Ever After (1998) - 63 mistakes

Continuity: When Prince Henry first approaches Leonardo da Vinci and then chases after the thief, the horse he rides on has no markings on its face. After he shouts, Ugly peasant bastard!" Henry rides a different horse, it now has a white 'L' shape mark between its eyes, in the Prince's next close-up.

Visible crew/equipment: After the Baroness is stripped of her title, Danielle makes her entrance and everyone bows. When her stepmother has turned to face her, as everyone rises the actor's T-mark taped to the floor is visible to Jacqueline's right, behind the former Baroness. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Revealing: When the Grimm brothers' carriage pulls away from the castle, after Danielle's story is told, just before the screen fades to black, a blue car with a white top (and a couple more nondescript), can be seen parked in front of the building with a brown roof, at the bottom of the screen towards the right.

Revealing: While Danielle is up in the tree, the Gypsy punches Henry and when he flies backward and lands on his back Henry's scabbard (at his left) bends and flops around, despite the fact that his sword is sheathed, as seen in the following shots.

Visible crew/equipment: In the market scene when Prince Henry almost sees Danielle and she throws the chicken at him, because they didn't want to injure Prince Henry they put a glass plate in front of him so the chicken would not hit him. If you pause it right after Danielle throws the chicken you can see the reflection of the chicken's legs in the lower right hand corner of your screen.

Revealing: When Danielle's perfectly aimed apple causes Henry to fall off the horse, his scabbard (at Henry's left) bends and flops around despite the fact that Henry's sword is supposedly in it, as seen in the following shots.

Continuity: While Danielle is up in the tree, when Henry is punched by the Gypsy and lands on his back, the Gypsy draws his two swords and holds them up high. However, when Henry says, "Oh no, it's you again," both of the Gypsy's swords are sheathed and his hands are down. Then, when Henry draws his own sword, the Gypsy's swords are still held up high.

Continuity: When Danielle's father is leaving, the sun is setting on his right, but when we see a closeup of his face, it is lighted from his left.

Continuity: When Danielle is climbing down the tree, in the overhead shot the Gypsy is holding the sword in his right hand with Danielle's dress held up high on the sword tip as he thanks her, but next shot he's gripping the dress in his raised left hand. (More visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: Prince Henry rides up to the manor to return the horse to the Baroness, and when Marguerite and Jacqueline stumble over themselves to greet the Prince, Marguerite's long hair braid ends up over her head beside her cheek, which she promptly flips to the back of her head. Yet, this braid reappears and disappears repeatedly in the following shots.

Continuity: When Prince Henry kisses Danielle at the old castle ruins, just after she has had her beating, his hand switches from under her arm to over her shoulder.

Continuity: When Prince Henry lowers himself out the castle window, the tied bed linens hang through different sides of the divided window, between the exterior shot of Henry and the interior shot when his parents discover his escape.

Continuity: When the gypsies are in the wood fighting with Henry, the head of the gypsies has a large leaf on the front of his shirt. It disappears and then reappears when he laughs. (More visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: In the first scene when we see Danielle serving breakfast to her stepmother and stepsisters just after the Prince releases Maurice, she leaves the kitchen with her hair pulled back, when she enters the dining room her hair is pulled forward.

Continuity: When the Prince proposes to Danielle, in the shot from behind her, her long hair is pulled forward in front of her shoulders, but in the shots from the front her hair is behind her shoulders and she did not touch it.

Continuity: When Marguerite threatens to toss 'Utopia' into the fireplace, she holds the book out to her left, where the fireplace and its roaring fire are located. When Danielle hands over the glass slippers, Marguerite moves her arm from her side and proceeds to forcefully throw the book down directly in front of her (between Marguerite and Danielle, who face each other). Odd though, how in the next close-up 'Utopia' is shown having been tossed straight into the fire to burn, as Danielle screams.

