In region of 70 years long ago, Cinderella was put on the screen. And it swept across the globe with over USD 200 million collected and has stood as a landmark in Disney’s cinematic universe ever since. The film ascended Disney on a brand and new stage as well, for it gained a Golden Bear as Best Musical on The 1st Berlin International Film Festival and the Special Award on The 15th Venice International Film Festival. In memory of the great film, the latest adapted Cinderella came out with an A-Listed cast and a luxury line-up of production team to encounter with the audience in 2015.
Today, much necessity and significance were scented that I tell the oft-told tale over again, however long it has travelled and spanned from period to period, for the upcoming 15th February is Cinderella’s 69th anniversary of release. And the latest adaption is unquestionably the most excellent work in the series and is also competent for the icon of the classic.
Owing to it told often adequately, the synopsis is seemingly not quite necessary. Just a few words can pose the setting and cast a fast glimpse of entire story: a wicked stepmother, a misery-lived young and fair beauty named Ella (Despicably dubbed as Cinderella), an encounter with a handsome prince, a royal ball gala, a fairy godmother and glass slippers. However, one of the most stunning surprise is the significant alteration to the plot added by the director Kenneth Charles Branagh and scriptwriters Chris Weitz and Aline Brosh. An extended prologue leads us to appreciate young Ella's happy and comfortable childhood with the company of her father starred by Ben Chaplin and mother starred by Hayley Atwell. Motivations of the actions taken by Ella’s wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine were elaboratively illustrated due to the extended time, which does Lady Tremaine more realistic and understandable as well as gets the plot more reasonable. The conspiration between Lady Tremaine and Grand Duke, starred by Stellan Skarsgård, sophisticatedly filters the film with more scent of evil, complexity and realism. And the contradictions and the ultimate reconciliation between the Prince, Kit, starred by Richard Madden, and his ailing father, the king, starred by Derek Jacobi, granted deepens the measure of bittersweet life of the royal court.
The moment Disney declared the project, who to be the very protagonist naturally idles away over people’s mind. Fortunately, the result failed no one. Considering the outstanding performance in Down Abbey and Wrath of The Titans, Lily James was chosen to take the role. And Lily never failed her buffs and the investor. She showed her talent of acting in the exquisite performance and has cut a figure for real ever since.
As Perfect as Cinderella, Lily is gorgeous, brave and kind. The newest Cinderella appears genuinely stronger and tracks a path to deepen the strength under Weitz’s pen and Branagh’s lens. That strength is not rooted in her ability of fighting against various toughness, yet originated in her patience, resilience and belief. She quietly endures one disgrace and indignity after another from her stepmother and two stepsisters and never thinks of leaving, merely because of the responsibility of honouring her promise to her mother and father that she cherishes the place they were so happy and loves it for them.
With regard to love into a man, she values a tender and kind heart rather than a breathtakingly attractive jolly face, which prominently differs the Ella starred by Lily James from the one in original animated fairy tale. In order to vivify the impression and the core of Ella’s virtue, there were then added more mirrors—displayed mercy to the stag and any other animals, her friends, mice, for instance and the intention of friendship to participate in the royal ball. And Ella’s final words to Lady Tremaine demonstrates who she is in an elegant and unexpectedly touching manner.
Courage and kindness were for the very first time put forward to identify the theme in the series. This trial is absolutely a bold, ornate and yet reasonable step in the classic. Out of question, such character setting obviously sublimates core of the film, and thus endows the drama with much expanded room of alteration, not merely confined and constricted in the so-called classical but, from the current perspective, somehow stereotyped format.
Lady Tremaine, the stepmother starred by Cate Blanchett, is boldly given by the scriptwriter and the director, with a far more critical meaning in this film. Therefore, her unknown and pitiful past which alters her into a jealous, mean and miserable woman drop by drop, is able to be clearly unravelled on the screen. Hence, no one was born and doomed to be a devil. These added plots and character setting can break up some critics’ claims that Lady Tremaine played by Cate delivers pure and black-hearted wickedness from start to finish.
It is universally acknowledged that having Cate Blanchett be Lady Tremaine is indeed a wise decision. You will feel astonished by her uncanny competence to perform the character’s menacing smile, evilly charming gestures and poised body language with Cate playing the character of its very own, if you are familiar with the previous versions. Absorbedly concentrating on her acting and presenting, not just for a moment but during the whole course, you can figure out that she may be the true Lady Tremaine, scary, oppressive, wicked and pathetic, of course, along with theatrical glee from time to time.
Cate Blanchett is granted a mature, stylish yet also Old-Hollywood-looked actress, or even I am supposed to say, a superstar, which conducts us in a natural trace to picture whether Joan Crawford could probably express and identify the role to the fullest just like Cate Blanchett does. As Lady Tremaine holds indignation in tears and censures Ella that she is young, innocent and good, she uncovers herself crystally as everything she is not. Cate Blanchett nails Lady Tremaine on almost every scene that she appears in.
