With all of the buzz around Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent, I decided to watch Ever After again. This is one of my favorite fairy tale movies, and, although it is framed as a ‘historical recounting’, this is a fairy tale, a completely fictional piece of fun.
One of the things I love most about this movie is how the ‘evil’ stepmother is portrayed. She behaves horribly but I understand why she isn’t nice to Danielle (played by Drew Barrymore ). She earns my sympathy.
The Baroness, played wonderfully by Anjelica Huston, is an ambitious, proud lady. She values titles and wealth, and seeks to be close to the French court.
So why does she marry Gustave, a wealthy yet untitled rural landowner?
Because she loves him. She gives up her ambitions, her dreams, everything for him. Then she finds out that she is alone in this all consuming love, that Gustave will always put Danielle first. As he tellingly says to Danielle, “I may be a husband now but I’m a father first and forever.”
When Gustave leaves the manor, Danielle claims that they must wait for him to wave, that this will give them good luck. In a fit of jealousy, the Baroness refuses to wait, entering the building.
Gustave then suffers from a heart attack and falls from his horse. The Baroness runs to him, her guilt and worry painfully obvious. Did she cause this bad luck? Danielle arrives at his side first, adding to the Baroness’ guilt. She should have reached him first. She clutches him, crazed with worry.
Gustave turns away from his new wife, rejecting her, and tells his daughter, Danielle, he loves her. He dies with the Baroness heart wrenchingly wailing “You cannot leave me here.” She has given up everything for love and has been left with nothing.
The Baroness can’t blame the man she loved so she transfers all of her anger to Danielle, the daughter. Does she act like a bitch? Yes. Do I understand why she acts this way? Absolutely.
THAT, in my opinion, is how one crafts a great villain.
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Sinful Rewards 1
Cynthia Sax
Belinda “Bee” Carter is a good girl; at least, that’s what she tells herself. And a good girl deserves a nice guy—just like the gorgeous and moody billionaire Nicolas Rainer. He is everything she wants in a man.
Or so she thinks, until she takes a look through her telescope and sees a naked, tattooed man on the balcony across the courtyard. Hawke is mysterious, the bad boy she knows will bring only heartbreak. He has been watching her, and that makes him all the more enticing.
But when a mysterious and anonymous text message dares her to do something bad, she must decide if she is really the good girl she has always claimed to be, or if she’s willing to risk everything for her secret fantasy of being watched.
Is her mystery man the reclusive billionaire with a wild side or the darkly dangerous bad boy?
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinful-Rewards-1-Cynthia-Sax-ebook/dp/B00I7V89H0
Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sinful-rewards-1-cynthia-sax/1119055390
