In the age of Maleficent,
Frozen and Tangled, this new version of Cinderella
is a somewhat more traditional piece, at least in narrative terms; a young girl
dreams of fairy tales, meets the prince, they fall in love, everyone lives
happily ever after, etc. But this doesn’t mean it can’t be progressive: the
central line of dialogue ‘Have courage, and be kind’ is a far cry from the
submissive, head-over-heels infatuated princess character that the name Cinderella evokes, and Lily James’
performance is both delightful and
powerful.
Cate Blanchett as the wicked step-mother is Barbara Stanwyck
reborn with an Emperor Palpatine cackle to match, given a final shot that
echoes the famous staircase opener of Double
Indemnity. Helena Bonham-Carter has a lot of fun in her least batty role
for some years, and Richard Madden is suitably imposing as the Prince, gifted
with a surprising number of sensitive moments. Familiar faces such as Rob
Brydon and Stellan Skarsgård pop-up every now and again like surprise treats in
the world’s best-designed chocolate box.
The ballroom sequence – famous in whichever version of the
story is told – is a visual and logistical marvel. You know a film is working
on almost every possible level when a late-teenage man is coming over all gooey
at the sight of our heroine finally realising her dream, stepping onto the
dancefloor and wowing the audience with her grace and beauty. Everything about
the sequence is perfect, from the minutely detailed costumes, the grandiose
sets down to the Prince’s hand on the small of Cinderella’s back.
Almost radically non-cynical, Ken Branagh’s Cinderella is a charming spell of the
movie. There are one or two tears in the fabric (the slight predictability of
the narrative makes it feel somewhat baggy, as do various parents falling ill
to unspecific-itus), but the target audience will be having too much fun
amongst the splendour and the magic to notice. The most hardened of cynical,
grouchy minds will be won over in a flash.
★★★★☆
