But What Does She Really Want?
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down, (nod to Karen Carpenter,) unless I have a library of fave DVDs to pass the time.
My very most favorite movie of all time (could I be any more emphatic?) is Ever After: A Cinderella Story with Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott. When I first saw this movie in the theater I was going through a very emotional time. My father was dying. To give my mom more time alone with him, my sister and I would go on errands or hit the theater occasionally. I don't know if that's why this movie holds such a special place in my heart, or if it's all the wonderful writer craft things that it has going for it, or if it's Dougray. Probably all three.
This movie is the "true" story of Cinderella. There are no singing mice, pumpkins, nor fairy godmothers. No magic, and no Bippity-Boppity-Boo. It starts out with the Grimm brothers riding in a carriage and entering an impressive castle in France. It seems they were summoned by the great, great granddaughter of Danielle De Babarac, nicknamed Cinderella by her deliciously wicked step-sister, Marguerite. The purpose: to inform them that the story they've written, while it is true, did not happen the way they depicted. The closing line of the movie is the Grand Dame informing them, "And while Cinderella and her Prince did live happily ever after, the point, gentlemen, is that they lived."
For this movie, I'd like to look at GMC, or Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. If you haven't heard of this all important fiction tool, please buy GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon. When writing our stories, we want to know what our characters want, their external goal, and what they really want, their internal goal. For this movie, I want to look specifically at the internal goal. I watched this movie a dozen times before it hit me that Barrymore's character, Danielle De Barbarac (Cinderella,) answers perfectly the question, "What does she really want?"
In this article, as I synopsize the story, I'm going to show two threads, the romantic and the family issue. By the end, I'll reveal what Danielle's goal really is.
When the Grand Dame begins telling the tell, the scene opens with Danielle as a young girl. She loves her father who has been on a long trip. He has brought her home a book, Utopia, for his daughter who reads voraciously. (I like her already!) He has also brought home a wife and two step-daughters. Danielle, who has been motherless for a long time, is very excited to meet her new mother, the Baronness Rodmilla De Ghent, played by the fabulous Anjelica Huston, and sisters, Marguerite and Jaqueline. But when her father dies, the Baronness turns ugly. She treats Danielle like a servant in her own home.
ROMANTIC:
Danielle, now grown up, one day sees Prince Henry on her father's horse, (he's a discontented prince who does not wish to be king, so he ran away,) and mistakes him for a thief. She pummels him with apples, but drops to her knees the moment she recognizes him. He takes her for a country girl and dismisses the meeting. The next time they meet, she is disguised as a courtier to free her elderly servant, a man whom the baroness allowed to be taken to pay off one of her many debts. Now, Henry is captivated by the mysterious girl who tries to avoid his attention. This fascinates him since most courtiers throw themselves at the handsome and eligible prince.
Prince Henry has brought back the horse and mentioned to the baronness the country girl he'd seen. Now the baronness knows that Danielle saw the prince and didn't tell her he had the horse. She slams Danielle into a chair and rails on her about deceitfulness. When Danielle claims that she didn't recognize him, step-mother becomes patronizing. The poor servant girl wouldn't know the prince when she saw him, would she? Danielle has dodged a bullet because she is underestimated.
The third time they meet, she is swimming and is startled by Leonardo Di Vinci, who is walking on water with one of his inventions. (He has been commissioned to paint in the castle, and becomes Henry's confidant.) The prince waits on shore. Danielle must keep up the pretense of a courtier to avoid getting thrown in prison for impersonation. Not a problem, because really, how many more times can she accidentally meet this guy?
It's night and Danielle is brushing the baronness's hair. They have an almost tender moment where baronness talks about her own mother and how hard she was on her. We get a glimpse of why she's the way she is. Then, she gently pulls Danielle in front of her and and says, "Pity you never knew your mother. There must be some of her in you somewhere." Danielle says she wishes she could remember her, and baronness tells her not to dwell on the things she cannot change. Then, again with uncharacteristic tenderness says, "You have so much of your father in you, I can almost see him looking out from your eyes." Danielle, clearly pleased: "Really?" Baroness: "Yes, well, your features are so masculine. And, to be raised by a man, no wonder you're built for hard labor." Danielle: "Did you love my father?" Baronness, with a sad expression: "I barely knew him...now, go away, I'm tired." And the moment is gone.
The next time Henry shows up unannounced, Danielle hides behind a haystack as her best friend, Gustave, "helps." He tells the prince she's staying with a cousin and gives Danielle's address. He's now aiding and abetting. She has to hoof it the house before the prince gets there. She quickly changes into her courtier clothes and greets him at the door. He convinces her to come with him to a library at the monestery. At the library, she shares her political views, which, strangely enough, come straight from her favorite book, Utopia. She makes the spoiled prince think about his life.
On the way home, their carriage breaks down, and while Henry's footman goes for help, Danielle decides to walk, being the sturdy girl that she is. They get lost, and she shinnies up a tree to see if she can see the castle. While up there, Henry is accosted by a band of gypsies, and Danielle hurries down in her underthings (she took off her dress so it wouldn't get ruined,) to save her dress from the head gypsy who wants it for his wife, and ultimately to save Henry. The leader of the gypsies says she can take anything she can carry. Instead of the dress, she heads for Henry, pulls him over her shoulder and begins to walk away. This endears her to the gypsies, and she's made friends for life.
