Bishop73

2nd Sep 2020

Ever After (1998)

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.