Ever After

Question: Toward the end of the movie when the stepmother and stepsister have been summoned to court, the camera searches the room for anyone who will speak for them. They are two old ladies shown who I believe played the stepsisters in another production of Cinderella. What was that production?

Question: What happened to people who were shipped to the Americas?

Answer: They would have become indentured servants - basically their debt be bought by someone in the Americas and they would be forced to work for the buyer until the debt had been worked off.

Question: Throughout the entire movie after her father dies, she's referred to as a peasant. Even says she's 'but a peasant', a servant. Her father was a Baron, how her stepmother became a Baroness. Her mother was a Countess. A parent dying doesn't strip the child of noble status. The daughter of even a dead baron is not a peasant. How is this not a serious plot error that completely derails the whole movie?

Answer: Danielle's father was not a baron, he was just a wealthy landowner. Her stepmother was a baroness from her previous marriage. When Danielle calls herself "Comtesse Nicole de Lancret" (her mother's name), she was lying and only pretending to be a noblewoman. Her mother was never a countess.

Bishop73

Answer: So the Baroness married down, then, by marrying Danielle's father.

Shipper

Yes. She married down because Auguste had money and she was broke.

LorgSkyegon

Yes. In this time period, a woman like the Baroness would not have many options. She apparently had no wealth from her first marriage, and she had two children. Many wealthy, available men could easily arrange marriages with younger women, from wealthier families, who had no children.

Question: When Danielle is in Pierre Le Pieu's castle, and he takes her hair and says, "I had a horse like you once, very stubborn it just needed to be broken" what did he mean by this?

Answer: He compares Danielle to his horse, who was a "Magnificent creature...stubborn...willful." Horse breaking means to get the horse to comply and to submit to the humans who handle it, many times by awful violent means, in order to break their stubbornness or willful behavior. Le Pieu has put Danielle in shackles and tells her that she belongs to him, and that he wishes she would reconsider his offer, to which Danielle states that she belongs to no-one and she'd rather rot than be his (with the obvious implication of what that means). When Le Pieu uses the horse analogy to further infer his disgusting intentions, he then touches Danielle's hair, and she realises that he is not maintaining his distance, which prompts her to take his sword and threaten him.

Super Grover

Question: Why is the Baroness still being called just that, a Baroness? This would make sense if she were still a widow, but she married Danielle's father. Any property from her first marriage seems to be gone, hence why she "settled" for Danielle's father. She is not the "Baroness" of any place now. Even the king refers to her as "the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent" when he sends for her and Marguerite, near the end of the movie.

Answer: A woman who was previously married to a peer no longer holds the title after being widowed or divorced, unless she was granted the title in her own right. However, there is also what is known as a "courtesy title", where someone formerly married to a peer, may still be addressed by their former title out of respect, even though it is no longer valid. This seems to be the case here. Also, this is a fictional story and historical accuracy is often ignored. It's also used for persons in other professions, such as a U.S. senator, who would is often still addressed as "Senator."

raywest

Answer: There are two songs featured in the trailer: "Fable" by Robert Miles and "Mummer's Dance" by Loreena McKennitt.

Steph_Jared

Question: When Prince Henry almost marries the Spanish woman, why are the Baroness and her daughters there? At the ball, he told Danielle "You are just like them", referring to his dislike of them.

Answer: It would be expected that people of a certain social rank are invited to important ceremonies and events, regardless of one young prince's personal feelings about anyone in particular. It's about the monarchy maintaining strong social and political ties to aristocratic families and retaining their loyalty and influence for their own power. Not inviting them or others over petty squabbles would be insulting and potentially weaken alliances.

raywest

Question: There may not be a definite answer to this. If the Baroness and her daughters are noble, why did she marry Danielle's father - a wealthier common person, but still not a noble? Does she not have a Baroness title, and any land and assets from her daughters' father? Why not seek a marriage to another noble?

Answer: You're correct that there is no definite answer. Many nobles have lofty titles without necessarily possessing wealth. The Baroness may have been married to a wealthy nobleman, but as she did not have any sons, her first husband's property and/or title would have been inherited by his closest male relative (females did not inherit) possibly leaving her with little or nothing. Her first husband may have been living beyond his means, leaving little to be inherited (a common occurrence among the earlier nobility). The Baroness' lavish lifestyle eventually bankrupted Danielle's father. Marrying another wealthy nobleman would be a difficult prospect as the Baroness was older and possibly no longer capable of bearing children, in addition to having no money, making her an undesirable match to many. She married the wealthiest person (Danielle's father) she could.

raywest

Question: When the Evil Stepmother wakes up Danielle (who is hungover, from being with Henry and the gypsies the night before), and asks Jacqueline to boil water, why? And what was done with it? Nothing was ever explained about the boiling water. I don't believe Evil Stepmother had Jacqueline boil water to make their breakfast with. She wouldn't have relented that easily. The very next scene has Danielle getting water from the well, looking fine.

Shipper

Answer: It could be a daily chore and for a variety of reasons such as providing the step-mother and step-sister hot water for their morning wash; sanitizing drinking water, making tea, etc.

raywest

Answer: Near the beginning of the movie after Danielle comes back from whipping apples at Henry, the stepmother and sisters are having breakfast. At the beginning of the scene Marguerite says, "I wanted one four minute egg, not four one minute eggs and where in GOD'S NAME IS OUR BREAD!" Therefore the boiling water was probably to make hard boiled eggs for their breakfast.

Answer: I think the boiling water part was to actually boil water for the breakfast.

Disagree. She isn't the type to relent and tell Jaqueline to boil water, for their breakfast. The tone that the evil stepmother uses, suggests some specific use of the boiling water to punish Danielle, somehow.