Danielle and Henry hang out with the gypsies, and while still discussing matters of great importance, have their first kiss.
The next morning, the baronness is livid. Danielle has been out all night, and now she's acting strangely, telling them to fix their own breakfasts. To spite her, the wicked step-mother, who had previously deceived her into thinking she was going to the masked ball, now is allowing Marguerite to wear Danielle's mother's dress and beautiful silver slippers. Danielle reminds them that these are her mother's things, and Marguerite cattily responds, "Yes, and she's dead." Danielle snaps and slugs her step-sister in the eye. She then proceeds to chase her through the house until Marguerite threatens to throw her favorite book into the fire. "The shoes for the book," baronness tells her. She makes the difficult decision to hand over the shoes, but Marguerite throws the book into the fire anyway and step-mother blocks her way to save it. Now, she's lost her mother's things and her father's books. And, she's in for a sound lashing.
She meets the prince the next day at the ruins with the intention of telling him who she really is, but finds she can't because he's being so...charming. She simply tells him that last night was the happiest night of her life. He kisses her, but when he pulls her into a hug, she cries out for the raw lash marks on her back, then she runs out.
Meanwhile, the baronness has found out that Danielle has been impersonating her mother as a courtier and disappearing with the prince. She confronts her and asks where the gown and the slippers are. Danielle says, "Where the candlesticks and the trapesties and the silver are. Maybe the dress is with them." She then delivers one of the best lines in the movie. "I would rather die a thousand deaths than to see my mother's dress on that spoiled, selfish cow." Step-mother: "Perhaps we can arrange that." She locks Danielle in the cellar and threatens the servants not to let her out.
The night of the ball, Gustave tells Di Vinci what's happened. He comes and opens the door with a couple of whacks to the bolts. Then, he becomes Danielle's fairy godmother by inventing beautiful wings to go with her mother's dress that has mysteriously reappeared. She makes it late to the ball and takes the prince's breath away. But baronness accosts her before she can explain to Henry who she really is. With a torn wing, she admits to the prince that she is an imposter and a servant girl. Henry now believes she's just like all the other girls. She runs away, falling and leaving her silver shoe behind, and Henry sulks outside. Di Vinci asks him what he's done, and tells the prince that he doesn't deserve her.
Danielle is back to being the servant girl and is outside doing chores. Baronness joins her and twists the knife a little more. She says, "I have it on good authority that before your embarrassing expidition, the prince was about to announce that Marguerite is to be his bride." After more digs, Danielle says, "Don't you understand? You've won. Go move into your palace and leave us be!" Step-mother: "You are not my problem anymore." Danielle: "Is that what I am? Your problem? I have done everything you ever asked, and still you deny me the only thing I ever wanted." Step-mother: "And what was that?" Danielle: "What do you think? You are the only mother I have ever known. Was there a time, even in it's smallest measurement, that you loved me at all?" Step-mother: "How can anyone love a pebble in their shoe?" This seems to be what breaks Danielle.
So, we've finally gotten to it. What was Danielle's goal, what she really wanted deep down? To win the prince? To move her evil step-family out so she and the servants could live in peace? No. It was to be loved by the only mother she ever knew. How tragic that the baronness couldn't see past her conniving, evil heart to give a little girl love.
Suddenly, all of the things missing from the house are brought back by the evil Pierre Le Pieu, who has had a "thing" for Danielle. The baronness had sold him all the things from the house to feed her mismanagement skills. And now, she's buying it all back, and using Danielle for currency. He takes her away to his castle where she's a slave in shackles because she threatens to run away at the first chance she gets. When he makes advances, she grabs a dagger and cuts his cheek. She then grabs a sword and tells him her father was an excellent swordsman and taught her well. She then delivers another great line. "Hand me that key or I'll slit you from naval to nose."
The prince finally swallows his foolish pride and narrowly misses an arranged marriage by letting the grieving Spanish woman off the hook. It seems she didn't want the marriage anymore than he did. He finds out what happened to Danielle and comes to "rescue" her. But our robust girl has saved herself as she walks out of the evil castle free from shackles and smiling. One can only hope that Pierre Le Pieu is now wearing the chains. Henry pulls out the slipper and asks her to help him "find the owner this rather remarkable shoe. She is my match in every way. Please tell me I haven't lost her." He kneels in front of her, slips off her ugly work shoe and slips on the slipper as if it's an engagement ring. "I kneel in front of you not as a prince, but as a man in love." And he proposes to her. She cries, and says yes.
The baronness and her daughters are summoned to the castle. She believes it's so that the prince can announce that he's chosen Marguerite. When she gets there, she is immediately accused of lying to the Queen. Sentence is passed that she and Marguerite will be shipped to the Americas unless someone can vouch for her. Of the roomfull of people, no one helps the baronness. But, finally, one voice says she will speak for her. It's Danielle, and it's very obvious, even to the baronness that she is now a princess. Danielle tells her that she will never think about her again. And this is her arc. She'd started out wanting love from this woman, and now, she's willing to forget her forever. Then Danielle, in her mercy, asks that her step-mother be spared, but that she be afforded the same courtesy that she'd bestowed upon her. And the next time we see baronness and Marguerite, it's in the laundry, getting shoved into a vat of purple dye.
Di Vinci presents his painting to Danielle, a portrait of her, and then some truly cheesy things are said between her and the prince. But, they kiss, and we know that they live happily Ever After.