays a somewhat pivotal role, I guess.)

Anyway... I really don't want to give away any more details of the plot, though I expect you can more or less guess how it ends. I'll just say the movie is rather amusing as well as romantic, and I found the characters more compelling than I might have anticipated. And, you know, it was... a good movie. Oh, also I did want to mention an ironic development when we finally meet the Spanish princess. I mean, I don't want to say what happens, just that... it's something that hadn't really occurred to me, and I kind of hated myself for that. But still I thought it was a nice touch (as did Henry). Anyway... whatever, all's well that ends well.