Continuity: After Marguerite tastes the chocolate, when Henry walks over to Louise and Paulette, Louise holds an abundant armful of corn ears in the shot facing the women. In the shot facing Henry, as she turns her body there is nothing in her left arm, but then the corn is back for her to toss.

Factual error: Leonardo da Vinci's painting, the MONA LISA, was originally painted on wood, impossible for it to have been unrolled after taking it out of the canister. Also, if it hadn't been painted on wood, it would have been painted on canvas, which doesn't stay partially rolled after you take it out of a tube of some kind. It would not have been painted on paper.

Continuity: In the scene when Danielle is brushing the stepmother's hair and the stepmother pulls her to the ground to touch her face, Angelica Huston's hand keeps on moving from Danielle's face to her own face in every shot.

Other: In the scene when Henry walks over to pick the glass slipper off the ledge it starts raining. All his clothes get wet, except his hair, which stays perfectly dry...

Continuity: When Marguerite claims to find the necklace and pendant that the Queen dropped, as she hands it to the Queen, first she holds the pendant in her open palm, then pinches it between her fingers, then again in her open palm.

Continuity: When Henry stops the wedding and allows the Spanish princess to run to her real love, there's a shot where he's taking off his cape. When it switches to the shot with Henry in the background as she's hugging her real love, Prince Henry is just starting to take off his cape again.

Visible crew/equipment: When Danielle rushes upstairs to finish serving the breakfast, she says, "Good morning Madame, Marguerite, Jacqueline. I trust you slept well." Just as Danielle places the bowl of eggs in front of Marguerite, the actor's blue T-mark taped to the floor is visible under the table, as the camera pans around. The tape mark is positioned between the Baroness and Jacqueline, where Danielle will be standing momentarily. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: When Danielle is up in the tree, Henry and the Gypsy begin to fight. That Gypsy is wearing a greenish hood/shawl over his shoulders, which suddenly disappears and then reappears between shots.

Continuity: Before Auguste De Barbarac arrives home, from the upstairs window young Danielle is speaking to young Gustave, who is down below. The window/frame/hinge differ between exterior shots facing Danielle and the interior shots facing the courtyard. The wallpaper is an entirely different print as well, and the silver pitcher does its own vanishing act.

Continuity: At the manor, when Leonardo da Vinci hugs Danielle and says, "Think of it as a belated wedding present, Your Highness," the distinctive wood chair (more are seen all over the manor) is under the side window behind him, also visible as Danielle takes Henry's hands and pulls him towards the alcove with the two windows. Next shot, however, that chair is gone from behind Danielle (where the side window is) and there is only a wood table in front of the center window.

Continuity: At the start of the tennis game, the black straps around Henry's right calf have fallen to his ankle, but are back up properly before he falls onto the spectators.

Continuity: At the tennis match, when the ladies stuff their handkerchiefs into Henry's vest, in the following shots some of the handkerchiefs disappear, reappear or change position.

Continuity: When Danielle is behind the four-paneled privacy screen, as she tosses her dress over it, there is a painting which hangs on the wall, about a foot away from the window to her right. When Gustave tosses the 'courtier' gown to her, the painting is gone, though it should actually be visible if it were there.

Continuity: When Gustave walks over to Danielle and continues to say, "Five days in the stocks," his arms are down at his sides, but next shot as Danielle playfully flicks his nose, his hands are snugly under his belt in front of him. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: Before church services, when the Baroness and her daughters step out of the carriage they are met by the Royal Page, who has the hidden pendant. In shots facing the Baroness, he is holding his bag in his arm with its cord dangling, but in shots facing him that bag's cord is slung over his shoulder.

Continuity: When Danielle is with Gustave, she walks behind the four-paneled privacy screen and tosses her dress over it. In the following shots, the dress hangs over either the second panel from her left or second panel from her right, depending on the shot.

Factual error: Leonardo da Vinci came to France in 1516 by the King's invitation and died there in 1519. Prince Henry would have just been born around that time. He's at least 20 years old which means this is an anachronism.