Another vital role is the fairy godmother. Helena Carter’s participation indeed protrudes the excitement and comicalness. The added virtue test for Ella connects the plots more smoothly, and extrudes Ella’s born optimism and kindness. This arrangement simple and slight though, yet exquisitely echoes with the theme and sets off the ethics and morality of stepmother and stepsisters of Ella by contrast.
However it is complimented, the original storyline can still limit the unrestrained ideas of the production team to some extent. Hence, audio and visual effects with a great deal of efforts poured in outstand in film. Right like everything is integrated up and falls into place in Disney’s world, the newest Cinderella never loses the magic and wonder of the 1950’s animated version.
Patrick Doyle is appointed as the music composer who composed for Murder on The Orient Express (2017), Nanny McPhee (2006) and Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005) before. In Cinderella, his work, A Golden Childhood softens time and invites the audience to leap into the wonderland to empathise and echo with the happy family in such golden period. And Polka shines the most in the background music. La Polka De Paris, La Polka De Minuit and La Polka Militaire powerfully shows the royal court’s magnificence and elegance to the audience. And Nice and Airy and Valse Royale windingly rill through ear to heart and drown the audience themselves into the magical world bit by bit.
Costumes mainstay as one of the stars in the film. The costumes on Cate Blanchett seems to catch the air of the look of John Crawford in Mommie Dearest with hash lines and push-up bra. Evoking the picture of a 1950’s housewife with bold colours and thoroughly sharp lines, her outfits succeed in helping shape a dictating and stern matriarch. Although the twin stepsisters present in an excessively ridiculous and anachronistic approach in those dresses decorated with polkadot patterns, they reflect Ella’s fairy spirit and graceful gestures and manners. Ella’s featured clothes are an old light blue dress, her mother’s old-fashioned pink dress tailored again and a noble ballgown in varying soft shades of blue. Even if the two formers are sort of rags, as is told in the film, I still feel like that she was always staying in innocence, gorgeousness and elegance.
Besides, the most audience are completely submerged in the beauty and pleasure that the production team created in diligence, from the grand oversized castle to the fairyland country view, form the ornate gold pumpkin coach to the superb court ball gala, and from splendid fireworks to fascinating rose bushes. As the climax of such visual feast, the royal ball rejoices the viewers even the figures at the ball present. Particularly, the moment Prince shares the joyous first dance with Ella, spinning around and around, the camera soaks up every catchy point—palace’s luxurious interior, Ella’s appealing ballgown, Prince’s gentle hold of Ella, the pretty glass slippers gliding across the dancing floor and the love-drunk smiles of great zeal—in a retroactive but wild cinematic fashion. On reminiscing about vivid light and colours, warm 35mm cinematography, sumptuous production design and instantly striking costumes, can a thought emerge deep out of the mind that none of these elements cannot do weave the visually spectacular appeal and attraction for the audience. It is far more of a banquet of beauty and joy harvest than a shiny high-tech chick flick. And I dare say that the latter comment must be a preconceived and insouciant claim.
Well, I have to admit that the film is not that pure and perfect. There still exist flaws, though. Ella’s mantra is “have courage and be kind” that is earnestly enjoined to her by her long-dead mother. Merely relying on such sort of pale and somehow too oft-repeated belief and promise to the late parents that she should cherish the house full of moving memory, can Ella sustain all the cruelty and vicious meanness of the wicked stepmother and selfish stepsisters for real? Some critics and I deliberately reckon that there exists some wiggle room.
And the kingdom may be a little bit of lack of reality, for it appears to only possess one village in front of the enormous and luxury castle. Beyond that, it is just surrounded by extensive forests in appearance. Technically, is it possible for the kingdom to sustain the royal family’s extravagance and dignity, financially speaking?
Those nit-pickings aside, Cinderella is definitely one of the most pleasant gifts in 2015 and one of the most epochal works in Disney’s history. Lily James is radiant and charismatic in the title role and brilliantly reinterpreted the classic. And Kenneth Branagh demonstrated to us what live-action fairy tale adaptions ought to be. The entire production team and the industrious and outstanding performers endowed Cinderella with a Phoenix Nirvana: Cinderella is everything we could wish for—courage, kindness and elegance.
11.16.2018
⭐ 原文发表于微信公众号“光与影故事集” 。
⭐ 于贩卖焦虑的时代下，寻一片孤独的林间地。
⭐ 图片来源于《Cinderella》、必应图片和豆瓣电影。如有侵权，请联系作者删除。
⭐ 本文为原创，任何形式转载请联系作者。
高清
