This film offers a new take on the idea of prince charming rescuing the young woman by instead showing a witty smart female lead saving herself.
Synopsis
A young woman, Elodie, agrees to marry a prince from a far away land to save her people from death. She soon discovers this fairytale is too good to be true when she is thrown into a cave with a dragon as a sacrifice. She must find a way to survive and escape using only her wit and bravery.
Starring Millie Bobby Brown as Elodie, Nick Robinson as Prince Henry, Angela Bassett as Lady Bayford, Ray Winstone as Lord Bayford, and Robin Wright as Queen Isabelle.
Highs
Beautiful imagery throughout the entire film sells every scene. The scenery consists of lush greens and harsh blues that make the settings of the film pop. Even in a dungy layer lush of a dragon, various shades of greens of moss cover the floor and walls which make the scene come to life. In another part of the cave, huge stalagmites come out of the ground, while another corridor is filled with different types of wall crystals. Light versus dark fills throughout the film with lighting setting the mood of the film heavily - blue light shines in the dark scene, golden light takes place in the lighter scenes. These tiny details in the scenery make the film come to life completely.
The costumes are delicate and adorned with details, everyone in the entire film fits their roles with luxury and opulence overflowing everywhere. It’s simply visually stunning throughout. Even in scenes of flames and pain, somehow there is still beauty in it in this film. Stalagmites coming out of the ground - tiny details make the film come to life.
Millie Bobby Brown truly shows her acting chops with this role. She is funny and witty in the beginning, but that rage shines through in her actions while fighting for her life. Elodie is strong, brave and angry, and Brown truly encapsulates all these emotions and shines in the role. Kindness is shown through even in the darkest of times, and strength shines throughout her character. This role shows layers with Elodie pulling herself through tiny tunnels and dangerous mountains, showing that anguish, but taking it all in stride.
Lows
The trailer does the film a huge disservice - for the first 35 minutes of the film, I couldn't get into the plot due to knowing the big thing that would happen next. It made it hard to put yourself into her shoes when you knew something she didn't. I understand trying to make the film this fierce battle for a young woman's life (Elodie), but the film would have had that extra surprise factor if this was left out of the trailer and description of the film. If the film was longer, you could get away with giving away this betrayal and focus on Elodie's fight for her life, but it just distracts so much when you know what's going to happen, especially when the backstory takes up over a quarter of the film.
Finding elements in a cave to make her look more clean and polished makes it less believable as a complete story. Cleaning her up is okay but making her look camera ready in ways with what looks like gloss on her lips and her hair straightened out after fighting for her life against a dragon definitely makes the film less believable. A person fighting for their life shouldn't have to look put together. I would’ve loved to see the grime of the battle, it shows perseverance, and cleaning her up is an injustice to her mite.
One of the most jarring points of the film was hearing the dragon's voice for the first time. The dragon's voice doesn't match the fear it gives off. It feels like the voice is so distant from the dragon itself, and quiet at points, that it makes it a hard sell to see the dragon speaking to Elodie with this voice.
Verdict
This is one of the best Netflix films I've seen. The entire cast of characters sells this film, and the beautiful thoughtful imagery throughout makes this film great. The film also has a great plot that is followed throughout, making this film so enjoyable to watch.
I give “Damsel” a 9 out of 10.