Continuity: Just before Danielle is sold, she has a conversation with her evil stepmother in a narrow pathway in the garden. In the shots of the stepmother speaking, her hands are on her hips but when the shot changes to Danielle, so we see the back of the stepmother, the stepmother's hands are not on her hips anymore until the shot returns to her front. This goes back and forth a few times.

Visible crew/equipment: After Auguste rides away the Baroness tells her daughters to go back to their lessons, and when Danielle says, "Wait, it's tradition," the Baroness stops and just as she turns the actor's mark is visible at he feet, in front of her gown. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Visible crew/equipment: After da Vinci removes the door's hinge pins to rescue Danielle, in the next shot as Gustave walks toward Danielle with his arms open, an actor's mark is visible on the floor precisely where da Vinci stops to speak to Danielle. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Visible crew/equipment: When Auguste is leaving the manor he kisses the Baroness, and at the start of the next shot as he begins to speak to the three girls, the reddish actor's mark becomes visible in front of the Baroness' feet as her gown moves when she turns. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: When Auguste leaves the manor, as he says his goodbyes to Rodmilla and Danielle, Louise's arms keep changing position from being crossed, to being clasped, to being down and so on, between consecutive shots. (Visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: When Auguste and young Danielle play rock-paper-scissors to settle their argument, in the close-up Auguste's white shirt's tie-string hangs at his wrist, but is gone in the previous and following shots.

Continuity: After Auguste tells young Danielle that he needs to leave again in a fortnight, the book's title 'Utopia' lies face up on the bed in the close-up, but face down in the previous and following shots. (Visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Audio problem: When Danielle brings the salt to the dining table, the Baroness sprinkles a spoonful of salt over the single shelled hard-boiled egg in the bowl, with its removed cracked shell lying on the plate beneath. After the stepmother rebukes Danielle, we hear the distinct sound of her cracking the hard-boiled egg's shell with her spoon, just before she says, "Eggs are cold," even though the egg has no shell.

Continuity: When Henry returns with Leonardo's container, the master painter promptly removes the painting. The servant behind Leonardo holds the tube with his right hand and closes the Fleur-de-lis clasp with his left hand, but next shot his hands have switched.

Continuity: When Danielle places the coins she received from Prince Henry on the table in the close-up, their positions differ in the next shot as she rushes around the table.

Continuity: When Auguste falls off his horse, the ground leading to the gate is blanketed in long pronounced shadows of tree trunks, but when young Danielle runs to him the only shadows are of treetops (branches and leaves).

Continuity: When Auguste dies, the Baroness stands up to be consoled by Maurice, and Auguste's left leg is crossed over his right, but in the next overhead shot his legs are uncrossed.

Continuity: When Auguste dies, the Baroness cries, "No!" and puts her right hand up to her mouth, then uses both hands to shake him as she pleads, "You cannot leave me here!" Next shot her hand is back up to her mouth, but when it cuts again she is still shaking him as she pleads, "You cannot leave me here!"

Continuity: When Henry leaps from his horse onto the Gypsy's horse, attempting to retrieve Leonardo da Vinci's container, Henry's long purple cape is draped around his shoulders and down his back in all shots but one, as he rides off sitting behind the Gypsy.

Continuity: When Danielle walks out of Pierre Le Pieu's residence just as Henry arrives to rescue her, the cannon is right beside the brazier, but by the time Henry spins Danielle around the cannon is farther away from the brazier.

Continuity: When Danielle is about to leave the ruins at Amboise, as she and Henry kiss her arm is around his waist, but next shot when she moans in pain (from the lashes on her back) her arm is between them, then it's back around his waist. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.)

Continuity: At dinner, when the Baroness complains about it being too dark and accuses the help of stealing the candlesticks, in the first shot the two candles in front of her are about an inch high, but much taller in following shots.

Continuity: After Danielle leaves the ball, when da Vinci places Danielle's glass slipper on the stone ledge near Henry, its position changes between shots.

