Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Writer: Dan Mazeau
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Bassett and Robin Wright
Run-time: 109 minutes
Streaming on: Netflix
“There are many stories of chivalry where the heroic knight saves the damsel in distress. This is not one of them.” The opening narration of Damsel effectively sets the tone for this latest in a string of mainstream attempts to “flip the script” by empowering the distressed damsels of fairy tales to take charge of their own destiny, rather than wait for Prince Charming. Here, it is the headstrong Elodie, played by Millie Bobby Brown in her third turn as a badass Netflix heroine. Elodie is the princess of a land stricken by poverty and starvation. She agrees to marry a handsome prince (a lacklustre Nick Robinson), whose wealth would be enough to ensure permanent prosperity for her people. It won’t be a spoiler to tell you this is no ordinary fairy tale — especially if you’ve seen the trailer that dropped three weeks ago, which revealed most of the film’s plot.
For those who have already seen Elodie being thrown into a chasm on her wedding day, facing off against a dragon and eventually escaping to exact vengeance, it is difficult to buy into the uneasy sense of hope Elodie feels about her impending marriage. Neither is it a surprise that the royal family of Aurea (headed by Robin Wright’s deliciously devious Queen) have an ancient tradition of sacrificing innocent young girls to a fire-breathing beast. Of course, because Elodie is “not like other girls”, she will come out of this predicament alive unlike the hundreds of girls before her. And if you guessed that the dragon is actually a misunderstood monster that will ultimately team up with Elodie, congratulations, you’ve watched enough fantasy films to be able to foresee clichéd endings. Yet for all its predictability couched in lush cinematography, Damsel does have some intriguing elements.
Less predictable than the treatment that the princess gets in Damsel is the film’s subversion of another favourite fairy tale trope: The Wicked Stepmother. Angela Bassett plays Lady Bayford, Elodie’s stepmother, who is initially eager to get her stepdaughter married off. On their way to Aurea, Lady Bayford scolds Elodie for not looking suitably presentable for her in-laws and in these early chapters, she’s everything you expect from the stepmother archetype. However, once Lady Bayford senses that something is amiss, she sets aside her material desires to protect her stepdaughter. She warns Elodie to not go through with the wedding, and for the rest of her limited screen-time in the film, she does everything in her power to save her family. Through her performance, Bassett conveys Lady Bayford’s strong will and sensitivity, making her one of the more interesting characters in Damsel. Elodie calls her ‘Mother’ for the first time at the end of the film, an inevitable yet rather sweet moment.
Another pleasant surprise is that even though Elodie is portrayed as special because she is the only girl to ever escape the clutches of the dragon, Damsel also highlights the resilience of the girls who came before her. Elodie draws strength from them in unexpected ways, lending credence to Elodie’s later declaration that her actions are dedicated to “every innocent woman whose life was stolen down here.” Seeing women looking out for other women and standing by one another is still enough of a novelty in mainstream cinema to make even the cynical heart feel fonder. In Damsel, it adds a welcome layer to what could have been a trite and one-dimensional notion of girl power.
Reader, be prepared to hike your screen brightness all the way to the top — much of the film is spent in darkness, both the literal and metaphorical kind. It is difficult to follow Elodie’s adventures in the caves due to this creative choice. More frustrating is the fact that the main conflict of Damsel could have been resolved in minutes if only Elodie had been more forthcoming with the truth. It feels out of character for a heroine who is otherwise depicted as practical and intelligent.
Fortunately for Damsel, Millie Bobby Brown is eminently watchable, making Elodie a heroine for whom you want to root. She embodies Elodie’s rage and despair enough that you are willing to look past certain details, including the make-up that remains pristine even after Elodie has spent hours scrambling through caves and forests. Shohreh Aghdashloo is chilling as the voice of the dragon, whose deep pain makes the creature a sympathetic adversary. The film’s ending feels pat, as Elodie and her family sail into the sunset with her new friend dragon flying by her side. As far as fantasy films go, Damsel is breaking no new ground, but it’s entertaining enough in parts — more so if you haven’t already watched the trailer.