Shipper

Answer: Disagree. The Stepmother says it, in too resolutely a manner as if she has a specific purpose for the boiling water. As if it will be used as a punishment on Danielle, somehow. Btw, it can't be related to the whipping, either, as that doesn't happen till a few scenes later. Script error?

Shipper

Probably not a script error but something explaining this may have been edited out post-filming. It's typical in movies that filmed scenes are later deleted entirely or partially edited during post-production for a variety of reasons-to cut down the film's running time, speed up the action, etc. As a result, it often leaves small plot inconsistencies.

raywest

Question: According to the Baroness, Henry was planning to choose Marguerite as his bride before Danielle arrived at the ball. If it's true, why does he almost marry the Spanish princess instead of Marguerite?

Answer: Rodmilla is an untrustworthy source of information. Rodmilla arrogantly tells Danielle, "I have it on good authority that before your rather embarrassing debut, the prince was about to choose Marguerite to be his bride." I believe Rodmilla is lying to Danielle only to further torment her. Rodmilla plunges the figurative knife into Danielle by declaring her a "pebble in her shoe" step-daughter, before she's taken away by the repulsive Le Pieu. When Henry made the deal with his father, he was given the choice of finding "love" or to marry Spain's Princess due to the marriage treaty. Right before the ball, Henry in despair, thinks he failed at finding love, and King Francis tells him it may have been unfair to put so much pressure on him about Spain's marriage contract. Francis says, "We don't have to announce anything tonight," and Henry replies, "I've made my decision." Their conversation implies Henry agreed to marry the Princess of Spain, and the announcement was to be made at the ball.

Super Grover

Answer: The Baroness says, "I have it on good authority," about Henry almost choosing Marguerite. Her source could be wrong, but if it's true, he was probably so upset about Danielle deceiving him that he wanted nothing to do with anyone from her home anymore. Especially if Marguerite planned to bring Danielle and other servants to the palace with her. Danielle might have hoped to stay at her father's property and manage the place herself, but Marguerite could probably arrange for her to work in the palace.

Answer: Henry was to be betrothed to Princess Gabriella of Spain, though he did not love her. When Henry's father said he could choose his own bride, the Baroness then lied to Danielle, saying the Prince intended to choose Marguerite, and also falsely told the Prince that Danielle was already engaged, all to put Marguerite into a prominent position to be chosen. After discovering the Baroness' deception, Henry would not have chosen Marguerite. Henry would still have married Princess Gabriella, but after learning she loved another, he freed her from their engagement. He later chose Danielle.

raywest

No offence, but this is not answering the question. You're re-hashing half the plot.

Question: In the opening of the movie, the Grimm brothers meet the elderly queen in her castle. Several people in the castle are crying and dressed in black. She herself is wearing a black veil, as though she is in mourning. Why? Who was supposed to have died? These things are never addressed in the script.

Answer: She's listed as Grande Dame in the credits and is addressed as "Your Majesty" by her servant and by Jacob Grimm. Many believe that the Grande Dame may be the fictionalized version of the real Marie Therese of France, a descendant of Henry II. It's in the last scene, when the carriage is leaving with the Grimm brothers, that we see in the overhead shot the Grande Dame's chateau is the very same royal palace where Prince Henry had resided. During the first scene, as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm enter the Grande Dame's chamber, when the camera pans slowly from right to left we see a man (behind the candles) who has been leaning over the Grande Dame at her right side, then a servant leans over at her left side announcing, "The Brothers Grimm," and just as she greets the brothers the two women dressed in black are seen standing nearby, one of whom is weepy. At the start of the next shot we see a man exiting in the background, and he may be the same man who had been leaning over the Grande Dame in the previous shot, so perhaps he is her doctor. After they've had tea, offscreen, we see the Grande Dame is sitting up in bed, and there are apothecary bottles on the bedside table. She herself is not dressed in black, she's wearing white/grey ruffled lace, with only one piece of black lace over her white lace cap. I don't get the impression that she's in mourning. It seems reasonable to infer that the Grande Dame is ill. This is strong motivation for her to have written to the Brothers Grimm. Her desire to tell the truth of her great-great grandparents' romance and life, so she could set the record straight about her great-great grandmother, before she herself is gone.

Super Grover

Answer: The woman is not a queen but a grande dame who tells the brothers Grimm that Danielle was her great-great-grandmother. It's unknown why she is dressed in black other than it appears she is in mourning for an unknown person.

raywest

Ever After mistake picture

Revealing mistake: Just before Marguerite tastes the chocolate Henry gives her, in the shot of the group walking past a pen of geese, the modern, flat, white soled shoes (likely canvas sneakers) the sisters are wearing are visible as they walk. (00:51:00)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Ever After

Prince Henry: I have been born to privilege, and with that comes specific obligations.
Leonardo da Vinci: Horseshit.

More quotes from Ever After

Trivia: After Rodmilla and her daughters leave for the masque, during the next scene at the royal palace a large sculpture can be seen in the courtyard, especially in some closeups from different angles, such as when Gustave approaches Leonardo. This mythologically themed sculpture consists of a tailed figure riding upon one of two creatures holding their reins, with a ship behind them. This sculpture can be seen during the very first scene, albeit with a few changes. When Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm walk into the Grande Dame's chamber she is sitting up in an unusual type of bed. Note the bed's "headboard" and "footboard" are the ship hull (in the fullscreen version the bed's side is visible with its distinctive design), and we also see the creatures (minus their horns) with the rider's arm holding their reins at the foot of the bed. Something else to notice near the end, when Leonardo gifts the young couple the belated wedding present the room they're all in is not in the royal palace, they are in the manor, gathered in the dining room where Marguerite had burned Danielle's book Utopia.

Super Grover

More trivia for Ever After

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