Continuity: Danielle is given a lashing on her back which results in many scars, some of which are level with her shoulder blades (scapula). The next day, when she appears at the masque in the low-backed gown, what we see of her back is completely scarless, though they cannot have already healed.

Continuity: When Danielle's step-sisters go to church, so that Marguerite can "unexpectedly" find a broach belonging to the queen, she enters the carriage with straight frizzy hair and exits with luxuriously curled locks.

Continuity: When Prince Henry and Marguerite are touring the marketplace, just before they arrive at Danielle's stall, Marguerite gets Henry to feed her some chocolate. While the shot is on her, you can see his hand reaching for some chocolate. The shot switches to his face, and then back to her, where his hand goes for the chocolate again.

Continuity: After Danielle's father says "I love you" to her, he dies and his head falls. Then when the shot changes to Danielle and the Baroness, you see his head fall again.

Continuity: During the scene where Danielle is swimming, in the shot where DaVinci walks past her and says, "It looks like rain," the bottoms of his 'shoes' are flat, but in the shot where he and Danielle are exiting the water they have a fin shaped bottom. This also proves he was walking in a shallow pool of water.

Continuity: When Danielle and Prince Henry are just about to fight with the gypsies in the woods, Danielle is clambering up a cliff, when you see her the sky is light blue as it is daytime, but in the next shot the sky is dark (night time) and then back to light blue again.

Continuity: When Paulette is dressing young Danielle, before her father's arrival with the new stepmother, just before Louise says, "She must be lovely," she passes the window with items on the windowsill. When Daniel runs to that window the items change.

Continuity: In the first scene, the king asks Henry "what's this about a servant". During this shot he takes a few steps forward. Then the scene cuts to Henry and we can see the King in the background, again taking some steps forward and saying something, yet nothing can be heard.

Continuity: At the end when the court bows to Danielle, in the wide shot you can see Jacqueline curtsying. But when it cuts to the closeup of Marguerite who's standing next to her, you see Jacqueline drop down into her curtsy again.

Factual error: Chocolate started getting known in France in the 17th century, under Louis XIV. Since the movie takes place about a hundred years before that, Marguerite eating it is an anachronism. Even if she somehow got hold of some, at first chocolate was only a drink - it took a while longer before people started eating it.

Factual error: Danielle is hardly as common a name in French as in English, and relatively recent (a few hundred years at the most). The following information is taken from "L'histoire de nos prénoms : 2000 ans, 20 000 prénoms", by Léo Journiaux, published in 1999 by Hachette. Ever since the Middle Ages, the clergy had forbidden Frechmen to choose first names other than those of saints. In fact, the Council of Trente turned that clergy rule into law, which means since there was no St. Daniel or Ste. Danielle, Daniel and Danielle could not be bestowed on Catholic babies. You have to wait for the French Revolution (decree from March 24, 1793) for names other than saints' to be allowed in France. In the end, French parents had to wait for 1993 (this is not a typo) to be able to name their child whatever they wanted: before that, each baby's name had first to be approved by the civil registry administration. In fact, in 1970, a man from Dijon was denied the right to call his daughter Vanessa. Now, Danielle in the movie has to be a Catholic, or else Henry (being crown prince) wouldn't have been able to marry her. As a Catholic from the 1500s, she could not possibly have had a name that isn't a saint's name. Thus, calling her Danielle is an anachronism. Here is a rough translation of the "Daniel" entry in the abovementioned book. The entry for Danielle refers us to Daniel, in which is provided all the etymological information. "Daniel--masculine. Name in use in Europe since the 4th century A.D. The Protestant Reform allowed it to spread in Germany, but especially in England. In Scotland, where it's the translation for Donald, it was the 22nd most popular name for males in 1935. In France, it was first authorised by the law instated on April 1st, 1803.

Continuity: When Danielle is swimming and Leonardo Da Vinci walks on water next to her, in the frame before his "looks like rain" line, you can obviously tell that Drew is on her back in the shallow water because she is floundering her arms so much.